Friday, August 12, 2005

Thought thieve$

From the EFF:

"Never afraid to reach new heights on the unintentional
comedy scale, Microsoft UK debuted its "Thought Thieves"
film competition in May
. Microsoft called for original
videos "about people stealing the ideas in your head"
and "intellectual property theft."

To counter this misleading campaign, a few good souls
"stole" the idea and started the "Thought Thieve$" film
competition "about big companies stealing and profiting
from the knowledge commons." Reads the announcement:

"Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your
cultural traditions, collective creativity,
thousands-year-old seed strains, indigenous medicinal
knowledge, or even your very genetic code being passed
off as the property of some multinational corporation?
What would you do?"

EFF is an affiliate of the competition, so we're helping
to spread the word! If you have a story to tell about corporate piracy, send your short film in by September
16, 2005. You may win prizes and be included in an
international distribution and screening series.

Check out the contest website for details: http://thought-thieves.org"

Clever. It will be interesting to see how the entries in the rival competitions compare!

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