Posts in Technology
Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 27
Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 27, Tumblr and Fandom, guest edited by Lori Morimoto and Louisa Ellen Stein. The essays in this guest-edited issue focus on Tumblr and include topics such as GIF sets, Supernatural fandom, fandom tags, Ms. Marvel, and Hiddleswift. Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as the following: “Digital space and Walking Dead fandom’s Team Delusional,” by Tosha R. Taylor. “Ms. Marvel, Tumblr, and the industrial logics of identity in digital spaces,” by Christopher M. Cox “A Glee-ful collaboration: Academic networking in the Tumblr world,” by Elizabeth M. Downey, Sheryl Lyn Bundy, Connie K…. Read more
OTW Legal’s International Advocacy and You!
OTW Legal has been busy working on three advocacy projects around the world–in Canada, Australia, and the European Union. We want to thank you for your help in Canada, and let you know what’s happening and what you can do to help in Australia and the European Union. Canada Thanks to the many amazing stories we received from Canadian fans, we submitted a comment to the Canadian Parliament’s copyright law review about the power and benefit of laws that allow and promote transformative works. You can find our submission here.
AO3, GDPR and You
You may have heard that the European Union’s new regulation on data protection, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is coming into effect on May 25. It has effects on sites and organizations all around the world, including Archive of Our Own. The GDPR’s primary focus is on data privacy and transparency, and on giving users more control over what their data is used for. The AO3 team has been working hard to comply with all GDPR requirements, and to make more information available on how we use your data across the site. Here’s what you need to know about upcoming changes. Terms of Service… Read more
Phishing and Domain Names
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… Read more
FOSTA/SESTA and Fans
Lately, OTW Legal has received many queries and concerns about recent U.S. legislation known as FOSTA/SESTA. We want to reassure you that the law as it currently stands does not apply to fiction, and therefore should have no impact on the Archive of Our Own. The term “FOSTA/SESTA” refers to legislation that has been passed by U.S. Congress and the Senate, purporting to combat what it describes as “sex trafficking.” The legislation would make it a crime to operate an interactive computer service “with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.” (That is, the exchange of sex for money.) Under the… Read more