well well, the webmaster for weeds.org.au (the online resource for the government’s agency which deals with weeds in Australia, Weeds Australia) decided to censor you.
Here’s how it happened:
To whom it may concern
A website at the address http://www.weedyconnection.com/ contains material (images and text) sourced and copied directly from the Weeds Australia (http://www.weeds.org.au/) website. This material, specifically at http://www.weedyconnection.com/database and pages linked from that address, has been used without permission of the originating authors and copyright holders, […]
In this first instance we request that you remove all such material from your website within seven days. If you fail to remove the material within seven days legal action may be commenced with a view to having the material removed. As well as any penalties arising from such an action, you may be held liable for any costs associated with bringing the action against you.
Regards
…
You took down the database.
You had a chat with a couple of copyrights lawyers about this.
One saying you could try to explain to this people that you are an artists, this weedyconnection.com is a cultural-aesthetic argument, you are not making any profit whatshowever from it, and that we both aim at the same goal: to provide an informative platform for people to refer to when wanting to know more about the botanical reality of Australia.
Weeds Australia focus on legislations and botanical “outlaws”, while you problematize the issues by spotlighting the environment-exploitative aims of much of the legislations, disregarding nature’s needs to overcome bio-diversity alienation created by monocultures, disregarding possible feeble ethnobotanical connections which should be foster (you argue) in order to bridge the ever-widening gap between humans and the dirt they walk upon everyday, disregarding the fact that we human have destroyed enough as it is. We should stop.
We have different arguments. But we have the same goal. Let people know what’s under their feet.
The Lawyer from Viscopy instead suggested to just shut up, say the least possible, take down the site and hope they are not a litigious lot, as you would be liable for whatever their well-paid lawyers could fancy to corner you in.
In an email to a friend the other day, attempting at explaining where you stand politically, you wrote: “i support no one, while respecting everyone’s position”, which pretty much sums you up.
You took down the site and slowly you will reload it with creative commons informations, the lot.
You argument will still stand as direct criticism of the Weeds Australia website/attitude but instead of media-jamming them you will just keep it clean.
This people unfortunately still don’t understand that copyrights holder are doomed to disappear at the bottom of the virtual sea.
You took down the site but you didn’t shut up. You never did, never will.
That sorted, you wish to declare open Hanging Gardens and Other Tales! the newest project you’re involved in.
Today you started the 2 weeks lab at Carriageworks, as part of the Underbelly Lab/Festival.
See here and come by to say hi!
