DMCA exemption: digital downloads

[tishaturk]

Thanks to all who've already responded to the earlier call for information to help the OTW renew DMCA exemptions for vidders.

The Legal committee has asked me to pass along the following request:

We really need some examples of "I needed to react fast to this development, so I couldn't wait for the DVD" in order to explain why it may be necessary to use sources like iTunes downloads or Amazon Instant Video.

If you've got a story, or know someone who does, please comment on this post or email us:
fanvideo-chair at transformativeworks dot org
legal at transformativeworks dot org

Thanks!

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Hi! This isn't a "need to react fast" thing, but my new computer doesn't have an optical drive, so ripping DVDs isn't possible. I use iTunes downloads quite a bit for this reason.

[zeborah]

Two examples for me. In both cases it's where the show's done something that's made me want to respond immediately, to have my fanvid be a part of the online community dialogue which would be long over by the time the DVDs came out. I didn't actually use sources like iTunes/Amazon, though - not sure they're available in my jurisdiction - but rather just the ripped-from-TV version found on a file-sharing site. Don't know if this affects the argument or not but anyway:

Living Doll came out of a trend I saw on Doctor Who, but was triggered in an I must vid this NOW way by a particular episode (S06.E10, with "old Amy"). The episode made me furious because it was just another variation on a too-oft-repeated and horrible trope, and I wanted to not just explain why I was furious about this (which I'd done in writing previously) but to show it and make people feel it.

I wanted this to be part of the discussion taking place right then. But even aside from that, it was that fury that buoyed the creativity so that I completed the vid within about a week of the episode airing. If I'd waited for DVDs to come out, all the inspiring energy would have faded and it would have been a chore so the fanvid would probably never have been made.

Similarly, Straight to Hell which I completed within a few weeks of the last episode of White Collar season 3 airing. It was inspired by that season finale and by how I thought it highlighted a really fascinating arc in the series to that date: the mirroring of the story arcs between Neal (who, albeit with ups and downs, was moving towards lawfulness and redemption) and Peter (who, despite being the embodiment of the law, was increasingly going over it, around it, or just blowing it out of the water).

I made it partly as analysis, but also partly as prediction: this is the direction I think the show is going. So I really wanted to make the prediction before season 4 started, because it's no fun making a prediction if you've already been proved either right or wrong!