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Mirabile (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mirabile_dictu) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} otw_news,@ 2008-07-24 10:18:00 |
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-- Spotlight on . . . #4
Mirrored from the OTW News LJ
One of the five core projects of the OTW is to support the noncommercial sharing of fanworks within fan communities. The official OTW website says:
The OTW believes that fanworks are creative and transformative, core fair uses, and will therefore be proactive in protecting and defending fanworks from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. This help will not be limited to those fans or projects directly connected with OTW.
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I understand much about law -- in twenty-first century America, it seems a tool of the powerful and the rich. When I was younger, I saw the law as a way to facilitate social change, but not so much anymore.
However, even cynical me acknowledges a need for legal resources at times, and a special kind of legal resource for online services. The existence of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a "civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world," and the work it's doing is one indication of the need for legal analysis and protection.
The other core projects of the OTW include a wiki, a shelter for at-risk fannish projects, an academic journal, and a fanworks archive. The OTW's archive will be:
a noncommercial and nonprofit central hosting place for fanfiction and other transformative fanworks, where these can be sheltered by the advocacy of the OTW and take advantage of the OTW's work in articulating the case for the legality and social value of these works.
And it is the OTW's Legal Committee who will, when necessary, provide support and direction if the contents of the archive are challenged. Legal Committee member Killalla explains that she sees "the role of the Legal Committee as being a support to the OTW with regard to general advice relating to a specialized knowledge base. Much like you'd ask a lawyer friend or doctor friend informally about a personal issue, without necessarily seeking professional advice from them, we offer general comment, highlight potential issues, and in certain cases, provide a referral to the appropriate expert."
In other words, the OTW's lawyers will not be appearing in court as your personal attorney, but when necessary will, as Rebecca Tushnet, Chair of the OTW Legal Committee says, explain to anyone who has questions, whether fan or nonfan, the scope of fair use and the benefits fanworks and the fans who create them provide to copyright owners.
Occasionally, the OTW and the Legal Committee are described by others as if their intent was to confront copyright owners or to try to change the law. The OTW has no such intentions. I asked Rebecca about this discrepancy between appearance and reality recently. She observed that it's "hard to avoid being characterized by someone else," and certainly we've all experienced that. She also said that the Legal Committee will be "a place where fans can go for help if they need it, and a resource to explain to outsiders that both law and good business sense are reasons not to threaten fanworks."
Unlike most OTW committees, Legal doesn't meet regularly but tends to work on specific projects. Other committees approach Legal with a question; my own committee, Community Relations, has done so. Examples of the questions posed to Legal include reviewing contracts with possible hosting companies for the archive and exploring fundraising regulations.
But the committee is composed of more than lawyers: they're fans. They read fan fiction, watch vids, and some create fanworks, including both Rebecca and Killalla. They participate in fannish exchanges, like Yuletide, and appreciate the yumminess of feedback for their work. In other words, they are invested in fandom (or as Rebecca says, obsessed) and want to protect it. That gives them, I believe, a special insight into the needs of fans and fandom.
I asked the committee what they wanted fandom to know about them. Rebecca said:
We aren't looking to pick any fights, but we do want to take a strong stand on fair use. A colleague of mine says that fair use is like a muscle; you have to exercise it to keep it strong. So I guess that makes the OTW a gym. People sometimes think that fair use can't be about fun -- that if it's not "educational" or "news," then it's not fair use. But in fact, fair use occurs in lots of informal settings, and, given that our entertainment says a lot about who we are as a society, fair use has a huge role to play in creating and analyzing culture in our discussions with one another.
Both Rebecca and Killalla agree that the best possible future for their committee would be for them to be out of a job, except for routine maintenance work. Killalla is also working to assist the Legal Committee to "develop further alliances with overseas organizations similar to the EFF and the Stanford Fair Use Project (FSUP), so that we can provide references and assistance to fans outside of the United States as well."
OTW began, as I see it, with a post by Astolat back in May 2007, in which she wrote:
We need a central archive of our own, something like animemusicvideos.org. Something that would NOT hide from google or any public mention, and would clearly state our case for the legality of our hobby up front, while not trying to make a profit off other people's IP [intellectual property] and instead only making it easier for us to celebrate it, together, and create a welcoming space for new fans that has a sense of our history and our community behind it.
From my conversations with the OTW Legal Committee, it's clear to me that they haven't changed direction. No one in the OTW wants to "make a profit off other people's IP," but they do want to protect fanworks and their creators from overzealous litigators like those working for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The OTW Legal Committee, like the EFF, the Subpoena Defense Alliance, and Chilling Effects, is another organization trying to prevent the silencing of online activities.
Lady Justice, the Old Bailey, from here
To keep up with Legal's activities, follow Killalla's updates in the OTW News bi-monthly newsletter.
