................................. To leave Commie, hyper to http://commie.oy.com/commie_leaving.html ................................. Fox sucks http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/09/biztech/technology/20powers.html That placed Eric in a group that includes fans of "Star Trek," "Star Wars," "The Brady Bunch," "The X-Files," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and, most recently, the cult cooking program "Iron Chef." Along with Web parodists who have violated trademarks belonging to companies like Kmart, Toys "R" Us and Etch-a-Sketch, these fans have received threats of legal action, and often lost their sites, for offering what looks to them a lot like free publicity. Webmaster War III, built with help from Mike Scullin, a Web designer in Philadelphia, chronicles the history of Web sites shut down by Fox for using trademarked material, offers legal tips on fighting cease-and- desist notices and coordinates a letter-writing campaign to persuade Fox to loosen its grip on the material, including fan-generated fiction, whose characters the studios say they own. Fox has been particularly active in sending cease-and-desist letters to "Buffy" sites, perhaps because their Webmasters are so avid. Fans have not taken the legal threats lightly. Solo84 has organized a group known as the Buffy Bringers that has mounted peaceful protests, mostly online and through letter-writing campaigns. Solo84 insists that fan sites comply with the legal guidelines for fair use of material and contends that Fox is overzealous. Such sentiments are common across the Internet. Some studios and management companies are listening. By empathizing with enthusiasts instead of antagonizing them, savvy online capitalists have found they can benefit from the energy that fans generate. New Line Cinema, for example, has teamed up with fan sites in distributing promotional material for its coming film adaptation of "Lord of the Rings," a fantasy novel series that inspires exactly the kind of devotion the Web serves so well. Mr. Geiger of ArtistDirect sees similar partnerships developing between musicians and their audiences. Fans can publicize events, share information and even help distribute merchandise through their Web sites. Artists can work directly with certain fans and keep in touch with many others through online chat rooms and bulletin boards. "The artists are still learning about the power of letting the consumers into their lives," he said. In some ways, the Web has made the mainstream more like a nation of cultural undergrounds -- more participatory, less monolithic. Writing your own episode of "Buffy" isn't that different from picking up a guitar and joining a punk band. Underground culture's openness to networking and fan participation offers hints at what might happen on a grand scale if legal regulation fails to stop technology.
