Month: April 2018

5 Things an OTW Volunteer Said

Five Things Rachel Bussert Said

Claudia Rebaza

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Rachel Bussert, who volunteers as a staffer in our Volunteers & Recruitment Committee.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

The mission of any organization is driven by the people who dedicate their time and resources to it. Volunteers & Recruiting (VolCom) is very central to that for OTW. Throughout the year, we handle recruitment for all the positions needed, which readers may see regularly in our announcement posts. Below is a chart of OTW’s volunteer numbers over time. As you can see, the number of folks involved in the organization have increased over time to accommodate the work of each committee, and Volunteers & Recruiting is the first step in making sure those staffing needs are being met.

Read More

Outlines of a man and woman speaking with word bubbles, one of which has the OTW logo and the other which says 'OTW Announcement

Phishing and Domain Names

Janita Burgess

A few months ago, we learned that someone had registered the domain name archiveofourowno.com and copied the front page of Archive Of Our Own at that url; they even included a login screen that mimicked the AO3 login.

We immediately went to GoDaddy–the registrar of the domain name–and asked them to remove the website, because it violated their bar on phishing (that is, tricking someone into giving away login or other personal information). GoDaddy’s Terms state that they will not allow a site to impersonate “a legitimate, trustworthy site” by tricking “visitors into providing them sensitive information like logins.” However, GoDaddy never responded and did not take the site down.

Therefore, in January, the OTW Legal Committee initiated a proceeding with the World Intellectual Property Office with the goal of stripping the domain name from the infringers. In April, after the infringers had failed to respond, the WIPO Panel ruled in our favor. The panel held that Bradley Binkley of Chicago, who had registered the domain name, had “in all likelihood… registered the disputed domain name with the aim of exploiting and profiting from the Complainant’s mark, through the impersonation of the Complainant in furtherance of a fraudulent phishing scheme.” As a result, the panel voided Binkley’s registration of the name, and the OTW is currently in the process of setting up the domain name to point to the main Archive of Our Own page. Read More

Organization for Transformative Works Membership Drive, April 19-23, 2018

You’ve Helped Make A Difference!

Priscilla

As our April fundraising drive comes to a close, we at the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) are once again humbled by your support. Your generous donations, representing 4799 donors from 80 countries, have helped us raise US$130,084.00 over the past few days, surpassing our goal of US$100,000!

We hope that during this drive you have learned more about the many ways in which your donations can make a difference. All of our projects depend on your continued support to thrive, so thank you.

And don’t forget, even though the drive is over, you can still support the OTW. We accept donations year round!