Hmm, ok, I want to add a little as to my reasons for supporting the legal defense fund. I wasn't going to, but now I can't stop thinking about it, and I'll sleep better if I just get it out. :P
I think the days of "staying under the radar" are kind of over, or will be soon. Fandoms like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, have made if much more main stream. We're not so much flying under the radar as we're in the radar but pretending to be rocks. Things like Fanlib, especially put us there, since they're going to the copyright holders and getting them to donate prizes, while fandlib makes money off of fic writers. Things like the offical stargate novels are written by fandom writers. Things like the official fanfic contests are going on over at certain offical webpages (I think CBS and Battlestar Galactica were mentioned, but I'm not positive on that). Now those things may sound positive, and they are to some extent, but once we show our hand to them, and they accept certain ones, then they are well on the way to rejecting others. They don't want us to have complete freedom with their characters and concepts.
This can really impact all areas of fandom that aren't gen or established ship. Slash? Good luck. Kink? No way in hell.
There's also the fact that copyrights themselves are rapidly morphing from their original conception. Thanks big businesses like Disney, copyright is now life +70 years. They can now trademark characters which are protected *forever*.
Look at things like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The copyright holder can come in and demand you remove content from the internet without court approval. This has already been abused so that legitimate content has been removed, sometimes *against* the copyright holder.
In Canada the big shots are currently trying to change our copyright laws so much so, that you can be violating copyright if you listen to something *the wrong way*. You can get fined or jail time, even if you *paid* for the product. (Actually, I think someone made the comment, that under the proposed law, you can technically be violating the copyright terms if you get up to go to the bathroom during a commercial break).
If we don't take a stand and say no, the big shot copyright holders will take *everything* and what little protection we had will be gone. We, the people (not just the fans, but definitely the fans as well) need to join in a united front and *stop* them, because they won't stop on their own. We need to be ready for when they do finally start dragging us into court and make sure that it's on our terms, that we get a say.
no subject
I think the days of "staying under the radar" are kind of over, or will be soon. Fandoms like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, have made if much more main stream. We're not so much flying under the radar as we're in the radar but pretending to be rocks. Things like Fanlib, especially put us there, since they're going to the copyright holders and getting them to donate prizes, while fandlib makes money off of fic writers. Things like the offical stargate novels are written by fandom writers. Things like the official fanfic contests are going on over at certain offical webpages (I think CBS and Battlestar Galactica were mentioned, but I'm not positive on that).
Now those things may sound positive, and they are to some extent, but once we show our hand to them, and they accept certain ones, then they are well on the way to rejecting others. They don't want us to have complete freedom with their characters and concepts.
This can really impact all areas of fandom that aren't gen or established ship. Slash? Good luck. Kink? No way in hell.
There's also the fact that copyrights themselves are rapidly morphing from their original conception. Thanks big businesses like Disney, copyright is now life +70 years. They can now trademark characters which are protected *forever*.
Look at things like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The copyright holder can come in and demand you remove content from the internet without court approval. This has already been abused so that legitimate content has been removed, sometimes *against* the copyright holder.
In Canada the big shots are currently trying to change our copyright laws so much so, that you can be violating copyright if you listen to something *the wrong way*. You can get fined or jail time, even if you *paid* for the product. (Actually, I think someone made the comment, that under the proposed law, you can technically be violating the copyright terms if you get up to go to the bathroom during a commercial break).
If we don't take a stand and say no, the big shot copyright holders will take *everything* and what little protection we had will be gone. We, the people (not just the fans, but definitely the fans as well) need to join in a united front and *stop* them, because they won't stop on their own. We need to be ready for when they do finally start dragging us into court and make sure that it's on our terms, that we get a say.