The hilarious remixed London Tube map that substituted anagrams of the station names has been censored off the Internet by lawyers working for Transport for London. The page now reads, "Content removed at the request of Healeys Solicitors acting on behalf of Transport for London and Transport Trading Ltd."
I blogged the map last week — it was one of the funniest and most creative re-uses of the familiar map I'd ever seen. The London Tube Map is part of the culture of London, a genius work of information design that is as familiar to a Londoner as the familiar pub designs and the black cabs. Like all culture, it's subject to being remixed by playful citizens and artists.
No one made money from the anagram map (in fact, serving a big PDF to lots of people can cost a lot of money). Instead, we Londoners shared the map on a noncommercial basis the same way you would any clever joke or song or poster about the world around you. It's shameful for Transport for London to have abused UK trademark law to engage in rank censorship. It should celebrate the creativity of its riders, not punish it.
(Thanks, Jamie!)
Update: Thomas sez, "A bunch of
remixed Tube maps have been collected in one place. This includes a jpegified version of the anagram map."
Update 2: Greywulf is hosting another mirror of the map.
