SFWA illegal DMCA take down notice
It is hard enough to have your stuff taken down by a DMCA notice when you actually do own it, it is even worst when a group claiming to represent you and does not represent you, has your work taken down illegally. And this is exactly where the Science Fiction Writers Association of America finds itself in today.
Scribd is a web site that allows people to share their own writing works, and in some cases lists of way cool books to read. We are personally fans of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffery, and a host of others. Boing Boing is quite direct about the influence that the illegal and wrong take down notice will have on Cory Doctorow and others who have released their work Creative Commons.
Ironically, by sending a DMCA notice to Scribd, SFWA has perjured itself by swearing that every work on that list infringed a copyright that it represented…All of this is pretty bad, but this month’s campaign against Scribd takes the cake. I’m a dues-paying SFWA member and past volunteer who relies on the free distribution of my books to sell printed books and earn my living. By fraudulently removing my works from Scribd, SFWA is taking money out of my pocket — it’s the online equivalent of sending fake legal threats to bookstores demanding that they take my books off their shelves. Source: Boing Boing
Ars Technica has an interesting take on it here as well, and is worth reading. As well as a host of others like Evil Avatar and Nielsen Hayden.
The idea of illegal take downs is not new, this is something that is practiced on a regular basis, and is negating the idea that under the DMCA any good can happen. If the users who had their works illegally removed then in turned sued the SFWA for the money that is due them for the illegal take down this would be a good thing. Because so many were impacted by the illegal notice they might actually get class action status for this one.
It is one thing to hold copyright, it is quite another to abuse it, and abuse has been happening in plenty, so much so that former foes like Microsoft, Red Hat, Google, Yahoo and others are seeking to clear the mud out of the water. The looming disaster for the SFWA in terms of legal liability should be even more interesting.
[…] last week we covered the whole SFWA taking down lists and works via the DMCA that it did not control, even if the authors had requested […]
[…] of this approaches the issue around the SFWA taking action against Scribd as well, the rift caused in the Science Fiction community over the whole thing can be problematic […]