LJ deleting journals with "questionable" interests

[teamromy.livejournal.com]

Okay - there is a rumor that appears to be true on LJ - that LJ is deleting journals of people that list illegal or "questionable" interests in their interest profile.  Basically a pressure group for child welfare (that isn't affiliated with law enforcement) is pressuring LJ to suspend or delete accounts that have interests (even seemingly innocent ones) listed in their user profiles that could be construed as a call to illegal activity.  

If you have questionable interests listed in your journals, you could be facing the hammer.  I have taken it on myself to delete any interests in my profile that could be taken as condoning illegal activity.  One person had a journal suspended for stating the interest of "beating people up"...this journal was for a villian in a role playing game.

Yes, some of these journals that are being deleted are of an adult nature, but they do not suggest that people go out and commit illegal acts.  I don't want any of the multiple community to be subjected to this nonsense, so please, be aware and guard yourselves and your journals.

I will let you all go through the paper trail.  But here is what I have so far.  Keep in mind that much of this is targeting innocent individuals who have done nothing wrong.  Also note that much of the language is inflammatory and could be triggering to sensitive groups.  Please be advised that regardless how you feel about this situation, your journals are your own and you should be able to speak freely in them to whomever you please, including yourselves.  This is about the very freedom we have to do this...the freedom of speech.

http://ckll.livejournal.com/145734.html a bit about the situation.

http://lolaraincoat.livejournal.com/253978.html - list of deleted journals and what they were for.  One ofthe deleted journals used the word "lolita" in their user name and all the group was for was to discuss a Spanish novel.

http://catrinella.livejournal.com/151812.html?style=mine  - outlines the rumor and what is and isn't true.

http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/266024.html - well-thought out post of someone tracking down the source of the LJ issue.

http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/266024.html - has a post covering what LJ has told her about her deleted communities - which were Role Playing Game by the way.

http://jamoche.livejournal.com/28973.html - Tracking down the LJ side of things.

http://florahart.livejournal.com/645492.html?style=mine - More info!

Now, this issue has been scaring communities and friends lists alike.  If you feel you need to take action to protect yourself, then do.  The best way to do this seems to be removing certain keywords from your interests...what keywords are hot we can only guess.  Watch keywords like sexual abuse, incest, rape, etc. Yes, they may describe what happened to you and you may be interested in them for surviving the act reasons, but these are the keywords that they are looking at. The other way is to lock down your journal, but even then you may not be safe...we just don't know.

If you want to flood the Warriors of Innocence site blog - they have their issues stated and answers from LJ posted there - seems they have been after LJ for some time. Track them down through a google search, I am editting the link our here. Problem is, they don't seem to be affiliated with a law enforcement agency...therefore they are acting on their own neo-vigilantism and that is no way to protect kids from harm. And be advised that much of their site could be triggering for sensitive groups.

Anyway, keep yourselves in the know...this may get worse before it gets better and I wish you all safe words and travels.

Comments

[leejoon.livejournal.com]

the same rumour is going around myspace too

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

It's no rumor. It seems to have started with this. (http://news.google.com/news?um=1&tab=wn&client=firefox-a&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=Myspace+pedophiles+states)

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

It's nonsense though for them to ban the fanfic communities.

[weirdiguess.livejournal.com]

Hoping isn't really gonna help much. I guess maybe they'll go back on what they've said to these guys, but maybe not.

These from LJ Abuse to a fandom journal that was deleted, the owner got told it can't be reinstated.

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....


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.


They seem not to be going as all out as she implies, but it sure sounds to me like she's saying any journal should be suspended just for having the interests. They're gonna make a statement tonight by the sounds of it so maybe that'll clear it up.

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if she was still a member, but kiota used to be active here and her account was just suspended. I'm guessing this is why, since she has no idea.

[tibialmusician.livejournal.com]

Would you mind if I linkpost this at least in my own journal? This is definately something that should be mentioned.

[teamromy.livejournal.com]

Sure, go right ahead.

[tej-agni.livejournal.com]

weird stuff

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

From everything I heard and was told last night, this was an utter hoax and people who took it seriously were being laughed at.

http://icarusancalion.livejournal.com/630172.html#cutid1

Tonight, it appears that there is something to it:

http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/5707504.html#cutid1 (Read the whole thing -- she begins by believing it's not true, then by the second page actual information started to trickle in (http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/5707504.html?thread=9454832#t9454832).

