Posts in Legal Committee
OTW Signal, November 2023
Every month in OTW Signal we’ll take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including legal, technology, academic, fannish history, and preservation issues that are important for fandom, fan culture or transformative works. In the News OTW Legal has been partnering with other organizations to oppose the STOP CSAM Act. One of their partners, the ACLU, informed the public about the risks of having the act pass in the U.S. Senate.
KOSA and Other Bad Internet Bills
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has been much in the news lately, and OTW Legal has been receiving inquiries from understandably concerned users. We thought it would be worthwhile to provide some information on KOSA and also a rash of other bad internet bills that have been proposed around the U.S. It’s been, unfortunately, a busy summer – and now that Congress is back in session it’s time to take action! The tl;dr is that the OTW and AO3 are not currently implicated by KOSA and many of the other bills because of our nonprofit status (most of the proposed laws only apply to… Read more
OTW Signal, September 2023
Every month in OTW Signal we’ll take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including legal, technology, academic, fannish history, and preservation issues that are important for fandom, fan culture or transformative works. In the News The ‘Uncovering Publishing’ podcast focuses on interviews in the publishing industry. Their season finale featured OTW co-founder and current Fanhackers volunteer, Francesca Coppa. In it she discussed “the meaning of fandom, the value of the fanfiction space, the success of the OTW, and the transition from fanfiction to traditional publishing.”
The OTW’s Commitment to Safety: Responding to Recent Concerns About AO3
This post hopes to address some claims made yesterday by Rahaeli on Twitter and her site, Dreamwidth, for purposes of clarification. After the illegal attack on OTW volunteers in May, 2022, the OTW took numerous steps to protect volunteers, including hiring an outside law firm with expertise in cybersecurity, working with contractors and firms that investigate and handle security incidents, and comprehensively revising our internal volunteer practices and updating our technological tools, including email systems, as well as making all necessary reports to NCMEC and others. These actions, revisions and updates are ongoing. We also communicated with volunteers, both through personal and organization-wide communications, providing… Read more
OTW Signal, June 2023
Every month in OTW Signal we’ll take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including legal, technology, academic, fannish history, and preservation issues that are important for fandom, fan culture or transformative works. In the News An important U.S. legal case involving fair use exemptions in copyright law was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court last year. With their decision still pending, OTW Legal staffer Rebecca Tushnet was asked to comment for an article which was examining possible implications. This spring, the US Supreme Court is expected to rule on Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith,… Read more