What, you expected smooth sailing?

[fredericks]

Blah blah, LJ doin' people dirty, blah blah, potential fandom exodus, yadda yadda. If y'all have journals on those other sites (IJ and/or GJ), I'm fredericks in those parts as well. I've touched GJ once in the three years I had something over there, and I've yet to do anything with the IJ place. But friend me and I'll friend you back.

Comments

this is long and ranty. sorry.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

::eyeroll:: The fanartists that got the banhammer were in violation of the United States Code Title 18, Part 1, § 2256, which states the following:

any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where—
(A) the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct;
(B) such visual depiction is a digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or
(C) such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Fictional characters are included in this law, because it explicitly states that identification of the child in question need not be presented.

Even better, the PROTECT Act (18 USC 1466A) states that producing, distributing, possessing, with intent to distribute, or receiving such a work is liable.

LiveJournal, under current US statue, had no choice but to remove the material in question, or face a shitton of trouble that they don't need.


This isn't to say that LJ's customer service is lacking the service part, or that it's a ridiculous law. Those are both true. But the law isn't LJ's fault, and if they didn't follow it, everyone on LJ would be fucked but good.

I'm just tired of seeing LJ villified by people who are (in some cases, willfully) ignorant of the law. HP fandom had a big todo when that part of 18 USC came down, and then they promptly rationalized their behavior, laughed, and went right back to what they were doing, confident that their faulty understanding of "free speech" would guarantee the rest of the world appreciated their artistic efforts. I expect they're having a big wake-up call. Under the law as it stands, reviewing any remotely questionable fanart post could potentially get even the commenters in trouble.

And the funniest part is that all of these mass exodus threats are fucking useless. GJ, IJ, and even JF are all on server farms located in the United States, and are therefore subject to United States law -- including USC 18. Things aren't going to be much different over there.

Unless somebody's going to go to the effort, expense, and liability of setting up a server in Finland or Vanatu or something, it's already over. And I'm staying right where I am, because I'm not so stupid as to be posting Snarry art to the public sphere.

Anyway! Hi! How are you?

Re: this is long and ranty. sorry.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Hence my "blah blah, yadda yadda" additions. But thanks for illuminating the situation.

Re: this is long and ranty. sorry.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Heh. Sorry. The whole thing's just really struck a nerve with me. Can you tell? :p

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

wait, what's going on? this is the third post like this that's shown up on my flist. does this have anything to do with strikethroughgate?

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I'm not even really sure what ridiculousness went down. I think LJ has been tightening its "what's allowed and what's not" rules, hitting people who write fanfic in certain fandoms (HP) harshly. I sort of don't care as I'm on the fringes of fandom, but I want to keep tabs on my friends.