clarification
Aug. 9th, 2007 15:46![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhai harbour no illusion that fan art, fan fiction, and yaoi scanlations are perfectly legal completely aside from any possible child porn issues; they're quite probably not. many are in obvious violation of copyright and possibly trademark laws, some are treading on dubious grounds (japanese law appears to be more lenient when it comes to fan works). i'm not mad at 6A for not actively helping us pursue our possibly illegal hobbies. i don't expect 6A to fight the US government either; that's something for the ACLU and EFF to do. i'm grumpy for two reasons:
1. their "child porn" assessment, which now goes beyond what US law requires doesn't just affect fandom, but it also affects original artists. i get antsy when freedom of expression is trampled on for mere fear of what isn't even (yet) law. i get antsier when a company pats itself on the back for maximizing said freedom of expression when it actually keeps backpaddling more and more. i also don't like the effect that having gone with ads seems to have had -- in general, the "going corporate" thing grumps me out.
2. they give wholesale tacit support and profit from illegality on the one hand (much of LJ is illegal, and they damn well know it -- we don't even have to talk creative fandom activities; just look at people's userpics), and then slam down a huge hammer when they get paranoid (all the mistaken "interest == engages in" deletions during strikethrough 2007, and the permanent bans of the two HP fan artists). that's a bad position because it leaves people without good guidelines, it allows them to feel safe pursuing their questionable (or outright illegal) hobbies, allows them to feel (or assume, for those who're young and naive) those are not actually illegal, and then pulls the rug out from under their feet, causing them to lose all they have invested here for offenses that, even if technically illegal, wouldn't ever be brought to a court of law because they're too trivial.
i'd like to see a smaller hammer, such as temporary suspension until the material is removed for anything that doesn't depict real children in actual child porn, and "3 strikes you're out" for people who don't learn. we probably won't get much clearer guidelines because that might make 6A liable.
ETA 2007-08-18: since then there have been revisions, and LJ now has a "two strikes" policy, which seems more fair to me. however, what's worse is that even linking to an "objectionable" file on a non-LJ server, without ever displaying anything within LJ's pages, is against the ToS now. and apparently a notice that "the characters are over 18" does not trump the subjective impression of the 6A miller test team. good grief.
i have an abuse request in to find out how this will affect communities, but it's been more than a week without a reply -- i presume they're a) swamped and b) haven't formulated a policy for that yet.
1. their "child porn" assessment, which now goes beyond what US law requires doesn't just affect fandom, but it also affects original artists. i get antsy when freedom of expression is trampled on for mere fear of what isn't even (yet) law. i get antsier when a company pats itself on the back for maximizing said freedom of expression when it actually keeps backpaddling more and more. i also don't like the effect that having gone with ads seems to have had -- in general, the "going corporate" thing grumps me out.
2. they give wholesale tacit support and profit from illegality on the one hand (much of LJ is illegal, and they damn well know it -- we don't even have to talk creative fandom activities; just look at people's userpics), and then slam down a huge hammer when they get paranoid (all the mistaken "interest == engages in" deletions during strikethrough 2007, and the permanent bans of the two HP fan artists). that's a bad position because it leaves people without good guidelines, it allows them to feel safe pursuing their questionable (or outright illegal) hobbies, allows them to feel (or assume, for those who're young and naive) those are not actually illegal, and then pulls the rug out from under their feet, causing them to lose all they have invested here for offenses that, even if technically illegal, wouldn't ever be brought to a court of law because they're too trivial.
i'd like to see a smaller hammer, such as temporary suspension until the material is removed for anything that doesn't depict real children in actual child porn, and "3 strikes you're out" for people who don't learn. we probably won't get much clearer guidelines because that might make 6A liable.
ETA 2007-08-18: since then there have been revisions, and LJ now has a "two strikes" policy, which seems more fair to me. however, what's worse is that even linking to an "objectionable" file on a non-LJ server, without ever displaying anything within LJ's pages, is against the ToS now. and apparently a notice that "the characters are over 18" does not trump the subjective impression of the 6A miller test team. good grief.
i have an abuse request in to find out how this will affect communities, but it's been more than a week without a reply -- i presume they're a) swamped and b) haven't formulated a policy for that yet.