The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has announced an "anti-piracy" site, with a kids' mascot ferret, and a contest to call it a name.

The BSA weasel creature reminded me of something I'd seen before. Something shady, disreputable, criminal. Finally, I remembered! The BSA weasel looks like he's a member of a criminal gang in Walt Disney Comics, the "Beagle Boys".

Update: More unintended irony? BoingBoing reader Bitey says, "The scientific name for ferret, Mustela putorius furo, translates as 'little fur thief.' This references the animals love of stealing toys, socks, food and anything they can move themselves, and dragging them away to stash in their lair."

Update 2: BoingBoing pal Gareth Branwyn says, "This ain't the first time that BSA's spokesbots have shared DNA with other people's intellectual property. See Bruce Sterling's WiredBlog posting about the uncanny similarities between Kata Sutra, Mark Frauenfelder's cartoon character that appreared in BoingBoing and Beyond Cyberpunk in the early '90s, and BSA's "Meg A. Byte:" If you saw the Beyond Cyberpunk comic book that Mark and I did, the similarities would be even more apparent. We're not accusing them of STEALING or anything, but still..."

posted by Xeni Jardin at 06:19:24 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments