On Sat, 4 Nov 1995, Ratman wrote:
> On Sat, 4 Nov 1995, Joseph Delacroix wrote:
>
> I can understand their objection on the porno. But fan fiction? I will stand
> up to that. If they tell me to remove them, I'll tell them I'll see them in
> court.
>
> > Personally, I'm FED UP with Sega's behavior. This is too much. Censoring
> > a few porno pics is where they'll start. This is how they build a CASE.
> > Soon, if this awful trend continues, they'll regulate every part of StH
> > fandom...unless we get OFF OUR TAILS and make a *big* stink about this.
> > The more press we can generate about this incident, the more likely they'll
> > back down.
> >
> > Most large corporations are cowardly; they don't like bad PR, and
> > especially from the Internet. And if we got a lot, I bet we could
> > generate enough press to get a substancial number of people interested in
> > the StH cartoon again.
I've not seen all that many pics from the defunct perv directory, but
those I have seen are a lot less raunchier than some of the TTBS images
I've seen. Warner Bros. and Time-Warner seem to be a lot more tolerant of
such uses of their characters; after the "Please, Please, Please, Get a
Life" short on "Animaniacs" (including the Minerva poster), I'd say it's a
near certainty they are aware of all the TTBS and TTLS pics and stories
out there. The enormous financial resources of Time Warner could use the
court system to wipe out places like the acme and TTA Web pages almost as
fast as Sonic can get from the huts to the power ring pool.
Of course, Sega is a different company with its own agenda, and we should
at least be thankful they aren't as anti-'net as I've heard Paramount and
Disney are.
While walking to work yesterday, I came up with ideas that, if
implemented, could potentially make Sega's PR staff work overtime. If
removal of the porn and violent pics is the end of the matter, these
ideas will be discarded and never divulged. There is a certain alt.*
newsgroup that helps bring forth many interesting ideas ("2600" is not a
part of its name).
> I had to ask 3 times for an offical email. But they were concerned that "Sega
> would be made out to be a bully". And I told her that if she was going to ask
> me to take it down, she would have to ask me to take it down. There is no way
> I was going to take it down if they were not going to even ask me officially.
Can't live with the consequences of their own decision, eh? If they want
to play hardball with Sonic fans who are also their clientele, they'll
just have to let the chips fall where they may. If you don't want to be
thought of as a bully, don't be one. Amazing that such a simple concept
is so difficult to grasp.
> > (Think about it. This is a 1st Amendment issue. The EFF would get behind
> > us all the way if we could just get their attention...)
Not First Ammendment. It's not Congress trying to stop our Sonic fun.. yet.
It's a matter of Title 17 United States Code (Copyright Act of 1976).
Though the 1976 law provides for new technologies in a way much superior
than its predecessors, the legislators of the time could not have
anticipated the advent of the current state of personal computer
technology (at least it occurring so relatively soon), and the current
code does not adequately address matters concerning 'net use of protected
material. We are at the mercies of the vagaries of court decisions until
the 1976 law is superseded, and I doubt Congress will get around to that
any time soon.
> I don't know enough about the legal issues.
I have had a course in copyright law and another in contract law for the
music industry, but these aren't enough for me to be pro se in court and
still be able to stand my ground.
> But aside from that, I'd rather not get on Sega's bad side unless it's
> necessary. If they tell me to take down the regular pics, I will have to get
> on their bad side.
We'll just have to wait and see, and hope the porn/violent pics is as far
as they go.
Erich Schulman (KTN4CA) [Team OS/2] A net.freedom-fighter for Mobius!
"Freedom Fighters are #1!" -- Sonic the Hedgehog
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Mail: acme_at_use.usit.net | WWW:
http://nyx10.cs.du.edu:8001/~eschulma
Received on Sun Nov 05 1995 - 11:51:49 PST