BUZZ NEWS

HADOPI Pirating Propaganda Gets Big Blogger Spank

Posted on June 29, 2010
Angela Natividad

Apparently the RIAA isn’t the only organisation that knows how to act ass-backwards and anti-consumer as technology aids and eases user inclinations in unexpected ways.

We give you... "Super HADOPI versus Super Crapule!" Explanation below.

"Super Crapule" is French for "Super Crook," and basically the cartoon is about how Super HADOPI, a slick refugee Marvel comic character swathed in blue, puts Super Crapule in his place.

HADOPI stands for "Haute Autorité Pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des droits sur Internet" - the High Authority for the Diffusion of Works and Rights Protection over the Internet, better known as Creation and Internet Law.

The plot is pretty straightforward: Super Crapule vacuums instruments and whatnot with some kind of internet-powered tractor, and is stopped by Super HADOPI, who basically beats the crap out of him with a slick speech about the consequences of stealing music.

If you’re caught red-handed, you’ll receive a warning email, which HADOPI demonstrates by throwing a giant @ sign and a magical envelope at Super Crapule; followed by a one-year internet cut; then a €300,000 fine, manifested by a giant moneybag that nearly kills the poor kid; then two years of jail time, represented with, well … a spotlight and prison bars.

Before flying off into the horizon with his buttcrack out in the open, HADOPI - whom even the creator seemed uncertain whether to depict as a white knight or an untouchable douchebag - reminds the audience that pirating music means stealing. The closing lines, translated, read:

"Could we live without music, without films…? Say yes to legal downloads!"

The video, whose producer is listed only as HADOPI, is being disseminated on Curiosphere.tv, a children’s education site that belongs to network France 5. Prominent French media bloggers have blasted the piece for its condescending attitude toward kids and anti-user attitude.

In an article called "Vive Super Crapule !", blogger Korben calls it "propaganda" to position filesharers as "supercrooks" worth prison time to kids - and on an education site, no less. An attempt to post the video on his site failed, since it keeps getting taken down - so I’m not optimistic it’ll remain on Vimeo for long.

Graphism shares the same opinion: "With Super Crapule, HADOPI takes children for idiots!"

FredZone probably drives the nail in hardest, but probably not farthest from the sentiments of his media colleagues. He concludes his own piece with, "This is beautiful propaganda that would, without a doubt, have fascinated Goebbels himself."

Response has been so intense that France 5 finally decided to cut the video’s circulation on Curiosphere. But I get the sense this isn’t the last we’ll see of HADOPI, a law strongly supported by President Sarkozy himself. (Let’s just hope he leaves the ill-fitting undies under his pants next time.)