Policies

[tsukinofaerii]

Well, as I'm sure a lot of people have heard, we've finally gotten that policy update we've been promised. This is a proposed policy, which means we still have a chance to argue it before it brings the banhammer down on us all. So I've gone through it, even the bits I'm not terribly concerned about. Here's my responses.

Adult Content

Content is present which is intended for adult readers, and should not be accessible to minors.

This starts out vague, and doesn't really get better. All sorts of things are intended for adult readers! Like the newspaper, for example. Are we going to say, "sorry, under target audience, move along kiddies"? Let's be sensible, "adult content" really means "might piss someone off if their kid sees it, but isn't illegal for kids to see". That's not what this refers to. I'd like to see this whole thing removed entirely and replaced with a nice clear distinction between "explicit" and "everything else". The "Adult Concepts" idea needs to be done away with as well. It's not needed and it just muddles the waters of the important issue, which is Explicit Content. For clarity's sake alone, this needs to be fixed.

Bandwidth Theft

A user is remote-loading content from a third party website without the website owner's permission.

This makes sense, really. Bandwidth can be very expensive, and if something is highly trafficked (like an LJ), it can cost a pretty penny. I don't think anyone's going to complain about this. It's pretty straight-forward.

COPPA Violation

Account holder is reported to be under the age of 13.

This is going to be confusing, but for once it's no LJ's fault. COPPA can be confused with COPA, so unless you're familiar with them you might be scratching your head and wondering what this has to do with anything.

COPPA is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. It was created, in summary, under the idea that kids online are being preyed upon and it's the website's job to make sure they're not giving out information to make this easier. Yes, it's a dumb law, and doesn't actually help anything. Unfortunately, it is law. All LJ is saying here is that if someone waves a big red flag that says "I'm 10 and I lied when signing up heehee" and is reported, they've got to freeze the account until a parent okays it. Since there's only so many ways to verify parenthood, they took the simplest. Really, the chances of someone being wrongfully flagged (since they're also requiring proof that the account-holder is underage before taking action) are slim, if they follow their own policy. People who don't want to put in their real birthday for privacy purposes just need to make sure that they don't pick a year which puts them at risk of seeming under 13.

Child Pornography

A user has posted content on LiveJournal, or has provided means for others to obtain content, which meets the legal definition of child pornography.

This doesn't have anything to do with fandom (finally), as LJ seems to have grasped that art =/= child porn. That comes later.

This I absolutely stand by. I know people are going to complain about "looking older" or "looking younger", but LJ can't help that. I'm completely and utterly serious here. Child porn is not something to take chances on. If you're 20 but look 10, the FBI would look into any nude pictures of you they see floating around the web. That's the standard LJ is probably holding itself to. It's a pain in the ass, but this is one of those "better safe than sorry" areas.

Commercial Activity

User is engaging in the purchase, sale, or promotion of goods or services.

Basically, this sums up as, "if someone's trying to make big bucks on LJ behind our back, we're going to get pissy over it". They don't care about things like fanart or homemade clocks. But if the only reason you have an LJ is to sell $1000+ stuff ad get free advertising, expect to be busted. Again, I don't expect this to be an issue.

Copyright Violation

LiveJournal has received official notification that content posted by a user violates the copyright of another person or business.

I'm not a copyright lawyer, so I'm not even going to start on the endless round of "fair use" arguments. This is pretty much just LJ covering their ass. If they get a DMCA, they have to take certain actions. Just remember that you can file a counter-claim. Most of the time with fannish activity, it'll get dropped because it's not worth the owner's time and money when the disputed material isn't doing them any harm.

Evasion of Termination

Offender has continued to use LiveJournal after being informed that they are no longer permitted to maintain any accounts on the site (terminated).

You must fuck up big time to run afoul of this, since most accounts are suspended rather than terminated. Terminated means that you're banned from LJ. Suspended means that they account is frozen. They may start terminating more over the 'non-photographic' stuff (Harry Potter and the Petulant Potions Master), but until they do I'm going to call this one a non-worry as well.

Harassment

A person has become the target of hostile behavior on LiveJournal.

This has levels. If you just bitch that user so-and-so is an ass, they won't do anything. If you troll so-and-so and/or tell others to, you'll be suspended until it's taken down. If your account exists only for the sake of trolling, you're permanently suspended (not terminated, note).

Hate Speech

A user has posted content which encourages or incites harm or violence against a specific person or group of people.

