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Digital Shoplifting: You knew it had to happen eventually

By Carl Alviani - July 18, 2007

in Materials | Object Culture

Core favorite We Make Money Not Art pointed the way recently, via an interview with artist Paolo Cirio, to a new "crime" reaching epidemic proportions in the shops and newsstands of Japan: Digital Shoplifting.

According to the BBC article describing it, young Japanese (mostly female) shoppers are getting quite comfortable integrating quick photos into their phone discussions. So comfortable, in fact, that it's a crime.

The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association is describing the common practice of shooting and sending snapshots of cute dress and hairstyle layouts in magazines as "information theft," and is spearheading an advertising campaign to discourage it. It's too early to say for sure whether it'll be effective, but our money is on "not a chance." The BBC article mentions the difficulty shop employees have distinguishing between chatting and taking snapshots, but there's the deeper issue of calling an action illegal when it is expressly encouraged by the introduction of a recent technology.Any attentive analysis of personal communications trends over the last decade or two would pick up on the tendency for correspondence to embrace an ever wider spectrum of media. Where phones were once just phones, and letters were typed on paper and transported by gas-burning vehicles, the definition of what constitutes correspondence has now gotten so broad that practically every subculture gets to have its own. Email includes video clips, radio comes with text, IM can do file transfer, phones send songs, and now Japanese girls are turning into criminals for taking an obvious next step.

While we at Core believe enthusiastically in the sanctity of creative property, we're also aware that the idea of publishing is different in a world with the above possibilities. If it is a violation of copyright to snap a picture of a magazine to illustrate to your friend what you're talking about, we're not too far from a time when that's tantamount to billing your brunch friends for discussing an article in the latest New Yorker.

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Simon Merkel

17 years ago

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why taking hairstyles pictures from a magazine is a crime..many people like their ideas http://www.hairstylescut.com
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normanx

17 years ago

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Excuse me? So... someone takes a snap of a picture of a bag in a magazine...and then...let's say... buys the bag... mission accomplished right?
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lisa

17 years ago

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why is it a crime, hairstyles are taken from magazine and other places all the time http://www.latest-hairstyles.com
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Jay

17 years ago

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I own a small boutique and deal with this problem daily. Its a matter of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch. I respect the desire to take a picture to remember or show it to someone else. But there are those who will take detailed pictures and use them to make knock off versions. We try to find a compromise, and give them ad images, tell them a web address with photos, or even take a picture with our camera and email it to them. Believe me, I am as anti big brother/big corporation as anyone. But stealing designs hurts the little guy the most. This isn't new or just in Japan, and it isn't just grainy small cell phone pics. I have seen most all sized cameras used. Plus, cell phones now easily have 3MP resolution and going up (a 10 MP was just announced).
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Fred

17 years ago

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It cannot be stopped; Whats next, putting someone in jail just for discussing whats in another magazine with someone? Geese, people, give it a rest. What good is information if it has to be constantly bought? It will only benefit the rich, while everyone else suffers.
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Taylor

17 years ago

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What the hell are you talking about? It's just photos from a cell phone. Little grainy, poor quality photos. Violating copyright...are you mad!!!!???

The insanity of today's world hysteria over digital this and that has made people push-overs for the corporate "alice in wonderland" type arguments. A tiny, grainy picture is not going to ruin the all so important bottom line of some multi-gazillion dollar company.

Get over it.
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drew

17 years ago

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there is nothing illegal about it and it is an outrage that they think they have a leg to stand on calling it so. If they don't want people to be able to share what they're looking at then they need to ban browsing the magazines completely. Next thing they'll be wanting to charge you for daring to REMEMBER something you saw in a mag you browsed.
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akatsuki

17 years ago

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I got in trouble snapping photos of a bag to send to a friend who was looking to buy one at Paul Smith. While he did buy the bag, I can't say that the experience didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth, treating people as criminals for snapping a photo is pretty poor customer service.

If I wanted to knock off the bag, I would have just bought it, taken it outside, taken the photos, and returned it.
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Eh

17 years ago

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This happens all the time in fashion. I don't know why everyone is so surprised. Try going to a boutique and taking a snapshot of a gown. See how quick you get thrown out....and how well they remember you.
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