Open Letter to LiveJournal/Six Apart

Aug 15, 2007 14:21

Dear LiveJournal/Six Apart,

I was cautiously optimistic when you announced your new two strike policy. And I think it is great that you offered apologies to elaboration and ponderosa121 and offered to reinstate their journals.

However this sentence in your post at lj_biz is troubling:

"Many of you have asked about whether or not it is OK to link to outside content that falls into the category of child pornography, and the short answer is no, it's not OK."

I emailed rachel hoping to explain why I found this troubling. (our correspondence copied here) I do not dispute LJ/SA's right to refuse to host any material it finds objectionable. I do not advocate finding a way around those rules - or trying to "game the system." I would just like LJ/SA to not conflate the terms "child pornography" with "content LJ deems obscene or objectionable."

I believe that the majority of users who asked about linking to objectionable content were simply trying to define what the rules are - and were not at all interested in linking to photographs or videos of real children in explicitly sexual situations.

I do not endorse or condone child abuse or child pornography. I am happy to abide by LJs rules and guidelines or find another site. But I object to being called a child pornographer, or the implication that I am in any way interested in child pornography.

Simply put explict fan art DOES NOT EQUAL child pornography.

If the sentence above had read something like:

"Many of you have asked about whether or not it is OK to link to outside content that falls into the category of child pornography or other material we consider obscene/unacceptable, and the short answer is no, it's not OK."

we would not be having this discussion. We would be moving on to other issues. However I was deeply offended by the original statement. rachel asked me:

"When you say people feel insulted which "people" are you referring to? Can you classify them? What community feels insulted?"

Please sign this post if you were insulted or are upset by LJ/SA's repeated conflation of the terms "possibly obscene explicit under 18 fan art" and "child pornography."

note: edits extremely welcome. please pimp. Please feel free to link to your post or comment elsewhere on LJ on this subject with your signature comment.

ETA2: Please keep your comments civil. We're not going to get anywhere with name calling.

ETA3: AN APOLOGY from anildash!
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