LJ goes above and beyond here, and I seriously applaud them for it. Rather than limiting this to just the legally protected groups (which doesn't include GBLTA), they're covering everybody.

For people who are worried that this is going to bring arguments down to, "You just don't like me because I'm White/Black/Green/Gay/Straight/Jewish/Martian, I'm telling LJ Abuse!!", let me clarify a bit. LJ is only going to take action when there's actual violence involved, such as a group of people advocating lynchings against [insert group here] or planning it. So no cries of "they're mean to me". Bigotry isn't illegal - just inciting violence.

Illegal Content

User is posting content which is intrinsically illegal, or is soliciting, instructing, or encouraging others to violate the law.

Okay, my only concern here is in regards to coordinating acts of civil disobedience, which is a time-honored form of protest, especially in the USA. Unfortunately, LJ is doing everything it can here, because any "except for" statements are just going to make things murky, and that opens all sorts of cans of worms. The solution would be to create a community and keep it FO, so as to not risk your personal LJ and to keep from being reported by policing your members (as horrible as that sounds). I don't think anyone's going to come up against this one very often, but there are ways around it.

Impersonation

Content is present in which an individual is misrepresenting their identity.

This is, just bluntly, ass-covering by LJ. It's an extreme what-if scenario. If you own a parody journal, do yourself a favor and slap a disclaimer on it. That way you can also make fun of the occasional illiterate idiot who seems to think you're the real thing. (As if G.W.B. can read well enough to post on LJ. Yeah. Sure.)

Inappropriate Content

A user has posted content which incites, encourages, or advocates rape, pedophilia, or the abuse of children in any way.

... Okay, I am completely at a loss as to explain why this section even exists at all. Didn't we just cover all of this in Hate Speech and Illegal Content? Child Abuse is illegal... therefore LJ does not allow people to encourage it. I'm really not sure why anyone bothered with this, other than because of the fuss about Bible-Based abuse. This section should just be integrated into the Illegal Content section for clarity and organizational purposes.

Invasion of Privacy

User is posting complainant's full name, email address, telephone number, Instant Messenger username and service, Social Security / Social Insurance / National Insurance number (or similar) and/or address; OR, user is posting material that is sufficient for an unconnected reader to be able to obtain the same (link to a WHOIS database and identification of complainant's registered domain, etc).

Basically, if someone posts private information that you haven't already made available, they'll get banhammered. If someone posts that I'm from Tallahassee, but not my address, then they're safe, because I splash that everywhere. This is a pretty nice security feature, if you think about it.

Journal Ban Evasion

A user which has been banned from a journal or community is using alternate accounts to continue commenting.

My only complaint is that I'd like to see "further action" in regards to repeat offenders explained more. That could mean anything from another warning to a termination. It's too vague. Other than that, I can hear mods breathing sighs of relief all over LJ.

Missing Maintainers

An active community is experiencing issues which require the attention of a maintainer to resolve, and no active maintainer is present.

Basically, if the shit hits the fan in a comm and there's no one with a shovel, LJ will take stock of things and hand one to the person who seems best able to deal with it. This may seem arbitrary, but comms need mods, and when there isn't one, something has to be done.

Non-LiveJournal Requests

Any report regarding material which is not present on LiveJournal, nor is being linked to in any way from LiveJournal.

Simply, if it has nothing to do with LJ, LJ can't do anything.

Non-Photographic images of minors

Non-photographic images (cartoons, drawings, etc.) of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct are present on LiveJournal.

Here we go: the big wahooni. You've got a pick of 7th year Harry getting busy with Snape? BANNINATED.

Okay, that was melodramatic, but I'm sure we can all see fandom explode. For something as open and harmless as fictional character porn, this is way too subjective. We have some good points: they finally admitted that it's not the big scary Child Porn, which is going to make some veins stop throbbing. Also, the suspension isn't permanent-the material just has to be removed. This beats the Hell out of what we had before. And I'm really perfectly okay with not drawing anyone under the limit and posting it on LJ. But how in the world do we define the limit? when dealing with unreal minors or unreal adults? It's not like we can present documentation, which brings it down to "he said, she said" and "I know it when I see it". That's just not acceptable. I can understand a no-tolerance policy when it comes to real people being potentially abused in real life. But Sailormoon will never be of age, and Sam Vimes will never be a minor. There's nothing to abuse, which takes some of the urgency away from the whole matter.