It may or may not have anything to do with the recent Fanlib scandal (which you may read about here: http://icarusancalion.livejournal.com/626928.html)

If you feel you need to batten down the hatches in your personal livejournals or communities which could possibly be construed as offensive, by all means do so.

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad/

They're discussing the issue, and tracking what gets suspended.

The people doing the reporting are not looking before they fire, either. Several RP journals got hit, and I've heard some survivor's communities got it too, based on searches done on interests.

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they realize the organization is called "Warriors for Innocence", not of.

[blued00r.livejournal.com]

whatever happened to basic freedoms outlined in the constitution? it's really sickening that sweeping generalizations are being made in the name of safety. no different from big brother, honestly.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Right, but "stop and think" are not operative watchwords in this kind of hysteria.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/07/2051246&from=rss

[seven-and-rain.livejournal.com]

Have a few relevant quotes from the LiveJournal TOS. (http://catrinella.livejournal.com/151812.html?thread=1117444#t1117444) You're still free to write whatever you want, but that doesn't obligate LJ to host it.

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

LJ has many international users, so it's pointless to argue about the constitution.

[themournfulduck.livejournal.com]

Well, all right, but interest doesn't necessarily imply love or hatred of a subject. If I was interested in pedophilia, because I hated it, then kicking me off livejournal would be, um, pointless.

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

And counterproductive if you were interested in it because you prosecuted them.

[forever-alone.livejournal.com]

I already ranted about this in my journal... absolutely fucking ridiculous.

[lion-azure.livejournal.com]

As a survivor of childhood rape, let me tell you that I'm absolutely pissed off by this. I'm pissed of by LJ, and I'm pissed off by these WFI people.

LJ finally deleting those pro-paedo communities is a good thing. A very good thing. They should've done so sooner. The last thing the world needs is a forum where these sickos can assure themselves that what they're doing isn't really all that bad.
But this blanket deletion of journals, even survivor and fanfic comms? That is just plain stupid. Sure, I don't like fanfic that has descriptions of children being sexually abused. It squicks me a lot. But I'm an adult, and as such, I realize that just because I'm squicked by something doesn't mean it's illegal, or should be. Also, a lot of this fanfic isn't written or read by paedos. Mostly, it's just the fans exploring the darker side of things.

I do realize that LJ is a private company, and as such doesn't have to allow free speech at all. But that doesn't mean we have to sit down and demurely swallow everything they serve us. As customers (we, like many others, have a paid account) we have the right to speak up and tell them that we're pissed off.

Now, WFI. To me, they look like a bunch of overzealous fuckers who want to feel like they're some sort of saviours. I mean, just look at their damn banner! "the only thing that stands between evil and the innocent"? Come on! That's not the hallmark of a serious organization, people.

- Ash

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Seen this, yeah? (http://news.livejournal.com/99159.html)

Seen this?

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

http://twistedchick.livejournal.com/1519723.html

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

I had "rape is not sexy" and "rape is not romantic" in my interests as part of a soldarity thing with one abuse survivor comm, and we have all removed even ThOSE, because even ANTI-rape/child abuse/etc sites are getting nuked. These people are evidently doing an interest search and mass copy/pasting the result without actually looking at the journals to determine what thier nature is, and LJ I'm guessing does not have the manpower to go through and check each journal to see what it's about so they are just doing the same thing, which is ridiculous.

I don't approve of writing fiction about this kind of crap in a favorable light because I think it encourages the monsters in our society, but I know some groups that have gone to great lengths to make sure that minors are not exposed (moderated posts, moderated admission, requiring proof of ID sent to moderator, posts are friendslocked, screened from being googled, etc...even though I don't agree with what they are writing and think it is horrible to glorify such crap, if they are going to those lengths to keep those who do not wish to see it or should not be seeing it, they should be left alone. They paid for the journal, its thier business...the only exemption are the ones, such as the pro rape group that was actively harrassing people on [Unknown site tag], the pro-activity groups definitely should be smacked down and hard. The FBI got involved with the stalking, harrassment, hacking and abuse of mybodytaken if I recall, and that situation was dealt with by them, you'd think LJ would have then tracked down all the other "pro crime" sites individually and gotten them eradicated, and then issued a change in the TOS or notification to users that there would be X amount of time to get journals to within TOS limits and then they would be removed...just another lessening in quality of LJ since Six Apart has taken over, IMHO.

[nat-leia.livejournal.com]

Thank you everybody for information and shared experiences, we'll be watching this.