I can't believe this is going on

CNET on the LJ fiasco. I like the fact that the fucking CEO of SixApart will talk to bloody CNET and not to the thousands and thousands of users demanding an explanation. For the first time since I actually signed up at this site in December 2000, I find myself thinking about leaving.

I submitted the story to Slashdot just now, and I encourage others of you to write/email/call whatever news organization you know to see if they are interested in talking about the most blatant stupidity I've seen on LJ since the Friendsditto drama.

Hypocrisy much?

From roaring I have my own case to put forward now!

More hypocrisy... on January 11, 2007, I reported a comment from someone who expressed a desire to rape a girl that lived near them. It was anonymous, so I understand how they couldn't do anything. But this is what the support ticket went like:

"There was an anonymous comment in one of my friend's journals regarding an adult expressing their desire to molest a 13 year old girl while they are aged 32. IP logging was turned off so I don't know if there's a way to look into it any longer, but I thought I would warn you guys.

I am saying this because the person I suspect it of has been associating with one of my young friends (who is 18, but still young compared to someone who is 32, so it's a bit strange), hangs out with her all the time and it just... well, it's disturbing.

Here is the link: [removed, for the privacy of owner's LJ, but this is EXACTLY what the comment said: "It's not that I don't care about anyone or anything. It's just that I'm too lazy to care. I don't mean anyone any harm and I sincerely hope everyone in the world leads a great life but I really don't want to do anything to help them have a great life.

There is a 13 year old girl who lives a few houses down. I want to fuck her and use her body and call her a little slut and make her like it. I'm 18 years older than her and I'm a woman."]

If it's gone I took a screencapture of it."

LJ's response:
"Dear LiveJournal user,

We understand and agree that this is very disturbing, we cannot take action against a user for admitting that they have committed illegal activities or are thinking about committing illegal activities. It is not illegal to discuss illegal actions. We can only take action if the user is actively encouraging others to commit such actions, or if they are soliciting or providing information on how to do so. Because this is not the case here, we regret that we cannot take action.

Regards,

Ella
LiveJournal Abuse Team"

you know what? Fuck you Barak Berkowitz

The well known group Perverted Justice tried to get LJ to delete actual pedophiles and was rebuffed. If you don't know, Perverted Justice is a group that works in tandem with law enforcement around hte country to stop online predators. They have most recently been notable for their work with NBC's Dateline series "To Catch A Predator."

If this doesn't make clear what a bunch of bullshit this entire fiasco is, I don't know what will. Anyone who knows me knows how strongly I feel about sexual abuse and especially people who prey on children. I resent profoundly the idea that writers of fiction should be lumped into the same category as pedophiles.

"We did a review of our policies related to how we review those sites, those journals, and came up with the fact that we actually did have a number of journals up that we didn't think met our policies and didn't think they were appropriate to have up," Barak Berkowitz, chairman and chief executive of Six Apart, said in a telephone interview. The site boasts about 13 million journals.

Berkowitz said the company would "obviously apologize" to anyone whose journal was deleted in error but added: "That's going to be a very small minority of the sites. I would be shocked if it's more than a dozen." - from the CNET article here

Fuck you fuck you fuck you. I can't believe this. Brad, you sold our site down the river to these morons at Six Apart? I hope the money was really good.

the morning after

Barak Berkowitz issues an apology for the LJ fiasco

Notice that the comments have already maxed out on that one. I'm slightly surprised the LJ servers haven't exploded into little balls of fire with the crazy commenting and posting over the past couple days.

I am glad to see Berkowitz directly addressing most of the problem. I will be even more glad when the wrongly deleted journals are reinstated.

What really concerns me is his quote about policing the content of the LJ community given in the CNET article. I would very much like to see that addressed. I also have questions about the timing of this entire mess, especially concerning previous complaints by other users and outside groups that seem to have gone unaddressed. (Though I did chuckle when I saw the backhand dig at the wfi people. Idiots indeed.) I would also like an honest answer about whether this was in any way related to pressure by advertisers.

Now that I've slept another seven or eight hours, some of my over-the-top rage has simmered down. I am still fairly irate about all of it. Perhaps because I have used and loved LJ since the early days, and I was less than thrilled to see it join corporate life.

slowly we see what will happen next

An LJ user who was a victim of abuse had her journal deleted as a suspected child abuser. I would really like to see how LJ/Sixapart will handle that sort of situation, and I think the idea of giving a free re-name token to those users would be a good idea as well as a formal apology.

Many of us are asking the same question - how does this impact the gay community? Or for that matter the kink community? Obviously, same sex marriage is illegal in many places in America and overseas. In the state of Texas, the purchase, possession and use of sex toys is a crime (possessing 6 or more dildos is a felony). "Engaging in deviant sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex" is also still a crime here, as Miss Natalie pointed out this morning. A few years back a woman was actually prosecuted for having a trunk full of dildos in North Texas.

If I write about how I go to Forbidden Fruit to buy bondage gear, or about my sexual relationship with my last girlfriend, will that result in getting my journal suspended? Will abbismom get deleted because she's a gay parent raising a child with her wife? (Raising a cute healthy little child in a very committed and loving relationship I might add!) LJ/SixApart has backed itself into a curious hole with the wording on their statement. I think this needs to be clarified as soon as possible for the peace of mind of many of us.