liz_marcs: Jeff and Annie in Trobed's bathroom during Remedial Chaos Theory (Gunn_Bitch_Please)
liz_marcs ([personal profile] liz_marcs) wrote2007-06-21 08:22 am

Oh, for Heaven's Sake...

Dear 6A/LJ,

When I said I wanted clarification of your policies, this was not what I meant.

I meant clarification, not "the ToS hasn't really changed" followed by a bunch of vague statements that still doesn't actually say anything and still doesn't clarify what is and is not acceptable on LJ.

In case you're wondering, the issue is all about how you are interpreting the ToS. Since we can't read minds, we need you to tell us point blank. Which you're not.

And no, we're not whining. This is what happens when your user base has stopped trusting you. We're looking for loopholes where you could conceivably screw us over. This is about protecting ourselves, which obviously clashes with your need to protect your interests.

Really, the comments to the post say it better than I can at this point.

Look, answers in blunt English would be good here. Even if they're answers I don't like, something more than these vague statements and transparency that's about as transparent as mud is not an answer.

*throws up hands*

So much for that clarification...

[identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
From what I gather, 6A will not act if no one complains about it. However, if they do have a complaint, they have to investigate and make a determination if the journal should bee ToS'd.

That's a legal thing. If 6A proactively goes after journals, they cross the line into becoming a publisher. That means they are now responsible for the content on every single one of those 13 million accounts they have on their servers. This opens them up to all kinds of legal jeopardy.

If they wait until the complaints come to them, they are just a service provider and aren't responsible for content. Instead, they're offering services to 13 million independent publishers.

That said, I agree. They need to spell out where the line is, not just to protect the users and to provide guidance to their own personnel, but also to weed out frivolous complaints from Internet cranks.