October 2011 Newsletter, Volume 54

[kristenmurphy]

Welcome to the OTW's October newsletter! Read about the success of our recent membership drive, election chats, the next round of DMCA exemption hearings, and more under the cut.

( Read more... )

Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

October 2011 Newsletter, Volume 54

[kristenmurphy.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the OTW's October newsletter! Read about the success of our recent membership drive, election chats, the next round of DMCA exemption hearings, and more under the cut.

( Read more... )

Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

To the Industry, We're All Tapeworms (the E-PARASITE act)

[francescacoppa]

Written by OTW Legal Committee member Sarah Trombley

Apparently, the Internet likes pirates too much (blame Johnny Depp)—now people engaging in Internet activity of which the content industry doesn't approve are being labeled "parasites."

Yes, that's the name of the new IP bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives: the E-PARASITE ACT. The OTW, like many other organizations (the Electronic Frontier Foundation weighs in with a post here), is concerned about the extraordinary overreaching of this proposed bill. In short, this bill would cut Americans off from so-called "foreign infringing sites" by, effectively, forbidding your ISPs to connect you to the sites and forcing search engines not to link to the sites. Not for nothing has this been called "the Great Firewall of America." In the United States, we have long realized that it's not fair or wise to force ISPs or search engines to be responsible for the data they transmit; instead, infringing sites themselves must be held accountable for their own actions. The "E-PARASITE" act permits the equivalent of cutting off everyone's telephone access to a number—and taking the number out of all directories and search engines!—because someone who uses it is accused of breaking a law. It's a terrible bill.

The OTW is particularly concerned with additional provisions tucked into the bill, which appears to significantly expand the definition of criminal copyright infringement. Among other things, the bill provides special protection for works "being prepared for commercial dissemination," which includes movies that are playing in movie theaters but aren't yet available on DVD or other formats. For fan-artists and others engaged in transformative works, it's often vital for them to be able to create their art while the work they're responding to is actually part of the national conversation--and that's when it's in theaters, not six months to a year later when the DVD is released. If Jon Stewart wants to comment on a movie, he doesn't have to (and wouldn't) wait til it comes out on DVD; transformative artists' works are no different from his commentary. And that means they need access to "cam" or other copies of a work right away. (A vivid example is Sloane's Star Trek Dance Floor, where she used cam footage of the rebooted Star Trek movie to illustrate her point "that [the director] had...largely ignored women." When talking to people at the time of the movie's release, Sloane said she "was surprised how many people didn’t seem to think that was a problem, or even that the issue existed"--and so she made a vid, using footage that, in the bill's terms, was "prepared for commercial dissemination," as a way of participating in the conversation as it was happening, not at some comfortably distant point in the future.)

Like the DMCA itself, this bill is an example of the industry practice of trying to cut down on fair-use rights, not by limiting the rights themselves, but by making it impossible to exercise them. Supporters of the right to produce transformative work shouldn't stand for this kind of subterfuge.

A final, technical note for the lawyers: while I'm not an expert in this area, this bill seems to have potentially serious due process problems, in that it appears to expand "minimum contacts" beyond what the Supreme Court presently allows. But I'll leave that to others.

Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

To the Industry, We're All Tapeworms (the E-PARASITE act)

[francescacoppa.livejournal.com]

Written by OTW Legal Committee member Sarah Trombley

Apparently, the Internet likes pirates too much (blame Johnny Depp)—now people engaging in Internet activity of which the content industry doesn't approve are being labeled "parasites."

Yes, that's the name of the new IP bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives: the E-PARASITE ACT. The OTW, like many other organizations (the Electronic Frontier Foundation weighs in with a post here), is concerned about the extraordinary overreaching of this proposed bill. In short, this bill would cut Americans off from so-called "foreign infringing sites" by, effectively, forbidding your ISPs to connect you to the sites and forcing search engines not to link to the sites. Not for nothing has this been called "the Great Firewall of America." In the United States, we have long realized that it's not fair or wise to force ISPs or search engines to be responsible for the data they transmit; instead, infringing sites themselves must be held accountable for their own actions. The "E-PARASITE" act permits the equivalent of cutting off everyone's telephone access to a number—and taking the number out of all directories and search engines!—because someone who uses it is accused of breaking a law. It's a terrible bill.

