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Originally Posted by DrNefario
I didn't think Harry's posts were insulting at all. It's a pretty strong statement of a position, but that's all it is. There are no personal attacks, unlike the responses to Harry's posts.
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There's a difference between "I think this is illegal" and attacking someone's parenting decisions based on one's own opinions of legality.
This is especially troubling in the light of Harry's regular suggestions that people seek out Apprentice Alf for their drm-stripping needs... he *knows* that distributing DRM-stripping tools is illegal, but he supports that activity, because he believes it's non-harmful and not directly supportive of piracy or other infringing activities.
He uses a photo of a trademarked, copyrighted object for his own userpic, believing that his use is non-harmful and supportive of the creators' rights... and I agree with that, but don't see how using a character description in an original story is somehow more infringing than using a photo of someone else's work without permission.
In the case of fanfic, he's decided it's illegal--and therefore should *not* be encouraged, regardless of the good that comes from it, or the ethics of the laws he believes are being broken. And he's certainly within his rights to believe that's somehow different, and conclude that encouraging fanfic is illegal while sending people to Apprentice Alf is not. I don't now how he arrived at that decision, but I've split finer hairs in philosophical and legal arguments; there's nothing hypocritical about believing one is acceptable and the other is not.
That, in itself, is not an insulting belief. But implying someone is guilty of bad parenting for not reaching the same conclusions, is insulting.
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There is an awful lot of defensiveness in this thread, including some convoluted manoeuvres to try to claim fan fiction is completely legit.
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Not completely, just mostly. I noted that there've been no counter-arguments pointing out the fanfics they believe are infringing, but rather bland statements claiming an entire genre is infringing, based on someone's labeling it "fanfic," rather than the actual contents of the stories.
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Maybe they'd work in court, but they seem to open the door for a number of less innocent things if they do.
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Fanfic as a gateway drug to... what? Writing unauthorized sequels and attempting to publish them?
What "less innocent" things would be endorsed by formal recognition of the legality of fanfic?