Summary of Terms of Service update

[theljstaff]

We felt it was important with the changes to the Terms of Service to have a post here which identifies some of the key changes. We also want to give you all the opportunity to ask any questions you have regarding the changes, or any questions you have about the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy in general

Comments

[dbaxdevilsfan]

Not that it affects me, but with the "no children under 13" rule, will you be deleting existing accounts of people that fall into that category, or will you allow it if they have parental consent?

(I figured I'd ask because it's bound to come up)

[markf]

Also answered in the same comment in news, but no, we will not be deleting existing accounts that have gone through our age verification process.

Kids' accounts

[beth_leonard]

What about parents who make accounts for their kids? I recently made accounts for both of my kids (ages 3 and 6) so that they can better keep in touch with my mother and write their own little stories. I was considering upgrading them to paid accounts so they can post pictures, but now I'm terrified you're going to delete them.

How does that work? Should I re-do the accounts and put my own birthday as the age?

--Beth

Re: Kids' accounts

[markf]

Whether we'd remove their accounts is dependant on who is using the account. If you are maintaining the accounts for your children, we wouldn't remove it. If the children use it themselves, though, it would be a violation of the new policy.

[daluci]

* There is now a section regarding U.S. court orders and police investigations.

Is this new policy, or just an update to the ToS that represents existing policy? (I don't see why it would be the first, but I'm just wondering.)

[marta]

It is an update that represents existing policy.

[daluci]

Figured as much! Thanks for the quick response.

[astronewt]

The latter -- trying to make sure the TOS more accurately describes/reflects existing policies, rather than being something 'new'.

I think almost all of the updates fall into that category, as the post says -- it's not really "brand new" stuff as much as "hey, this isn't really clear on This Nuance or That Aspect, we should try to draw that out more" and so on. The under-13 is the only one that absolutely qualifies as a completely new policy.

[dreyar]

With every new account I create though, the site thinks I'm under 13, because of a mistake with an RP account where I entered the wrong birth year :/

Will I just no longer be able to make accounts? (I mainly do it for RPing)

[marta]

Go ahead and open a Support request about that and we'll see if we can find the source of the problem so you can be cleared to create new accounts again.

[dreyar]

Alright, I even had to clear COPPA to activate an account for this username, will this account be suspended?

[dreyar]

Is here: http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=1202262&auth=ymmt

[speck]

* We have established that we act as a safe harbor on the DMCA in several places, and have further clarified that we do not claim any rights to, nor liability for, any content posted by users of the service in several places (Sections X, XIII.)

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This mean you're unbanning mightygodking and others?

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There is now a section regarding offensive content, which notes that we may suspend accounts, remove content, or flag adult content as we see fit to do so. It should be emphasized that this does not represent a change in policies, but briefly identifies the most common activities that result in these actions being taken. What actions are typically taken in response to these activities still follows the guidelines of our Abuse Policies.

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So codifying the random whimsical way it's been asserted in the past?

[markf]

I can't comment on specific users' suspensions, but in the context of copyright policy, one of the provisions of the DMCA is that service providers must refuse service to people who repeatedly infringe upon the copyright of others.

[speck]

I see. Thank you. P

[lilenth]

Question is are you going to be taking steps to ensure all DMCA's sent in are legit?

I've seen an upsurge lately in people filing false ones on posts that have no copyrighted content they own in to either get critical comments about their business/behaviour removed or to obtain the other parties personal information by forcing them to file a counternotice just to keep their own journal entries. Worse still the patently false DMCA's have apparently been accepted.

So it's a concern of mine that currently the copyright policy can be exploited either to silence someone who dares to say that a shop they brought from has poor service or to obtain information for the purposes of harassment.

[matgb]

we do not allow malicious SEO activity.

I thought that was new. Please define 'malicious'? I have in the past run coordinated google bombs, mostly as experiments but partly as political stunts, and I'd like to know if they would count.

Given also that some memes and similar are created as SEO techniques, a clear definition would be useful.

Oh, I'd also like to know what happens to existing child accounts, my fiance runs one for her daughter, who doesn't have direct access herself.

[markf]

SEO/Spam isn't something I think we can define in a black & white context, and ultimately the word "malicious" just implies that if we believe SEO activities are being done in a way which provides absolutely no content of any interest to other users, and/or engages in activities which are actively degrading other users' experience, we will take some action.

The most common types of SEO activity we act on are journals who serve no purpose other than SEO, and those who engage in mass friending/commenting/private messaging.

[pig_catapult]

So, like, you mean stuff like those weird spambots that leave nonsensical comments on random entries with hidden URLs to get more Google Juice for one site or another?

[matgb]

That, and some of the more subtle stuff, I'm guessing.

Mark, thanks, I hates me them spammers I does, and while I'll pull some daft tricks, spamming is something I loath, so if it's designed to make that clearer, that's cool.