Don't Copy That Floppy
Don't Copy That Floppy was an anti-copyright infringement campaign run by the Software Publishers Association beginning in 1992.
The video for the campaign, starring M. E. Hart as "MC Double Def DP", was filmed at Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C., and produced by cooperation between the SPA, the Educational Section Anti-Piracy Committee, and the Copyright Protection Fund, in association with Vilardi Films.
The groups distributed the film for general viewing through VHS tapes that were mailed to schools. In later years, the film became a viral video sensation through websites such as YouTube, where the official video has had over 2 million views as of 2022.
On August 17, 2009, the Software and Information Industry Association released a follow-up to Don't Copy That Floppy, called Don't Copy That 2. The sequel features MC Double Def DP as he continues his crusade against "piracy" in the digital age.
Background
The Software Publishers Association has long opposed software piracy. In 1986 it canceled a planned award to Central Point Software for selling 100,000 copies of a program, after discovering that the product was a disk copier.Synopsis
Two teenagers, Jenny and Corey, are playing a game on a classroom computer. Corey is exuberantly pushing keys to show the viewer that he is heavily immersed in the game action; Jenny is winning.Frustrated, he asks for a rematch, but she has an upcoming class and must leave. He decides he will copy the game so that he can play it at home. Upon inserting his blank floppy disk into the Apple Macintosh LC, a video pops up on the computer. This video is of a rapper named MC Double Def DP, the "Disk Protector".
The message of the video is that copyright infringement of software will cause the video game industry to lose money, resulting in less production of computer games.
The rap video portion is interspersed with interviews of artists, writers, programmers and a lawyer. These people are the staff responsible for design of an early version of the game Neverwinter Nights and allows them to explain the issue in greater detail:
- Craig Dykstra – America Online – Manager Developer Support
- Dave Butler – America Online – Director Platform Software Development
- Janet Hunter – America Online – Senior Systems Analyst
- Ilene Rosenthal – Software Publishers Association – Attorney
At the end of the video, the DP fades away, leaving Corey and Jenny to decide for themselves whether they will copy the game — they decide against it. Corey, who has some money left over from his summer job, decides that he will buy the game. Jenny agrees and jokes that Corey's game will even come with a manual. The Wall Street Journal has stated that the film's aesthetic is similar to the television program Saved By the Bell. It has also highlighted it as an example of classic bubblegum hip-hop with significant staying power.
Criticism
The major criticism of the campaign came from educators and the press, who criticized the campaign for only promoting one point of view, instead of a broader scope of the issue of copyright online. That point of view, they argued, was biased because it benefited a specific group, and failed to present alternative views such as the Free Software movement.Popularity online
In the mid-2000s, the popularity of the video was revived, but this time as a meme. Since the creators have always allowed noncommercial copying of the film, it became a viral video after video-sharing sites such as Google Video and YouTube went online in the mid-2000s. The video first gained popularity on the site YTMND in 2004 and then gained widespread YouTube popularity in 2005, 2006, and 2008, sparking user-generated remixes and parodies, and is now considered a popular internet meme.A sample from the advertisement was used in the song "Taking What's Not Yours" by the band TV Girl.