What to do if – Sharing OA Literature Electronically

OA-owned materials are held in trust for OA’s Fellowship as a whole. In review, our purpose has been to honor the Concepts of OA Service Five and Six and Tradition Four, always remembering OA’s primary purpose.

Concept Five: Individuals have the right of appeal and petition in order to ensure that their opinions and personal grievances will be carefully considered.

Concept Six: The World Service Business Conference has entrusted the Board of Trustees with the primary responsibility for the administration of Overeaters Anonymous.

Tradition Four: Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.

If you experience a meeting in violation of the OA guidelines, use the Report a Problem form to let Foot Steps know.

Here are the OA guidelines on sharing OA-Copyright Material Electronically 

The sharing should:
• Be temporary. Temporary means the material is removed from the shared videoconference at the end of the meeting.
• Be limited. Limited means the shared material is only a small portion of the overall content of the videoconference. This includes but is not limited to OA’s daily readers For Today and Voices of Recovery.
• Not be copied or distributed electronically, in print, as a recording, or otherwise. In other words, it is not acceptable to post a link to a copy of OA literature in the chat during a meeting.
• Be accompanied by the citation “[Source of material], Copyright Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.” For example: “For Today, Copyright Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.”
• Comply with the videoconferencing company’s terms and conditions.

In no case should OA-approved material be amended or modified.

Mobile Messaging App (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram Messenger, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter)
Written permission to screen- or audio-share OA-copyright material on a mobile app must be obtained from OA, Inc. by submitting a request to the World Service Office.