Well, well, well, what a hornet's nest we have jostled with our knell of doom... This pleases me. However, many of you really have missed the point with our earlier diatribe, and it falls to us to clarify ourselves... Fine. For the slow class...

Any use of a copyrighted work without written permission to do so is -ILLEGAL-, and the tools to combat this are being levelled at the lot of you. Sure, you can get on your little boat to Fantasyland and insist that they would never piss on the people that got them there, but allow us to torpedo that little skipper right quick... Granted, the copyright holders may not give a crap if you write a little story or make a few t-shirts out of screencaptures... But guess who will?

The people that PAID for that privilidge... Be it the distribution network for episodes you may have converted to Realvideo and put up on your little fansite, be it the T-shirt sect that are eager to milk the marks, be it the magazine or novel writers... Rest assured you are stepping on SOMEONE's toes, and they don't fuckin' appreciate it. Now, here's the thing... Normally, the likelihood of them finding you was pretty darn miniscule - and the likelihood of them being able to litigiously lean on you was pretty much spending a pound to make a penny, but those salad days are coming quickly to an end.

The program we mentioned earlier is used to monitor the content being trafficked based on certain criteria - such as ID3 tags, filenames, etc. - in order to stave off the 'catastrophic losses' that such free trading creates for these content owners. In a nutshell, the whole thing is now automated. They don't have to do SHIT except turn it on... The thing will note that, for example, a bunch of files are coming from 'Brand X' ISP, and that many of them are movie files of their stuff... It will then log that address, send a nice little mail to the ISP and say, 'pull the plug'. The ISP, not exactly eager to get sued, and not all that glad you're using up their bandwidth with your stuff, will do it. Pushbutton simple. You'll just click on a link, and get that 404 to tell you that they're gone... They don't even have to TELL you it's going to happen - which is why WE'RE doing it. Dopes.

We have noticed several side discussions pop up regarding the use of 'original characters'... Well, folks, for the record, Mr. Fiendish was around LONG before the Sentinel, so I'm grandfathered as far as fandom goes. Bugger off. That said, the fact of the matter is that when you use the characters of someone else without their permission - be it created by some fan on the storyboard or by the Head Writer of whichever series you're deriving from - you are doing an UNETHICAL, ILLEGAL act. You may try to rationalize it any number of ways to get you through the night, but facts are facts and we don't see any reason to sugar coat this issue. Sure, you folks like to kid yourselves about it, but that's not one of the games we play. It is WRONG. PERIOD.

Sorry to kick over the coffeetable, but that's the hard truth. If you create an original character, then it's not that big of a stretch to create an original demense for them to party in. If, on the other hand, you create a character to use in a 'universe' NOT of your design, then what you have is not exactly an original in the truest sense, now is it? No, clearly not. In fact, as we see it, you're being darn lazy... You co-opted the universe of your choosing, much as Columbus 'discovered' America... IT already had a history, and people, and traditions, and this guy decided to put his own spin on it and hell with whoever says it's wrong... Sound familiar?

The bottom line here is and has been that the tools are coming into existence that automate the arduous task of ferretting out unauthorized use of people's created work - be it music that's being traded on Napster, AVI clips of episodes on fansites, or any other violation of the rights they reserve - and that the process is going to be so easy that they could shut down HORDES of fansites at the click of a button.

Would that bum you out? Sure. Do you think that the president of Paramount - or whatever media conglomerate whose property you're bastardizing - gives a shit? As far as they're concerned if you're watching the old stuff, you're not watching the new stuff, and guess what they WANT you to watch? I could go into long detail about the struggles of myself and several devoted fans of certain cartoons to get our favorite shows reinstated, but it's not likely we make a difference either way. If they think they can get money, they'll do it. Nothing else matters.

And if they think you're COSTING them money, guess what?

Now some of you might start bleating about how it's okay if the show's no longer generating any revenue, and how you buncha marks 'evangelize' whatever you like and bring new viewers in. Poppycock. If the show's over, it's over. You making other people like a show that's no longer on the air - or even one that is - is called 'word of mouth' advertising. As long as it doesn't go any farther than 'Hey, Judie, check out this wicked cool show on SciFi.' then it's okay...

If, on the other hand, you write a stack of novellas and get some of your friends to gush about what a talented writer you are, and you happen to say 'Oh, yeah, and I think they're still airing the show I swiped most of the guts of the story from.' Well, it gets a little dicey... Heh. Now, sure, most of you are not receiving any monetary gain from your work, but that's not the point... You can't play both sides. If you steal something, for WHATEVER reason, it's still STEALING. There is no positive spin here, folks... No shades of gray. Sorry.

And on a side note... I accidentally read some of that 'slash', and haven't been able to sit through the show it was based on since, so let's not get all hoity-toity about how it 'brings in new fans'... Some fanfic actually ruins the show for some folks, either through spoilers or the fact that they're involuntarily picking up innui based on the 'spin' someone put on the show. Let's just say that when I hear a certain character say, 'I'll cover you' or 'I'll be right behind you', I start gagging... Is that me being closeminded? No. See, I like to enjoy a show that can stand on its own, at face value... If the characters on, say, Starsky and Hutch, started buggering each other, then I'd be just as put off as I'd be if the actual homosexual characters on, say, Will and Grace started chasing skirts. If the formula works, why fiddle with it? Vicarious living? That's just sad...

Now let's examine the nature of the whole 'non-profit' angle most of you are clinging to like a piece of the deck in the choppy waters of reality. Take these 'zines for example... I've seen many of these things going for $20 and up for maybe 200 pages... Sure, printing's expensive and all, but if you expect anyone to believe it costs that much per copy then you're counting SERIOUSLY on a planetwide math deficiency. Sure, the AUTHORS might only get a free copy, but do you really seek to delude yourself into believing that the producers of these things end each quarter precisely at zero - or even in the red? It is to laugh... Personally, if I was selling books at twenty bucks a pop and wasn't making any money, I'd look to other fields of commerce - and maybe get my head examined. Barnes and Noble makes dough selling books for three bucks that are generally just as thick as these zines, so SPARE us the BULLSHIT. It's insulting...

So, since we've accepted that this does indeed make money for SOMEONE, there goes that 'not for profit' banner you fly. In fact, I'd look to get a little more for my efforts than a copy of it. Dopes. If you post it on the newsgroup, then you've got something to say about not making any dough, but if you hoard it and publish it and SELL it, then you DON'T. Even if you get other people to sell it FOR you.

As for me, I'm not buying...

You're welcome... See you SOON.