FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) is the term for any strategy intended to make a company’s customers insecure about future product plans with the purpose of discouraging them from adopting competitors’ products. FUD is also an internet term for rumors or emotional responses to issues that are passed off as facts.

In the last week or so the term “FUD” has been bandied about over the reactions to the proposed and recently released Orphan Works Act of 2008, with many people accusing folks like me of emotional reactions to imaginary issues. While some of that has been going on, there is plenty about the actual bills, now in final form and available for study, to be deeply concerned about. That said, I’m afraid I’m a little guilty of spreading some FUD about the Orphan Works Act of 2008, albeit not on purpose. I relied on the information others were sharing, and I have found some of that to be misinterpreted and some flat out erroneous.

I downloaded and throughly read the bill(s), and while I do not think they are a very good solution to the “problem” of orphaned works, it is not exactly the orge that many people have been saying it is. I’ve been vocal in my opposition to the acts mostly based on information I’ve read from others. I am still opposed to the bills in their current form as I think they are too ambiguous and will still do some damage to professional illustrators and other creative professionals. However there are some attempts to prevent that damage… they just do not do the job.

Here are the facts on H.R. 5889 The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, the house and senate versions of the bill respectively… what they try do and what they one can reasonably expect them to do: (more…)