I would be much, much more comfortable if this were removed and all art allowed, but that's not going to happen. LJ doesn't want to be the test case for art vs. porn, and I can understand that. As it is, I'd like it changed to "clearly prepubescent and drawn in a realistic fashion", which will at least remove the grey area of "seventeen or eighteen" that's going to catch most people. As this stands, the potterpuffs drawing of Luna, Ginny and Hermione romping around in their underwear would get snagged by this one, and I think that's utterly ridiculous.

Objectionable Userpic

A userpic contains graphic nudity, sexual, violent, or otherwise objectionable content.

I find this hilarious, because most userpics are objectionable these days. LJ just doesn't want them as defaults. This is just silly, since I see userpics that are objectionable all over, even in places I wouldn't expect them, but hey. This is actually one of the lesser stupidities they're trying to inflict on us. I am tempted to change my default back to the "fuck not with fandom" one, except I do surf at work... Hm.

Requests From Parents

The parent of a user writes in to request access, suspension, or some form of restriction of their child's account(s).

This goes back to COPPA, except COPPA only works until 13. After that, it's the parents' job to watch their kiddies. So if you're over 13, just make sure your parents can't access your LJ e-mail account, and all is well.

Self Harm

Material posted which encourages or instructs others on how to engage in destructive behavior such as, self-injury, self-mutilation, anorexia, drug or alcohol overdose, or suicide.

I think this needs to be clarified to explain the difference between advocacy (not illegal) and providing instruction. For example, I believe that people have a right to suicide. However, if I explain to someone how to OD to ensure a painless death, that implicates me in murder. Also, I've seldom seen an anorexic that will say their lifestyle is healthy, so that could be cut as well.

Shared Authorization Code

A user has shared the URL (with authorization code) for their Abuse report with others, thereby removing the security and confidentiality of the report.

This is absolute BS. I currently have a ticket that's been open for months, but was made private and thus only LJ and I can see that it's being thoroughly ignored. If I want to share this with other people, I damn well have that right or LJ should allow us to request that a ticket remain public. Abuse needs some transparency, and this isn't helping. As it is, I can't even see my own ticket unless I'm logged in, so what's the point of the authorization code anymore?

Requests are meant to be private communications between one user and the Abuse Team; many users are unaware that by sharing the link to their request they give others access to view and comment to that request. We feel it is important to continue communications in a new, secure request.

This is complete BS. If requests were meant to be private, then they wouldn't start as open. This area should be removed entirely.

Spam

Numerous identical or nearly identical unsolicited, unwanted comments or entries have been posted to various journals and/or communities.

There's really not much to say to this.

Suicidal posts

A report has been received indicating that a user is at risk for suicide.

This is one of those things I waffle on, but only because I believe in a right to suicide. As it is, most people are going like this.

Third-Party Requests

A report is submitted by someone other than the person directly affected or targeted by abuse.

Basically, no whining about how so-and-so acted on someone else's LJ. Tattlers shall be ignored.

Threatening Content

An entry or comment threatens harm to another person.

I can sort of see why this isn't under illegal content, because this technically may not be illegal. I'm not sure. But still, if someone says they're planning to go over to your house and kick your ass, LJ will leave it up there for the cops to see. Isn't that nice?

Unwanted Friending

A user has been added to the friends list of another user to whom they do not wish to be connected.

I will never understand why people are so put out when people friend them against their will. They can't read the flocked posts - all it really does is put your LJ on their friends page. Whoop-de-do.

Some things weren't covered that kind of concerns me. I'd like to see something about fiction, specifically saying that it's not illegal and you can't be banned for it. I'd love a way to submit complaints when you feel you've been unfairly treated by LJ (such as the issues with gay art being banned why clearly underage hetero art was passed) that doesn't require a ton of phone calls. I'd like them to define "objectionable" and to separate "adult" from "sex". Someone somewhere also needs to make a straight statement on links and how they're treated - right now we have a lot of "I think" statements, but there's nothing on it in the policy. Most of all, I'd like to see something clearly stating how and why the abuse flagging exists and how it's handled, down to and including how many flags something needs before it's investigated and some sort of indication to the content-owner. I hate having to hide my NC17 stuff behind a FLock, but I don't want people to see that damned LJ-cut either, and I know most people don't have LJs and will be really annoyed by it. But how many more people are annoyed by not seeing anything at all?

This is very clearly a work in progress, and man is there some work to be done on it! Does anyone else see anything that I missed?