So I thought I'd go ahead and take a stab at some of the questions everyone submitted. I think I'm as interested in reading what people have questions about as all of you are about seeing them answered. ;)
boyspacefriend -- why doesn't livejournal allow us to post our own ads on our blogs
LiveJournal itself only allows people with certain account types to see ads, and in the cases where someone does see ads, there's a limited amount. Allowing users to advertise in their own journals would not only cause people who shouldn't be seeing ads on LiveJournal to see them, but could also result in other users being exposed to far more advertisements on a page than intended.
jiggery_pokery -- Are there any plans to change the Terms of Service by which we abide in the coming year? If not, can you give a commitment that they will not change?
We don't have any plans to change the Terms of Service right now, but we can never guarantee that it won't be necessary to change them. As new laws get passed, and existing laws have grey areas clarified from new precedents being set, there's always the potential that the Terms of Service will need to be changed.
jiggery_pokery -- Is the privacy policy considered stable? Are there plans to reflect the fact that not all LiveJournal users live in the USA and so local (or continental) privacy jurisdictions may apply for some users in addition to US regulations?
The privacy policy is considered stable. As for international users, section VII in
the Terms of Service does note that users are required to abide by the laws of the local jurisdiction they are in. LiveJournal itself falls under the law of the United States, specifically in the state of California. We don't enforce rules set outside of the U.S. since they don't apply to LiveJournal itself; it's the user's responsibility to comply with the laws of the country they are in. There are currently no plans to change this.
miss_mary_b -- Can LJ workers read friends only entries?
Some employees do have the ability to view non-public entries. This is restricted to people whose job it is relevant for, and is used in cases where severe violations of the Terms of Service have been reported. I'd imagine that all websites that allow users to post restricted content have this ability, since it could result in some nasty lawsuits if you were to receive a report of something like a copyright violation and not be able to verify it and act on it.
serpentclara -- How do you feel about users posting fanfiction (i.e. material that violates copyright, technically) in their journal?
We're fine with people posting fanfiction, and in most cases, it doesn't actually violate anyone's copyright. In the cases where it does, the copyright holder can
file an official notice to have the content removed.