Interesting Links for 31-10-2022

[andrewducker]

1. Some interesting thoughts about Elon Musk and what his endgame is. (I don't know how accurate it is, but it certainly lines up with how he acts)

(tags:ElonMusk Twitter Doom )

2. Fanfiction authors have kept away from creators. That might be beginning to change

(tags:fanfic TV writing law society history )

3. The canals on Mars are the blood in your eyes

(tags:Mars history astronomy eyes canal )

4. Guantanamo Bay: US releases oldest detainee - without charge. Still multiple uncharged and unreleased

(tags:iraq Pakistan terrorism USA OhForFucksSake law )

5. Japan's "mundane Halloween" is amazing

(tags:Halloween costumes funny Japan viaPatrickHadfield )

Comments

[bens_dad]

2. Do the fan-fict writers get Union Rates when their work is used by the copyright holders ?

I was going to say that the current bargain is that fan-fict writers make no money from their work and thus keep the copyright holder's lawyers off their backs.

However OTW/AO3, as a publisher, does receive money, if only to cover costs (and not to make a profit) so I don't know what the current state of play really is.

[snippy]

OTW/AO3 are not publishers. They are an archive. A library is not a publisher, it is an archive.

[hairyears]

What's the precise difference?

[snippy]

I am not a lawyer, but to copy my comment below: They ask for donations to cover their expenses for hosting the archive, and to defend creators on the basis of fair use in a transformative work (not exactly the terms of art, but close). They don't charge a fee to use the website either to post fan works or to look at them. They make no profit, they don't vet creators, they don't edit the works, they don't advertise the works...they perform none of the functions of publisher.

[bens_dad]

I meant that they are not authors, they make the stories available to the public and they ask for money to enable them to do so. As I am not a lawyer I wont argue whether this makes them publishers or a library.

Whatever you call them, I am not sure why the lawyers are not busy or what the unspoken agreement is between the fan-fict writers and the character creators.

[snippy]

They ask for donations to cover their expenses for hosting the archive, and to defend creators on the basis of fair use in a transformative work (not exactly the terms of art, but close). They don't charge a fee to use the website either to post fan works or to look at them. They make no profit, they don't vet creators, they don't edit the works, they don't advertise the works...they perform none of the functions of publisher.