WARNING: STREET ART TOURS ARE ILLEGAL!

My neighbourhood in East London has a lot of very nice street art, and a fair number of hipster entrepreneurs who lead tourist parties on "Street Art Tours." Artist Dr D combined the Olympic police-state with the Street Art Tour phenomenon to make this great prank notice, which I snapped on the way to our weekly Sunday brunch.

The Daily Duff: *STREET ART TOURS- ILLEGAL!*

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Funny • graffiti • happy mutants • london • olympics • street art • uk • wide

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

http://www.youtube.com/user/PipLagenta Pip_R_Lagenta

It had me going until I read the fine print. It’s funny how little faith I have in English law.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pip_r_lagenta/3409636485/
jonw

not joking here: I’m pretty sure that poster — and perhaps even this boingboing post — are illegal.
- SoItBegins
  
  And why?
  - mccrum
    
    No questions! Illegal! Photography of something in a street! Or Something Treacherous!
  - Gekko_Gecko
    
    The creator of the funny notice committed theft/burglary. They infringed on the copyright of the metro insignia ( bottom of the sign ), which these days means they stole it.
    - mccrum
      
      And this makes this post illegal how…
      
      I’m also not sure about the UK, do they have Fair Use for parody over there?
      - CitizenJohnJohn
        
        Look up. That whooshing noise is English humour at 30,000 feet.
    - Warren_Terra
      
      In addition to the questions about infringement of copyright and misuse of official police symbols (impersonating a police officer?), there’s the question of breaking into what’s apparently advertising space presumably sold to defray the cost of maintenance, and displacing the ad that should be there.
      
      To be clear: the sign is witty, it makes a good point, and I’m all for it. But it is worth pointing out that it’s not risk-free. You’ll note the artist didn’t apparently leave any contact information or claim credit, which is probably wise.
      - Eric Hunt
        
        See: Billboard Liberation Front; street art in most major cities from the last few decades
      - Warren_Terra
        
        I do see a little difference between repurposing some wealthy company’s billboard space they’ve rented out to sell hamburgers and affecting the ability of a public service utility that operates litter bins to cover its costs.
  - Osloianer
    
    In some countries it’s illegal to create fake police-related stuff if it’s too realistic (or at all), and I’m not sure exactly where the line is drawn. I mean, this one is funny and pretty obvious, but the more sublime the humor the easier it is for the general public to “not get it”. What if the sign said “street photography is illegal” and they removed the small print? I think it would be a funny comment on policing in a paranoid society, but many would not get it.
    - Eric Hunt
      
      See: The Onion
    - benenglish
      
      “In some countries it’s illegal to create fake police-related stuff…”
      
      Didn’t the Geek Squad have to change the paint scheme on their cars in California? I seem to remember something…
nixiebunny

My wife just asked me if Cory is a media mogul.

I explained that he’s a terrorist.
- Conan Librarian
  
  He’s a Terrorist Mogul
  - http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
    
    Dada!
    - haineux
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E6v4KC_t74
http://twitter.com/5a4ah Sarah

-what? why?
darkjayson

How scary is it that it took me a while to see that it was fake as it is something that i would expect from the met now adays :(
bumblebeeeeeee

“because you just can’t be trusted”
retepslluerb

I’m quite impressed that Cory didn’t fell for it, though.
oasisob1

This thread is too serious. The terrorists have won.
http://funisforassholes.com/ funisforassholes

Hipsters? In East London? I shan’t believe it
perch

I fell for this; I can completely believe that this would actually be illegal in the UK.
- Eric Hunt
  
  One thing that *is* illegal is when graffiti photographers trespass to photograph/document the graffiti.
  - http://www.figuiere.net/hub/ Hubert Figuière
    
    But it is not illegal to arbitrarily arrest and harass photographer in the street?
bo1n6bo1n6

Because you just can’t be trusted.