Writing With A Plank In My Eye....

The copyright agent countdown is on.

Websites and blogs that host user-generated "content" will lose their safe harbor protections under the DMCA this December, 2017, if they don't register their copyright agent.

Legal bloggers Carol Anne Been, Kate Hart, Monica B. Richman, and Tiffant Scwarz for the copyright team at Dentons law firm give fair warning that time is running out for bad actors and all-too-innocent actors as well.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=efd60c1d-3379-4313-bb71-620ef09508f8&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-10-09&utm_term=

To register your copyright agent, go here: https://dmca.copyright.gov/osp/login.html

For a Copyright Office offered tutorial, go here: https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/onlinesp/NPR/

As for that plank in my eye, I haven't registered the copyright agent for this alien romances blog. But, then,
Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Margaret L. Carter and Rowena Cherry don't host user-generated materials. I've noticed Blogspot sites that do appear to offer allegedly infringing content... such as pig8... and I allege that in good faith, because they appear to be publishing illegal links to copies of my works according to Blasty.co alerts.  They don't have a working copyright agent link or a DMCA link, or a Contact link.

2018 could be an interesting year for hosting sites.

For impoverished copyright owners, here's some advice from Scotland. "Sue here!" (That is, if your copyright-infringing Nemesis has a presence in Scotland.... an office, a site.) Suing a copyright infringer in Scotland costs GBP 300 (much less than $600.) Or so Buchan says.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2c887544-2800-4e90-aa72-9df18c5f4b03&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2017-10-10&utm_term=


Find out more from Robert Buchan of Brodies LLP.

A recent blog on THE HILL, makes the point that 84% of businesses in the entertainment industry (that would include musicians and authors) have fewer than ten employees. One wonders why successive governments claim to be supporters of small businesses, yet their actions support big Silicon Valley businesses.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/354627-strong-copyright-protections-in-nafta-renegotiations

Creative people need strong protection for their copyrights. If your State has elections this coming November, and you have an opportunity to put a flea in the ear of your candidates at a town hall, please do so. You might also write to your incumbents, to ask that NAFTA protects authors, and other entertainers.

Miranda Mulholland blogs about her theory that the Internet is responsible for a nose-dive (paraphrasing) in the quality of music and writing. It's because creators are under pressure to perform (write/create... not play!) faster, and they receive less income.
http://www.socanblog.ca/en/digital-revolution-fosters-more-hurried-less-skillful-creative-process/


Quality work takes time...as Malcolm Gladwell proclaims.

 The countdown is also on for NaNoWriMo... the contest against oneself to get a first draft of a novel written entirely in the month of November. No worries if the quality is not there in the first draft. One can edit a volume of drivel. One cannot edit a blank page.

All the best,
Rowena Cherry