Written by Mirabile Dictu, with help from the OTW Legal Committee, and with help and support from ComRel.
Mirrored from the OTW News LJ
One of the five core projects of the OTW is to support the noncommercial sharing of fanworks within fan communities. The official OTW website says:
The OTW believes that fanworks are creative and transformative, core fair uses, and will therefore be proactive in protecting and defending fanworks from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. This help will not be limited to those fans or projects directly connected with OTW.
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I understand much about law -- in twenty-first century America, it seems a tool of the powerful and the rich. When I was younger, I saw the law as a way to facilitate social change, but not so much anymore.
However, even cynical me acknowledges a need for legal resources at times, and a special kind of legal resource for online services. The existence of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a "civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world," and the work it's doing is one indication of the need for legal analysis and protection.
The other core projects of the OTW include a wiki, a shelter for at-risk fannish projects, an academic journal, and a fanworks archive. The OTW's archive will be:
a noncommercial and nonprofit central hosting place for fanfiction and other transformative fanworks, where these can be sheltered by the advocacy of the OTW and take advantage of the OTW's work in articulating the case for the legality and social value of these works.
And it is the OTW's Legal Committee who will, when necessary, provide support and direction if the contents of the archive are challenged. Legal Committee member Killalla explains that she sees "the role of the Legal Committee as being a support to the OTW with regard to general advice relating to a specialized knowledge base. Much like you'd ask a lawyer friend or doctor friend informally about a personal issue, without necessarily seeking professional advice from them, we offer general comment, highlight potential issues, and in certain cases, provide a referral to the appropriate expert."
In other words, the OTW's lawyers will not be appearing in court as your personal attorney, but when necessary will, as Rebecca Tushnet, Chair of the OTW Legal Committee says, explain to anyone who has questions, whether fan or nonfan, the scope of fair use and the benefits fanworks and the fans who create them provide to copyright owners.
Occasionally, the OTW and the Legal Committee are described by others as if their intent was to confront copyright owners or to try to change the law. The OTW has no such intentions. I asked Rebecca about this discrepancy between appearance and reality recently. She observed that it's "hard to avoid being characterized by someone else," and certainly we've all experienced that. She also said that the Legal Committee will be "a place where fans can go for help if they need it, and a resource to explain to outsiders that both law and good business sense are reasons not to threaten fanworks."
Unlike most OTW committees, Legal doesn't meet regularly but tends to work on specific projects. Other committees approach Legal with a question; my own committee, Community Relations, has done so. Examples of the questions posed to Legal include reviewing contracts with possible hosting companies for the archive and exploring fundraising regulations.
But the committee is composed of more than lawyers: they're fans. They read fan fiction, watch vids, and some create fanworks, including both Rebecca and Killalla. They participate in fannish exchanges, like Yuletide, and appreciate the yumminess of feedback for their work. In other words, they are invested in fandom (or as Rebecca says, obsessed) and want to protect it. That gives them, I believe, a special insight into the needs of fans and fandom.
I asked the committee what they wanted fandom to know about them. Rebecca said:
We aren't looking to pick any fights, but we do want to take a strong stand on fair use. A colleague of mine says that fair use is like a muscle; you have to exercise it to keep it strong. So I guess that makes the OTW a gym. People sometimes think that fair use can't be about fun -- that if it's not "educational" or "news," then it's not fair use. But in fact, fair use occurs in lots of informal settings, and, given that our entertainment says a lot about who we are as a society, fair use has a huge role to play in creating and analyzing culture in our discussions with one another.
Both Rebecca and Killalla agree that the best possible future for their committee would be for them to be out of a job, except for routine maintenance work. Killalla is also working to assist the Legal Committee to "develop further alliances with overseas organizations similar to the EFF and the Stanford Fair Use Project (FSUP), so that we can provide references and assistance to fans outside of the United States as well."
OTW began, as I see it, with a post by Astolat back in May 2007, in which she wrote:
We need a central archive of our own, something like animemusicvideos.org. Something that would NOT hide from google or any public mention, and would clearly state our case for the legality of our hobby up front, while not trying to make a profit off other people's IP [intellectual property] and instead only making it easier for us to celebrate it, together, and create a welcoming space for new fans that has a sense of our history and our community behind it.
From my conversations with the OTW Legal Committee, it's clear to me that they haven't changed direction. No one in the OTW wants to "make a profit off other people's IP," but they do want to protect fanworks and their creators from overzealous litigators like those working for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The OTW Legal Committee, like the EFF, the Subpoena Defense Alliance, and Chilling Effects, is another organization trying to prevent the silencing of online activities.
Lady Justice, the Old Bailey, from here
To keep up with Legal's activities, follow Killalla's updates in the OTW News bi-monthly newsletter.
Written by Mirabile Dictu, with help from the OTW Legal Committee, and with help and support from ComRel.
