MOD POST: Off Topic but important
If you haven't heard yet... this totally blows.
http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_action/1323.html
hanabishirecca in fandom_action.
"Rep. Steven Chabot (R-OH) has introduced a bill that strengthens copyright laws . This bill modifies existing laws to make it possible for you to be charged criminally for copyright infringement and increases the penalty for such infringements. While this law is mostly designed to help the RIAA and MPAA send people who use P2P networks to jail (and make more money), it could also be applied to the fandom world."
On hanabishirecca's post ( http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_action/1323.html ) , there is a link to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) website that has set up a letter that will be automatically sent to your local government officials in protest of the new bill. The EFF website even goes into further detail about the new law saying that "Law enforcement would also be allowed to use wiretaps and to spy on personal communications as part of copyright investigations ." The new bill allows for "(1) making it easier to convict people by eliminating the inconvenient necessity of proving that actual infringement took place, and (2) increasing the financial and confinement punishments."
So even if you don't write fanfiction or draw fanart, you should still read up on this new bill on the EFF website ( https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr011=y2q7x9mp21.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=299 ) cause chances are this will still affect you.
Also, if you can, it wouldn't hurt to get the word out to the rest of the fandom communities and other LJ users.
http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_action/1323.html
hanabishirecca in fandom_action.
"Rep. Steven Chabot (R-OH) has introduced a bill that strengthens copyright laws . This bill modifies existing laws to make it possible for you to be charged criminally for copyright infringement and increases the penalty for such infringements. While this law is mostly designed to help the RIAA and MPAA send people who use P2P networks to jail (and make more money), it could also be applied to the fandom world."
On hanabishirecca's post ( http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_action/1323.html ) , there is a link to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) website that has set up a letter that will be automatically sent to your local government officials in protest of the new bill. The EFF website even goes into further detail about the new law saying that "Law enforcement would also be allowed to use wiretaps and to spy on personal communications as part of copyright investigations ." The new bill allows for "(1) making it easier to convict people by eliminating the inconvenient necessity of proving that actual infringement took place, and (2) increasing the financial and confinement punishments."
So even if you don't write fanfiction or draw fanart, you should still read up on this new bill on the EFF website ( https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr011=y2q7x9mp21.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=299 ) cause chances are this will still affect you.
Also, if you can, it wouldn't hurt to get the word out to the rest of the fandom communities and other LJ users.