UnSettlement Insurrection

Five days before the September 12 deadline to object or opt out, the fight to derail the train wreck of a copyright class action settlement has gained critical mass.

The Authors Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Writers Union have tried to sell us down the river. So have the distinguished author E.L. Doctorow and 20 other purported class representatives.

But the settlement, which was a mess from the start, became a bigger mess with a July 28 amendment. Arrogant, incompetent, incomplete, and uneducated communications from the settlement team have opened the eyes of the freelance community to the disastrous ramifications of the settlement's terms, especially the "License by Default," an unprecedented abuse of the class action system.

The authors' associations lack the muscle to unwind this awful deal. Charles Chalmers, the attorney for a slate of objectors led by me, is a brilliant lawyer who has thoroughly exposed the settlement for the piece of sandlot junk that it is. But we may not have the muscle either.

Collectively, however, all of us can stop this thing before writers' rights in the digital age are irreparably maimed. Please do your part.

For background, see:

AUTHOR EDWARD HASBROUCK: 'Why I'm Opting Out'
http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2005/09/author-edward-hasbrouck-why-im-opting.html

POWERFUL DECLARATION BY INDEPENDENT OBJECTOR ANITA BARTHOLOMEW
http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2005/09/powerful-declaration-by-independent.html

IF YOU READ JUST 3 GRAFS OF ANITA BARTHOLOMEW'S DECLARATION, READ THESE
http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2005/09/if-you-read-just-3-grafs-of-anita.html

CO-OBJECTOR TODD PITOCK: 13 REASONS WHY I OPPOSE THE SETTLEMENT
http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2005/08/co-objector-todd-pitock-13-reasons-why.html