Anyone following this SFWA controversy?

[Talia]

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/30/science-fiction-writ-1.html

Not the slickest move on their part.
 Incidentally the comments are well worth a read through as well, there's plenty of interesting commentary not to mention its turning into a bit of a "who's who" in there.

[Alasdair5000]

(pinches bridge of nose very, very hard)

So...let me see if I have this down.  The SFWA have sent out DMCA notices to one particular website ordering them to take down anything with the word Asimov in the file or filename regardless of whether or not it's been put out under a CC licence? And this includes files put up by their own members AND in the case of Cory Doctorow by an author who is one of the faces of the Creative Commons movement or at the very least one of it's biggest names. 

Did I get that right?  Because if I did, no joke, that is flat out one of the most boneheaded plays I have ever seen in my entire life.  That is just blisteringly, awe-inspiringly ill advised especially following the 'e-scabs' hilarity from earlier in the year. 

[DKT]

That's my read of the situation, too.  I have to give people like Doctorow, Stross, and Scalzi credit for trying to change it from the inside.  SFWA frustrates me to no ends and although I'm pretty sure I'd join if I was elegible, sometimes I'm not so sure.  I hope Scalzi runs again next time, except as an actual candidate and not just a write-in. 

[Jim]

Well, I hope this SFWA has a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank to fend off the lawsuits the EFF is probably going to sling their way.

They've rankly abused the DMCA, and that comes with some pretty steep penalties.

But, at the same time, they're being sued for defamation by some "literary agent" person.

http://www.sfwa.org/news/2007/sfwalawsuit.htm

But that lawsuit looks for all the world like a SLAPP lawsuit, and I predict, in the end, it will be treated as such by the courts, and this "literary agent" person will end up having to pay all of SFWA's legal costs.

[Steven Saus]

There's an update at http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/30/science-fiction-writ-1.html:

Update: SFWA President Michael Capobianco writes,

Dear Cory,
I want to personally apologize for the mistake that caused your work to be pulled from scribd.com. It should not have happened and it will not happen again.

I've asked Andrew Burt to notify scribd.com of this mistake so your work can be restored as quickly as possible.

[Jim]

I love the spanking letter from the EFF... I had a feeling that they'd get involved.

[Rachel Swirsky]

" I hope Scalzi runs again next time, except as an actual candidate and not just a write-in.  "

Such possibilities inspire me to pay my dues.

[sirana]

Scalzi has a pretty objective writeup on the whole deal on his blog.
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/2007/09/about-that-latest-sfwa-thing.html

I agree with everything he has to say on this matter. Imho, he is one of the few people who kept his head during the whole debate. (although it sure is fun to watch Cory get into full Crusader-mode)

[raygunray]

Scott Sigler said at a Dragoncon panel that he was going to debate SFWA Vice President Andrew Burt about SFWA's disdain of electronic media. He expects to be in very hostile of territory.  I pray that someone records this.

At the podcasting forums, there was much lambasting of the Old Skool publishers not getting podiobooks and podcasting and that '08 will be the turnaround year.  A lot of the SFWA people published when the industry was more affable and there were many more magazines in print. Sadly, like most organizations, they have become a threat to the very thing the set out to promote.  Electronic media is the best hope for new talent to publish their work and build a fanbase.

Scott also paraphrased Doctrow that even if someone is pirating your work, so what.  It's still free advertising.  Metalica built its fanbase because of bootlegged tapes being passed around by metalheads. 

[sirana]

wow, sigler is trying to take on the entire Luddite gang.
On September 19 he has a debate with Howard Hendrix, origin of such choice new insults as "webscab" and "Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch". (Coincidentally (or maybe not) also a former SFWA vice president).
Now if he just could get Andrew "Even the Nazis didn't put artists out of work" Keen to return his calls ...

[raygunray]

Actually, I think Sig was referring to Hendrix, but I'm sure he's after the whole flat earth bunch.

[sirana]

ok, another interesting writeup on the whole matter.
This time by Jerry Pournelle. As close as getting an opinion from the other side of the issue.
Pournelle pretty much supports Burt's position and although I believe he got one or two facts wrong (afaik Scalzi only got in this on pure pricipal, not because his work was affected) it is a worthy read.

Also according to him "SFWA disbanded the Electronic Piracy Committee" because of fear of the EFF.
This is truly interesting and speaks for the huge backlash that this has created for the SFWA.

Read for yourselves here

[Heradel]

The thing is that SWFA should be doing this kind of thing for authors that ask it to, each author trying to do it themselves is impractical. If they'd taken the time to get public or even community comment before they overreached... ah well. Don't get me wrong, I love CC and copyleft, but copyright needs to be respected (not that I don't believe that system needs the clock turned back a few half-centuries).