thanks to th_esaurus for the link

[luciazephyr]

I'd like to be the first person to say Thank you to Six Apart and Livejournal.

No, I am not joking. I now have a strong urge to slap anyone who's bitching about LJ's bannings. 'Cause, fuck, we have things good right now.

-Luce

ETA: miriam_heddy calls shenanigans in the comments here and raises a few points against the essay. Keep it in mind, folks.

Comments

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to argue that it's a bunch of bullshit (albeit well-written bullshit). He's condescending and sets up straw arguments (with his "air quotes" in the second paragraph) and then characterizes any potential rebuttal as "whining."

And he does all this without ever engaging any of the legal arguments and discussions that have been made by fans who are lawyers (and there's a whole comm full of them). Nor does he ever admit that none of the things he calls "illegal" have ever been tested in a court of law (which means that no judge or jury has ever determined that they are, or would be considered, illegal).

He's clever and a decent rhetorician. But he's still an ass, and I find his unwillingness to actually enter into actual conversation with the lawyer fans out there really irritating, as is his scripting our names into his collective of "fans who need to know the Truth (as he tells it).

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

there's a whole comm full of them

I'd be supremely interested in seeing this comm, especially if they're discussing this essay or the topic thereof. I'm suddenly worried about just how illegal fannish activity is.

I'd be happy to hear this is bullshit because, frankly, his observations scare me quite a bit.

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

This may not be the only one, but it's worth noting that he didn't engage them directly at any point:
http://community.livejournal.com/fandom_lawyers/

[red-eft.livejournal.com]

Nor does he ever admit that none of the things he calls "illegal" have ever been tested in a court of law (which means that no judge or jury has ever determined that they are, or would be considered, illegal).

This was my problem (well, my biggest one) with the essay- he says "a lot of things fandom does is illegal, and nobody wants to talk about it!" but he's wrong. Legally grey? Sure, maybe. Illegal? No.

Which was my major problem with LJ, actually, apart from the lousy PR. I understand their unwillingness to deal with legally grey areas, but that still doesn't mean what we do is illegal.