More on Graffiti - Art or Crime?

Was getting arrested for vandalism a PR stunt for his museum show or denial of freedom of speech for Shepard Fairey? Fairey, famous for the Obama poster, (New York Times story) was arrested on his way to the museum opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Boston recently, but there was no proof that he was responsible for the posters of his work that had been put up in public spaces all over town. I guess this is like Martha Stewart going to jail for selling her stocks at the same time that the real criminals like Madoff are robbing people blind - but then I just posted that I found charm in graffiti on a gray day so I guess I have come to the conclusion that graffiti is no crime. At the end of the day, I still find that graffiti is a nuisance and should be controlled.

Was this instance more of a publicity stunt on the part of the authorities to say: "We are watching out for the public," while real crime and defacement of public and private property goes on unabated?

Germany's graffiti problem has reached a tipping point - at some point they must have unofficially declared graffiti as art and they have left it to fester everywhere in frightening amounts. But no where was it more frightening than in the New York subways before Mayor Guiliani cleaned things up there.