Lego instructs California police department to stop using Lego heads to mask identities of suspects

NightOwl@lemmy.ca to Not The Onion@lemmy.world – 523 points –
Lego instructs California police department to stop using Lego heads to mask identities of suspects
foxnews.com
56

You are viewing a single comment

I understand it’s important to protect your brand identity but it’s even more sad that a toy company doesn’t understand the value of “just having a little fun”.

Corporations really seem to exist entirely to suck the joy out of life.

Edit: Yes, we agree that ACAB, and frankly they shouldn’t publicize enforcement information at all. This was intended to be a general statement on IP law rather than law enforcement.

This was intended to be a general statement on IP law rather than law enforcement.

This is exactly the kind of shit IP law should be used for. It's one thing when Disney goes after murals at kindergartens. It's another thing entirely when something like a police force publicly associates your IP with their actions.

I feel like it shouldn’t be IP law that stops this, but rather human rights laws. Those aren’t robust enough in the United States yet. Obviously the company will use what tools are available to them.

This isn't a human rights violation, however. Lego is not a person.

But, Lego heads are their intellectual property, so they can stop that. The human rights part would be more of an issue for another organisation.

That’s what I’m saying, the human rights part is the only thing that matters in this issue. IP law is ultimately meaningless and a hinderance to society while privacy and human rights are a moral objection to what’s happening here.

What LEGO did does not fix the problem, prisoners will still be used as social media posts. They do not fundamentally care about those people, they just want to protect their brand.

Publicizing arrests is not a little fun, it stokes fear of crime in the community disproportionate to the actual rate of crime, while also shaming minorities and poor whites at the same time. It is used to get the public behind tough on crime bullshit which never targets wealthy white collar criminals.

"We have a little fun. Now bow down to the unwavering authority we have to shoot you"

The LEGO group has always been protective of their brand and nervous about being associated with potentially violent content, turning down a partnership with the Halo games because of that. For years, they didn't want to make grey bricks because they were afraid kids would use them to build tanks. All this to say, this seems pretty on brand for the LEGO group.

For years, they didn’t want to make grey bricks because they were afraid kids would use them to build tanks.

Which years were those? I remember the "Classic Space" sets going all the way back to the '70s had plenty of gray bricks.

Really early on, with the original castle sets, where all the wall pieces were yellow. I believe the space sets were the first grey bricks.

Not to dunk on you, but maybe that extreme would convince you it's a little bit wrong?

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse - but with Lego head

The reason the police department is wrong is not because they’re using LEGO (trademark infringement), it’s wrong because criminals shouldn’t be reduced to “engaging social media content”.

And you are right on the money. Suspects and victims shouldn't be reduced to infotainment material. I've posted it meaning exactly that.

"Just having a little fun"? How stupid can you be?

1 more...