The OTW is particularly concerned with additional provisions tucked into the bill, which appears to significantly expand the definition of criminal copyright infringement. Among other things, the bill provides special protection for works "being prepared for commercial dissemination," which includes movies that are playing in movie theaters but aren't yet available on DVD or other formats. For fan-artists and others engaged in transformative works, it's often vital for them to be able to create their art while the work they're responding to is actually part of the national conversation--and that's when it's in theaters, not six months to a year later when the DVD is released. If Jon Stewart wants to comment on a movie, he doesn't have to (and wouldn't) wait til it comes out on DVD; transformative artists' works are no different from his commentary. And that means they need access to "cam" or other copies of a work right away. (A vivid example is Sloane's Star Trek Dance Floor, where she used cam footage of the rebooted Star Trek movie to illustrate her point "that [the director] had...largely ignored women." When talking to people at the time of the movie's release, Sloane said she "was surprised how many people didn’t seem to think that was a problem, or even that the issue existed"--and so she made a vid, using footage that, in the bill's terms, was "prepared for commercial dissemination," as a way of participating in the conversation as it was happening, not at some comfortably distant point in the future.)

Like the DMCA itself, this bill is an example of the industry practice of trying to cut down on fair-use rights, not by limiting the rights themselves, but by making it impossible to exercise them. Supporters of the right to produce transformative work shouldn't stand for this kind of subterfuge.

A final, technical note for the lawyers: while I'm not an expert in this area, this bill seems to have potentially serious due process problems, in that it appears to expand "minimum contacts" beyond what the Supreme Court presently allows. But I'll leave that to others.

Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

Links Roundup for 31 October 2011

[otw_staff]

Here's a roundup of stories on race and gender in fandom that might be of interest to fans:

• An article in The Root pointed out that given the diversity of attendance at New York's recent Comic Con, the number of minority characters and the attention paid to them is clearly lacking. "Eaton also sees problems with the structure of fan culture itself, which seems content with the status quo. This was neatly symbolized by the editorial choices at Comic Con. "My panel featuring four black creators and a professor of history was shot down so that a panel on black characters -- featuring no black creators -- could be held. I am still very salty about it because it perfectly illustrates my issue with the industry," she said. "They want us as consumers, but God forbid we actually try and snag a seat at the creator's table."


• Racialicious posted Fandom and its hatred of Black women characters which focuses on reactions to characters in the British series Merlin and Doctor Who and the American series Glee and True Blood. Of concern to the poster and commenters, "When I see fandom reacting to fictional Black women this way, I wonder what they’re saying about real Black women while our backs are turned."


• In this Huffington Post article about fandom bandwagon jumpers, an unfortunate comment was made about how most female sports fans are fans only because of their boyfriends. "So ladies, don't get caught up in impressing your boyfriend with your sports knowledge. Understand the fine line between attending a game and ruining the sporting experience for your boyfriend's buddies." While a male figure is indeed the most important influence in a woman's sports fandom, that person is equally important for men: fathers, as a study from Murray State University found.


• A college sports blog column supported the Murray State study numbers on a school's influence on female sports fans. But unlike the Huffington Post story, this post put a positive focus on how casual fans are fans too. It also reflected on how the simplicity of connecting to fandoms and other fans through social media helps fans become increasingly passionate about their interests over time.

If you're part of Merlin, Glee, True Blood, or Doctor Who fandom, or want to share your experiences on race and fandom, why not contribute to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW. Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

Links Roundup for 31 October 2011

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Here's a roundup of stories on race and gender in fandom that might be of interest to fans:

• An article in The Root pointed out that given the diversity of attendance at New York's recent Comic Con, the number of minority characters and the attention paid to them is clearly lacking. "Eaton also sees problems with the structure of fan culture itself, which seems content with the status quo. This was neatly symbolized by the editorial choices at Comic Con. "My panel featuring four black creators and a professor of history was shot down so that a panel on black characters -- featuring no black creators -- could be held. I am still very salty about it because it perfectly illustrates my issue with the industry," she said. "They want us as consumers, but God forbid we actually try and snag a seat at the creator's table."


• Racialicious posted Fandom and its hatred of Black women characters which focuses on reactions to characters in the British series Merlin and Doctor Who and the American series Glee and True Blood. Of concern to the poster and commenters, "When I see fandom reacting to fictional Black women this way, I wonder what they’re saying about real Black women while our backs are turned."


• In this Huffington Post article about fandom bandwagon jumpers, an unfortunate comment was made about how most female sports fans are fans only because of their boyfriends. "So ladies, don't get caught up in impressing your boyfriend with your sports knowledge. Understand the fine line between attending a game and ruining the sporting experience for your boyfriend's buddies." While a male figure is indeed the most important influence in a woman's sports fandom, that person is equally important for men: fathers, as a study from Murray State University found.


• A college sports blog column supported the Murray State study numbers on a school's influence on female sports fans. But unlike the Huffington Post story, this post put a positive focus on how casual fans are fans too. It also reflected on how the simplicity of connecting to fandoms and other fans through social media helps fans become increasingly passionate about their interests over time.

If you're part of Merlin, Glee, True Blood, or Doctor Who fandom, or want to share your experiences on race and fandom, why not contribute to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW. Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.