Recently my livejournal account was suspended because I supposedly solicited "illegal activity." I asked livejournal for clarification of this, and I received this reply:
Dear LiveJournal user malakijr,
Material which can be interpreted as expressing interest in, soliciting, or encouraging illegal activity places LiveJournal at considerable legal risk. When journals that contain such material are reported to us, we must suspend them. Because LiveJournal's interests list serves as a search function, and because listing an interest enables other people also interested in a similar topic to gather and/or congregate, we have been advised that listing an interest in an illegal activity must be viewed as using LiveJournal to solicit that illegal activity.
In particular, the interest that you had listed on your profile that qualify as expressing interest in, soliciting, or encouraging illegal activity was "rape".
Our legal counsel advises us that it would increase LiveJournal's liability if we were to allow your journal to be unsuspended for you to delete the illegal interests from your profile. This is because if someone were to remove the illegal interests from his or her profile, but was in fact using LiveJournal to coordinate, solicit, or participate in illegal activity, LiveJournal would most likely be considered to have foreknowledge of that activity and thus become liable.
We recognize that many people list these types of interests for shock value, as a method of expressing opposition for these illegal activities, or to indicate fictional activity. Unfortunately, the Abuse team does not have any discretion in these cases; if a journal profile contains interests that support illegal activity, we must suspend the journal. Journals, on the other hand, may express or imply interest in illegal activity or express or imply a desire to meet and/or interact with others with similar interests, but only if the journal clearly (1) is in opposition to or condemnation of the illegal activity, (2) does not encourage the illegal activity and (3) is not used in furtherance of any illegal activity.
I do recognize that your account may not necessarily be the type of content that this policy is directly intended to remove from LiveJournal. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned, the Abuse team has no discretion in how these instances must be handled. Because your account was reported to us, and because it contained illegal activities in your interests list, we must permanently suspend it.
Regards, Cassie LiveJournal Abuse Team
So because I listed "rape" as one of my interests in my profile (among others such as "molestation," "abuse survivor," "rape prevention," etc.) my journal was permanently suspended. I'm PISSED at Livejournal for this, namely because I know many other people who are interested in these topics for the same reasons I am: we survived similar situations and we want other people to be able to identify that by looking at our interests. Livejournal never once contacted me or indicated that by having this listed among my interests I would face having my journal suspended, I was given no warning, and the rules do not state that by listing a topic or subject head in my interests I am going to be labeled as soliciting or encouraging said activity. If I had been notified of this, I would have removed the interest from my profile or never put it there in the first place. As a result, all 4 years of my livejournal entries are lost (I have a chance to salvage some of them using the tool described, but that is little consolation) and it's patently unfair for them to do this without giving me any warning at all. I want Livejournal to suffer in some way for this...I want them to feel the heat and know that their position is wrong, but I see no recourse as my emails are being ignored right now. So I don't know what else to do except badmouth them here...so that's what I'm doing. Send them an email! Yell at them!!! Be forewarned that your journal can be suspended for no other reason than having the wrong word listed on your profile. Pass it on.
no subject
Dear LiveJournal user malakijr,
Material which can be interpreted as expressing interest in, soliciting, or encouraging illegal
activity places LiveJournal at considerable legal risk. When journals that contain such material are
reported to us, we must suspend them. Because LiveJournal's interests list serves as a search
function, and because listing an interest enables other people also interested in a similar topic to
gather and/or congregate, we have been advised that listing an interest in an illegal activity must
be viewed as using LiveJournal to solicit that illegal activity.
In particular, the interest that you had listed on your profile that qualify as expressing
interest in, soliciting, or encouraging illegal activity was "rape".
Our legal counsel advises us that it would increase LiveJournal's liability if we were to allow
your journal to be unsuspended for you to delete the illegal interests from your profile. This is
because if someone were to remove the illegal interests from his or her profile, but was in fact
using LiveJournal to coordinate, solicit, or participate in illegal activity, LiveJournal would most
likely be considered to have foreknowledge of that activity and thus become liable.
We recognize that many people list these types of interests for shock value, as a method of
expressing opposition for these illegal activities, or to indicate fictional activity. Unfortunately,
the Abuse team does not have any discretion in these cases; if a journal profile contains interests
that support illegal activity, we must suspend the journal. Journals, on the other hand, may
express or imply interest in illegal activity or express or imply a desire to meet and/or interact with
others with similar interests, but only if the journal clearly (1) is in opposition to or
condemnation of the illegal activity, (2) does not encourage the illegal activity and (3) is not used in
furtherance of any illegal activity.
I do recognize that your account may not necessarily be the type of content that this policy is
directly intended to remove from LiveJournal. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned, the Abuse team has
no discretion in how these instances must be handled. Because your account was reported to us, and
because it contained illegal activities in your interests list, we must permanently suspend it.
Regards,
Cassie
LiveJournal Abuse Team
So because I listed "rape" as one of my interests in my profile (among others such as "molestation," "abuse survivor," "rape prevention," etc.) my journal was permanently suspended. I'm PISSED at Livejournal for this, namely because I know many other people who are interested in these topics for the same reasons I am: we survived similar situations and we want other people to be able to identify that by looking at our interests. Livejournal never once contacted me or indicated that by having this listed among my interests I would face having my journal suspended, I was given no warning, and the rules do not state that by listing a topic or subject head in my interests I am going to be labeled as soliciting or encouraging said activity. If I had been notified of this, I would have removed the interest from my profile or never put it there in the first place. As a result, all 4 years of my livejournal entries are lost (I have a chance to salvage some of them using the tool described, but that is little consolation) and it's patently unfair for them to do this without giving me any warning at all. I want Livejournal to suffer in some way for this...I want them to feel the heat and know that their position is wrong, but I see no recourse as my emails are being ignored right now. So I don't know what else to do except badmouth them here...so that's what I'm doing. Send them an email! Yell at them!!! Be forewarned that your journal can be suspended for no other reason than having the wrong word listed on your profile. Pass it on.