Well, I guess we now know Fairey's official sock puppet name, TomBombadil. Or should we just call you Shepard? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell ANYONE.

It appears this joker is a serial plagiarist.
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

The fact is, this artist ripped off a copyrighted photograph. The copyright laws apply to derivative works of art as well. It's just like having a painter create a painting of a scene directly from a photo taken by Ansel Adams. It's theft. Or as I like to call it, Grand Theft - Photo!

But I must say, I saw a couple great take-offs on that art piece. One replaced "HOPE" with "MARXIST," and replaced Obama with Groucho Marx.

Another commenter above gave me a great idea that I hope someone with skills will implement. Take the poster as is, except change "HOPE" to "HYPE." I'd buy a t-shirt with that on it!