X-Philes for Freedom of Speech on the Net! Free Speech is Out
There! Protect X-Phile Web Sites!
David Duchovny saying something
that I think applies here.
On Friday, October 25, the day of the premiere of FOX's havily promoted new series
Millennium, Gil Trevizo, a member of the X-Phile community, received a cease-and-desist ordrer
concerning the Unofficial Millennium site he had donated the hours to creating. When the order
was not immediately followed, his we access was frozen, forbidding this college student who
maintains several X-Phile mailing lists access to with the web or his e-mail account.
X-Philes, upset by this insult, and fearful that this was just the first step in a campaign by FOX
agianst all unofficial websites, glooded the company with e-mail protesting their actions. This
action caused FOX's e-mail server to crash under the onslaught. But to no avail...
Despite all of Gil's efforts to negotiate with David Oaks, the FOX representative, the would be
NO COMPROMISE. The site came down Monday, October 28, and FOX won the battle.
But this seems NOT the end of the story. In fact, hints have come from the powers that be that
this may just be the firest step in a FOX campaign to end the existene of unofficial web sties for
ALL of their shows... a test case to see the reponse on the web. We intend to give them a response
alright, we intend to fight!
Why a company would insult its fans by forcing down sites that for many are a labour of love,
showing their loyalty to the shows and the character they enjoy, is beyond us. It is becoming clear
that this is NOT just a matter of either copyright or trademark...but that FOX executives want
complete and total control over how every facet of their company is portrayed on the Internet. We
are willing to fight.
