In NYC, is it illegal to write on illegal signs?
October 9, 2019 6:56 PM   Subscribe

New York City is awash in unlicensed illegal ads wheatpasted on construction sites, walls, everywhere. Is it illegal to write on the ads with a marker?

I only want to know what the law is.
posted by history is a weapon to Law & Government (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
The law is here and I think this runs into an interesting question of interpretation. When you write on something wheatpasted to a building, are you writing "on" the building? If yes, then writing on the ads is covered by this law, and is illegal. If no, then as far as I can tell writing on the ads isn't covered by it, since the ads aren't a structure owned by anyone in particular.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:05 PM on October 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


Here's something I saw on Twitter a few weeks back summarized in this Gothamist post that might shed some light.
posted by viramamunivar at 9:02 PM on October 9, 2019


It would be pretty stupid if the law were that you can legally post an ad as long as it’s on top of someone else’s illegal ad. Because then anyone could just post a fake and and then their ad on top and then the law could never be enforced, unless you actually saw them posting the fake ad first
posted by aubilenon at 9:37 PM on October 9, 2019 [5 favorites]


This sounds like something a really fun lawyer (and yes, those do exist) would love to argue about in court... but let's put it this way: If it wasn't a poster, and was instead spray-paint graffiti... would it be illegal if you were caught putting your own graffiti over someone else's graffiti? Yes, it would, because you're tagging a wall you have no legal right to modify, regardless of the fact that someone else did something illegal there first.

Like if the law said "it's illegal to put urine on the street" but you happened to see a puddle of urine on the street and decided to pee on it, and got cited for putting urine on the street, do you think "but I wasn't peeing on the street, I was peeing on the other pee" would be a successful defense?

(also, legality aside, a quick defacement of a wheatpaste poster that isn't, like, part of some super monitored and recognized art exhibition is a) super unlikely to be caught, and b) a misdemeanor at best, right? so, uh.. DO CRIMES MAKE ART!)
posted by erst at 1:09 AM on October 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


I don't think that painting more graffiti on top of graffiti (or peeing on top of pee) is analogous, as writing on a poster is not directly damaging the property.

However, section b of the law (intent) is broad enough that you might run into trouble proving exactly how and where you were going to doodle with that marker. Also, even if it is clear that you are sticking to the wheatpastes themselves, your writing could be considered defacement, even if it's not damage -- consider that gang signs get scrawled on wheatpastes.

/IANAL
posted by desuetude at 8:23 AM on October 10, 2019


Would it be illegal to strategically remove only parts of the illegal signs? probably not, right?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:41 AM on October 10, 2019


Would it be illegal to strategically remove only parts of the illegal signs? probably not, right?

Reverse graffiti is a thing, although it's normally done by selectively washing off dirt rather than other graffiti.
posted by w0mbat at 10:28 AM on October 10, 2019


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