Goodbye Che, rebellions have a new symbol.
Stylized by graphic novelists Alan Moore and David Lloyd on V for Vendetta, made famous by Wachowsky Brother's film adaptation, the Guy Fawkes face is back to life.
From the Gunpowder Plot on 1605 to nowadays protests against ACTA, the most burned man of the history doesn't feel the years spread all over the world by the web.
On 10 february 2008 people wearing Guy Fawkes mask stood outside Church of Scientology centers in at least 100 cities worldwide protesting against the attempt to remove a controversial Tom Cruise interview on youtube. Called Project Chanology, from imageboard website 4chan.org, the movement was actually the first step of the more famous Anonymous group who called the action upoading a video on january 27 on the google platform.
Present even during the Wikileaks Affair and the Occupy Movement, Guy Fawkes, death in the body has resurrected in a mask with a new renowned spirit. As the Ghost In the Shell's Laughing Man or the Luther Blisset multiple-use name, the Guy Fawkes mask has become a meme, an internet meme actually, a word created and used by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Used as analogue for gene in cultural world, a meme is a unit carrying ideas, behaviours, meanings. Purely a symbol, a word, a link or a hashtag able to spread, change and evolve within networks.
Interviewed by Guardian's Tom Lamont, Alan Moore said:
"I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn't it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world... It's peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction."
Last January Europe Union and 22 member countries signed the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, a multinational treaty which purpose is to establish new standard rules on copyright and intellectual property. A movement anti-ACTA has risen and spread all over the world, even polish politician wore the Guy Fawkes mask as protest. One of the more controversial point is the article 27 that allow the online service providers to collect private user informations for the purpose "to identify a subscriber whose account was allegedly used for infringement." Protester say under risk are the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and privacy.
What also about intellectual property in the digital era? Legislation doesn't seem really clear about this point. In 2011 Amazon.com sold hundreds of thousands of Guy Fawkes masks, but who is the owner of it? Anonymous? Definitely not. David Lloyd, the illustrator of V for Vendetta and its designer? Neither. Guessing the real Guy Fawkes has no chances who is left is Time Warner, one of the mayor copyright holder supporting ACTA.
Present even during the Wikileaks Affair and the Occupy Movement, Guy Fawkes, death in the body has resurrected in a mask with a new renowned spirit. As the Ghost In the Shell's Laughing Man or the Luther Blisset multiple-use name, the Guy Fawkes mask has become a meme, an internet meme actually, a word created and used by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Used as analogue for gene in cultural world, a meme is a unit carrying ideas, behaviours, meanings. Purely a symbol, a word, a link or a hashtag able to spread, change and evolve within networks.
Interviewed by Guardian's Tom Lamont, Alan Moore said:
"I suppose when I was writing V for Vendetta I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: wouldn't it be great if these ideas actually made an impact? So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world... It's peculiar. It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction."
Last January Europe Union and 22 member countries signed the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, a multinational treaty which purpose is to establish new standard rules on copyright and intellectual property. A movement anti-ACTA has risen and spread all over the world, even polish politician wore the Guy Fawkes mask as protest. One of the more controversial point is the article 27 that allow the online service providers to collect private user informations for the purpose "to identify a subscriber whose account was allegedly used for infringement." Protester say under risk are the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and privacy.What also about intellectual property in the digital era? Legislation doesn't seem really clear about this point. In 2011 Amazon.com sold hundreds of thousands of Guy Fawkes masks, but who is the owner of it? Anonymous? Definitely not. David Lloyd, the illustrator of V for Vendetta and its designer? Neither. Guessing the real Guy Fawkes has no chances who is left is Time Warner, one of the mayor copyright holder supporting ACTA.
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