~Odin-the-Allfather

I've really do have nothing to say! Well almost nothing. I'm just tired of looking at my last journal entry

• Work on the book is still progressing, although a bit slowly.


• The economy sucks. I had a client go out of business on me. They still owe me money of course!


• My food is getting cold because I spent too much time writing this lame journal entry.

That's it, nothing left to say!!

^{Proud member of the following:}

Earlier today, a friend of mine sent me a link to a web site. I was rather surprised to see one of my poems posted there. I was more surprised to see that the young women who posted it, was claiming it as her own work. It appeared as though she had posted dozens of poems, that were not her own. Needless to say I was not happy.

Thankfully, the administrators of the site were very quick to act deleting the account along with all of its contents. So it is now resolved but the indecent has left me a little upset.

I decided it is just a little bit too easy to cut and paste the text from my postings. So I am going to update my work with graphical forms. This won't eliminate the theft, but at least it will make them work a little.

Updates completed: The Price; Judas and Jezebel; Succession;

^{Proud member of the following:}

I spent most of yesterday outside doing work around the house. I noticed that the trumpet vines in the woods were beginning to bloom. This means summer is nearly here. I realized, that I hadn't taken any photos this spring, and most of the flowers were already gone. I have been to wrapped up with personal problems to notice. It won't be long till temperatures will be hitting 102°F (39°C) and higher. Soon the green of the spring will begin to fade to the brown of late summer. So I pulled out the cameras, and began to take a few photos. I'll be posting some of my favorites over the next few weeks.


^{Proud member of the following:}

This is my first journal entry and I am on a bit of a rant today. As always when I am in such a mood, my mind moves faster than the fingers can type. So what follows may or may not make sense to everyone.

Today's subject is a common one here on DeviantART. It is that, of “copyright” and “fair use.” It should be noted, that I am a writer by profession, and have a history as a computer programmer as well. Therefore copyright law is something that is extremely important to me. Unfortunate there is a vagueness about such laws that cause confusion and frequent abuse of the laws.

The fair use of copyrighted materials is not at all straight forward. Take as an example your favorite movie. You go to the store and buy a DVD copy of that movie. You have every right to view that movie in private by yourself as much as you want. You also have the right to view that movie in private with a group of friends as much as you want. Now if you keep adding to the number of people who are viewing that movie, it is no longer considered to be viewing that movie in private. It becomes a public performance, which you do NOT have the right to do. The problem is determining at what point it goes from being a private viewing to a public performance.

This type of confusion is common whether it be a movie, music, and any other art form. Generally the law would be fine with you painting the likeness of your favorite anime character on the wall of your bedroom. Paint that same character on the wall of your place of business then you have a violation of the law. The boundaries between expression of the appreciation of the art, and exhibition of the art are just too vague.

DeviantART has some understanding of complexity of this issue per the FAQ.

FAQ #32 Fair Use and Your Submission
"Fair Use" is the notion that some public and private uses of copyrighted works should not require the permission of a copyright owner.

These circumstances are very limited, complex to analyze under the law, require the help of expert advice from a lawyer and are ultimately only determined by judgment in a court of law.

Since the subject of "Fair Use" is widely misunderstood, misinterpreted and misused as a defense DeviantART reserves the right to reject any submission which makes use of content by claiming the "Fair Use" exemption.

They have taken the reasonable stance that DeviantART has the final say in the rejection of a submission. _{(more on this in a minute.)}

The confusion of rights and fair use leads me to the legal concept of “ignorantia iuris neminem excusat.” This is Latin for "ignorance of the law excuses no-one." I partially agree with this concept, but only to an extent.

The law is complex and lengthy. Even without the type of vagueness mentioned above, it would a idiot savant to know them all. This is why lawyers, policemen, and judges, why they are forever looking it all up themselves. It has been said, “It would take you over 400 years to read all the law that applies today in the UK.” The situation is little better here in the United States.

I will now refer to the writings of those wiser than myself.

“It’s quite unjust for anyone to be bound by a legal code which is too long for an ordinary person to read right through”. ~ Thomas More (1516)

“It is impossible to know all the statutory law” ~ Lord Justice Scrutton (1921)

The law does make the distinction between “ignorance" and “nescience.” Nescience being the term for absence of knowledge in someone without the capacity to have it, like an infant or someone mentally incapacitated. I would argue that with the complexities of the current laws, that all of us have moved into the state of nescience.

However this does not mean that we should feel free to ignore the law. For the most part, there are good reasons for them to exist and they do need to be enforced. This is the reason DeviantART has tried to reiterate the laws and policies as they relate to submissions on the site.

However there is a problem. It is not so easy to read the policies in their entirety. Indeed it takes a number of clicks just to get the right section. (Help & FAQ → Help with DeviantART → Policies) When you do manage to find them, your are faced with another situation. Instead of having a single, although lengthy page for the policy, you are instead faced with a page with 55 links to the various policies. Some of these links contain sub-links as well. When you select one of the links it takes you to that subject. However when you try to go back, it takes you to the “Help & FAQ” page and you must them navigate back to the policy page. This makes reading the entire policy near impossible.

If you are still reading this, and I doubt that everyone is, you may be asking yourself, “Where is he going with this?” Because of the situations I mentioned above, and for the countless situations I have felled to mention, from time to time, even well meaning honest people may be guilty of copyright violations. It can and will happen!

My issue is the way I have seen DeviantART respond to the violations. A friend of mine recently had a number of their submissions removed. When this person inquired why they were removed from the Help Desk, they were told that the removal may had been done in error. Because this person was told that removal occurred in error, they them proceeded to resubmit the same artwork. Now their account is suspended because of repeated violations. If they had been told the correct reason why the art was deleted then this situation would had never gone this far!

Now, I believe that an administrator did remove them because of a perceived copyright issue, however they failed to note why they were removed. Now I understand that the staff of DeviantART, has to wade though an incredible amount of submissions, and this can lead to sloppy documentation and a lack of caring. However this has caused even more work and great deal of frustration. I have been made aware of several cases like this.

→ I don't have any real answers or solutions to the problem. I just would like the staff of DeviantART to act with responsibility and treat people with a bit of kindness and respect.

OK, I am finished with this rant, at least for the moment anyhow.


^{Proud member of the following:}