Dreamhost & the Great LJ Debacle

[hope]

So, with all the LJ stuff happening, I have been moving myself over to my space at Dreamhost, as well as offering this space to other people. There are only a relatively small of other folks so far, but I thought I'd comb through the DH TOS to make sure I'm not infringing on anything liable to get me shut down and lose all my data! This is especially important to me as I host a number of pro websites on my spades of space as well.

In the DH TOS I discovered that: They must give you 30 day's notice before shutting down, which is good (no massive loss of data, just in case). ETA: this does not apply in the LAWFUL PURPOSE section listed below (immediate termination in place instead).

They have strict copyright laws that I'm not to worried about in terms of fanfiction etc - in terms of fair use, I think me & my hostees are fine with that (just as long as no one's uploading any copyrighted TV, film or music - they have been very publicly strict about that in the past).

However, one section called LAWFUL PURPOSE includes the following:

1. Customer may only use DreamHost Web Hosting's Server for lawful purpose. Transmission of any material in violation of any Country, Federal, State or Local regulation is prohibited. To this effect, child pornography is strictly prohibited as well as housing any copyrighted information (to which the customer does not hold the copyright) on DreamHost Web Hosting's Server.

( Emphasis mine. Complete TOS can be found here: dreamhost.com/tos.html)

This obviously has implications similar to those recently brought up in relation to LJ. To be safe, I'm seriously considering emailing DH support with a query about this clause, and how it applies to fanfiction - because if I'm providing this space to fans as a safe place away from LJ, I want to make sure the same problem isn't going to occur. For the record, I have had fabulous experiences with DH customer support, and have considerably more faith in how they would handle and approach this kind of issue than the way LJ has (and I know that a lot of people have left LJ for that poor-handling fact alone).

But, I want to gather together my facts etc first; draft a proper, researched email that provides them with the history over here, and the legislation etc that has been researched in relation to this.

I was thinking about posting to fandom_lawyers, but I know that a lot of people on my flist have been quite involved in this whole debate and may have some links on hand they could point me to (failing that, I'll probably do some deep digging around myself before asking someone more professional for a hand).

Anyone have any suggestions or ideas in relation to this? links to offer?

Comments

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

ARGH!!! SHIT! i just uploaded some songs. :((( can i keep them there?

[hope]

As long as you own the copyright, most definitely keep them there!

If they are 'pirated', as they say (arr!), then you'd better take them down again.

♥

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

arrr! they are indeed pirated. well. i own the cds. does that count? *hopeful face*

poo. and i was so please with it, too (see my latest post).

[hope]

Yep, certainly does count, as you're distributing them. I'm sorry!

This is where sites like yousendit.com, sendspace.com & megaupload.com come in handy!

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

heh, no worries. blah, i cannae be bothered with MORE sites and MORE admin. never mind. i shall be taking them down soon enough. gimme a sec.

[hope]

Good timing, eh? Sorry I didn't make this post early!

I should probably note too; regardless of whether you're distributing the urls to the files or not; simply having them sit within the webspace is a violation of copyright, and if they're found there, we're toast. Sigh!

(though, I doubt they're looking at me RIGHT NOW so don't feel too frantic *g*)

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

ok, they're gone! i had a moment where i didn't know how to get them off! ALARM!

what about if they're in a password protected folder? for instance, if i wanted to send myself a copy of a song i was, um, studying for uni? or the trailer for a film to show in a class?

[hope]

If there is copyrighted material on your Dreamhost space, it's in violation of their TOS.

This is regardless of whether you're backing up, password-protecting, transporting or whatever. If it's there, it's violating.

My advice would be to use a USB stick ;)

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

okie dokie.

[jeddy83.livejournal.com]

I think posting to fandom_lawyers would be a good idea. There has been a lot posted on the legality/illegality of fanart and fanfic some of which is contradictory. I think you will find the advice will be different depending on whether you are housing fanart or fanfiction, and I also suspect it is not the child pornography clause you should fear but the sentence that precedes it.

Transmission of any material in violation of any Country, Federal, State or Local regulation is prohibited.

I don't think fanart of minors in explict situations is considered child porngraphy under US law, but it might be illegal under US obscenity laws. I'm sure people at the comm will be able to help advise you.

[kiraboshi.livejournal.com]

Hrmmm. Interesting quandary. I've never had problems with DH, and I used to run a fanfic archive on their servers years ago. Unless someone complains to them directly, you're probably in the clear. I've known of other fic archives on DH that have underage stuff. In fact, the only shut down of a fic site I've seen in my 10 years of fandom was due to outside sources, not DH or a hosting service itself. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it.