what with all the recent fuss over wikileaks and anonymous operations coming to their defense, i happened to noticed that the pirate bay - a popular bit torrent filesharing site - uses a very nice illustration of a pirate ship as their logo. upon closer inspection, i saw that on the sail is a super-fantastic image of a cassette tape and cross bones.
cassette tape and crossbones?? how fantastic is THAT?! i did some research and discovered that this was a design used in the 1980's by the British Phonograph Industry to go with their Home Taping Is Killing Music campaign. naturally, it was immediately co-opted by the very "pirates" BPI hoped to target.
the image fits so perfectly with sonic fabric - the idea of sharing, collaboration, the weaving together of seemingly disparate ideas to form a common whole - not to mention that sonic fabric is actually made of tape! i believe strongly in the notion of creative commons - that society functions best when information is freely shared. in order for this system to work effectively, it is imperative that sources of ideas be acknowledged and attributed to the greatest extent possible (reciprocity is critical not only in matters of intellectual property, but in all matters of society and community as well).
i am planning to make a limited-edition batch of flags silkscreened with this logo, to be offered for sale or trade. i will donate part of any funds generated to causes related to freedom of press and speech. please let me know if you'd like to receive one.
