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Viacom's Web Assault


Well, it's coming.

That's right, as many of you I'm sure have heard, Viacom looks to make some
sweeping moves in limiting what fans post on their Web sites, on
newsgroups, and elsewhere on the Internet where Star Trek is concerned, and
it's already started.

I haven't received my letter yet--I'm not that high on the "Trek Web totem
pole" I'm guessing (and hoping), but my understanding of the letter (which
I have seen posted on other Trek sites) has me expecting that when and if
Viacom ever becomes aware of my site, I'm going to get my own
"personalized" copy, and, I'm sure, will be forced to significantly change
the way my Web site looks.

Actually, what worries me is that I won't get the letter at all; the system
administrator of my Internet provider will, and I can just foresee an
immediate suspension of my account as a result. Since my Internet access is
through a "free" (read: included in fees) student account at a state
university, I can imagine a host of other bureaucracy that would accompany
such an event. This is a lot of red tape for a simple review archive that
uses a few *attributed* Trek-related images as a way of spicing up the look
of its pages--images that may not be there much longer if Viacom attacks me
the way they've attacked other fan contributors.

No, I am *not* happy with Paramount's sudden need to police the WWW for
anything that might contain Trek material, especially when they're going to
end up chasing fans who (1) are not making a dime with their use of Trek
material and (2) are *promoting* Trek and all its incarnations with free
publicity, *not harming* it. I'll agree that the leak of scripts like
"Generations" and "First Contact" can potentially be damaging considering
the nature of the motion picture industry, and I think Paramount was within
its right to request that scripts be removed from WWW sites. But going out
after fans who are using a few sound clips or video images from
already-aired Trek shows just seems like a futile controlling measure for
the sake of containing and regulating a huge and uncontrollable following
to a multibillion-dollar franchise.

I am quite angry with Paramount's overly-strict notion, but I also see that
it's all probably within their legal right--except one thing. In the
letter, there is mention that "providing detailed summaries of the works"
constitutes copyright infringement. I strongly disagree with this wording.
Copying and posting excerpts of a script is one thing, but a synopsis--like
the one of "First Contact" that Viacom forced many Web moderators to remove
several months before the release of the film--is a completely different
matter, especially if it is an original writing that is based on a
*reaction* to such a Trek work. In other words, if I went to see "First
Contact" at a movie theater (which I did), and wrote a review with some
detailed synopsis in it (which I also did), and then posted that on the
Internet (which I also did), does that constitute copyright infringement?
No, it doesn't, but Paramount seems to want to imply so.

As a fan who has been reviewing Trek on the Internet for some time now, I'm
most concerned about this aspect. I don't honestly think that Paramount is
going to begin limiting what fans say in their reviews of Trek (I certainly
hope it never comes to that), but for Viacom to suddenly take such drastic
and seemingly overprotective steps regarding apparently harmless images and
the like does not have me feeling reassured about the way the franchise
views its own followers.

I guess I'll keep some new Web designs in mind for when Viacom comes
knocking at my online door. I don't think I'll have much of a choice.

--------------------
Star Trek: Hypertext --
  http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~epsicokh/trek/

Jamahl Epsicokhan -- epsicokh@uiuc.edu