this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 187 points 3 days ago (13 children)

It means Banksy, who has remained anonymous for more than 25 years, could finally be unmasked as he would be required to publicly disclose his name if brought to court.

Gonna be hard to bring them to court if you don’t even know their name, isn’t it?

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 136 points 3 days ago (4 children)

With the London surveillance apparatus, I bet they could figure out who Banksy is. It’d be an insane waste of time and resources, but I bet they could.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 220 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The fact that they're going to all this trouble over this image proves the point the image was making better than anything else possibly could have.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 71 points 3 days ago

Streisand Effect to the max.

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (9 children)

Exactly and the image is already out on the internet now.

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago

If artwork is a threat to your system…

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago

but, BUT, MUH LAW AND ORDER

[–] shininghero@pawb.social 33 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Could always make them waste even more resources by adding noise to what little data they might have.
I'm ~~Spartacus~~ Banksy!

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[–] oce@jlai.lu 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Does he still install them himself? Isn't it likely he sent someone to do it for him?

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago

Couldn’t tell ya, but that’s certainly plausible.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago

They have done both.

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[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 3 days ago

Seems like an opportunity for a bunch of street artists to show up at court and pull an “I’m Spartacus”.

[–] twinnie@feddit.uk 37 points 3 days ago

I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of people out there who know exactly who Banksy is. It’ll be like with The Stig, all the journalists knew who he was but the mystery was more interesting and sold more papers.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've long heard that his identity is an open secret and a lot of people know his actual identity. Solid chance the UK government already knows who he is.

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[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 16 points 3 days ago

Banksy is a company at this point. They can find them if they want to. It's not like they've never exchanged money for thier work before.

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[–] AlexLost@lemmy.world 173 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Ah yes, going after world renowned artist for graffiti because he made them feel bad. Truth speaking to power will always be unpopular with those in power.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 76 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

So they destroyed a priceless artwork, and are essentially planning to kill graffiti Santa next.

I wonder who's ordering this, and if they're aware it will not help the public opinion problem they're having.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well Labour is just a different flavour of the Conservative Party. So it does track.

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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 58 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Banksy is as much a person as Nicolas Bourbaki was. Although unlike Bourbaki, there is allegedly one guy who is kind of the main guy, but if that one guy goes to prison, I'm fairly certain Bansky artworks will continue to appear.

In fact I'd put money on the fact that one would appear in a prominent place soon after.

And if the establishment somehow manage to round up every single person associated with Banksy and manage to get something to stick to every single one of them, which I strongly doubt is possible, the rise in wannabe Banksy groups doing the same thing won't be far off.

The artwork is almost always made with stencils and spray paints. Stencils can be prepared well in advance. A trained group could have one of these up in under a couple of minutes.

If I was Banksy - or one of them - I would almost certainly have distributed my art to trusted individuals for the event of my incarceration and beyond.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In fact I'd put money on the fact that one would appear in a prominent place soon after.

I mean, if it's multiple people and the ones not incarcerated don't immediately drop more art, I'd be disappointed.

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[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 48 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So telling that they tolerated his "criminal damage" for literally decades, until it made them actually look bad.

[–] BenjiRenji@feddit.org 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

No.. they just have become more repressive and no longer tolerate being called out. This is a scary reaction for democracy for just a painting on a wall.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 days ago

All the other Banksy's I can think of are just vaguely subversive about the system in general. CCTVs, Policemen kissing, hoodie wearer throwing flowers, assorted things about urban decay, that sort of thing. This is the first one I can think of that calls out a specific current event that you can attach names to.

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[–] UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone 45 points 2 days ago (1 children)

UK, what the bloody hell is wrong with you.

[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Our current government is the labour party, the one of the big two that is supposed to be more left leaning. They haven't been left leaning in twenty years, they crept to centrist and now the creep to the right continues. They're not dissimilar from the democrats in America. Internationally, there seems to be a general move towards the right and we are certainly following it. Demonstrations and activism don't seem to help. Shit is fucked, basically.

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[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 42 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The article says it could result in a fine that’s based on the value of the damage. You’d think having a famous artist’s work would increase the value of the building.

[–] 100@fedia.io 29 points 3 days ago (2 children)

would be funny if courts did agree it was net increase to value if they didnt destroy it

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago

They're determined to Streisand Effect this into the history books, huh?

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 36 points 2 days ago

Sounds to me like London just declared all their walls as open season

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Could everyone in London just suddenly adopt a fashion trend of wearing V for Vendetta masks?

... Or is that already illegal?

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

spits out chewing tobacco

leans forward in chair, causing spurs to ring

adjusts cattleman hat

squints

Well.

Ain't that just the darndest coincidence.

Me too.

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[–] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The UK, in collaboration with the US, has been a surveillance state for over 15 years. Now is becoming an authoritarian one too.

https://youtu.be/PoY_GboFMjc

[–] Donebrach@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago

“We must catch this villain who is making public edifices worth millions to our oligarchs!!”

[–] heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net 28 points 3 days ago

Could have avoided the higher criminal charges by painting a building across the street, but this does demonstrate the insecurity of authority.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago

Oh no! That is so scary. I hope that whoever it is doesn't have decades of experience in working and traveling anonymously around the world while performing illegal acts of guerilla artwork while evading both the legal authorities and an adoring public fanbase!

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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Fuck are you kidding me?

The plebs are getting rowdy. Surely this will send the message we're hoping for and they'll settle down.

[–] techfox@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 days ago (10 children)

I'm pretty sure they already unmasked Banksy

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