Because it makes sense to say something -

[kyburg]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Journals dropping left, right and center because of - wait a moment. Stop. Think. THEN react, okay?

catrinella seems to have a handle on things, and in some key aspects, actually has gone out to test the waters on the whole 'journal deletion' issue.

But it doesn't come as any surprise to me. No? Come on - it's all over Google News - OH, but that was MYSPACE.

*facesmacks*

The attorney general sent a letter to MySpace on Tuesday requesting names from the Minnesota registry or those on other states' registries who have used Minnesota addresses.

"Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet, social networking sites such as MySpace.com provide sexual predators with unprecedented access to children," she said. "They're really con men using the Net to develop rapport with unsuspecting kids."

MySpace announced last week that it would assist officials in all 50 states and provide this information.

UH. I can see LiveJournal wouldn't want that kind of burden. That's manpower, money and liability for litigation from people who sue after LJ turns over their private information to law enforcement. (Not that they'd WIN, mind...but litigation is $$$.)

From a simple business perspective, LJ is simply getting out of the business while they can. MySpace is going to get hammered by this stuff - make no mistake about it.

What makes sense to me is to actually put some intelligence into the interests update - if you think some words are triggers, for fekking sake, BAN them.

There's plenty of reports on "false positives" - and I hope in the weeks to come, any found in this first round will be remediated properly.

In the meantime, keep reading, keep listening and watch your ass. Your OWN ass, mind.

Comments

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

I don't like the policy, but I understand it. I was initially freaked out because it seemed horribly out of character for the policy that had been in place to date. It's the whole 'SHOCK AND AWE' carpet-bombing and the fact that it was prompted by a one-woman purity campaign that piss me off. I think it was something that could have been handled a million times better and the fact that they seemed so unprepared when paedophiles+internet=OTP just looks horrendous.

I feel terrible for survivors who have lost their blogs and their communities, though. I find that really heartbreaking. I've read some of their comments and I wasn't really too upset until I did.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I'd hesitate to put this at the feet of that idiot. Really really. One, there is no "they" with regard to (WTF was its name? I'm going to forget it completely soon - no loss) that one person who bought a domain and threw up a site - and I'm just not in the mood to dignify the whole bit by acknowledging it had a thing to do with this. There are far better explanations that can actually be understood, if you get my drift.

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

Actually, that came out wrong. I'm not putting policy change at her feet necessarily. I am blaming her for the wank and, since LJ can't police and her contacts seem to have a VERY specific list of suspensions (you'd only really know if you'd reported them), reporting people who shouldn't have been reported at all, oh, and also possibly fucking things up for any real chance for LE to step in. I do blame her for that and her self-righteous band of merry fundies. I wasn't really sold on the scale of her/their part until I was directed here: http://pedoblogtracker.blogspot.com/.

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

http://news.com.com/Mass+deletion+sparks+LiveJournal+revolt/2100-1025_3-6187619.html?tag=item See, the more I know, the madder I get. Really. I wasn't that mad, more a little confused and worried.

"LiveJournal, which is owned by San Francisco-based Six Apart, confirmed Wednesday that it deleted around 500 journals this week in hopes of better "protecting children." It said the deletion was prompted by activist groups, including one called Warriors for Innocence that claims to track sites promoting pedophilia, the sexual abuse of minors, and other illegal activities."

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

...and didn't want to end up in the same place MySpace is in right now. Oh very yes.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

This was a "last straw" thing for me: I'd been thinking about going friends only for years. Both my stepfather and my ex-girlfriend had stalkers attempt to keep tabs on them through public posts on LiveJournal, and this whole LJihad is more of a catalyst than a cause of my decision.

[djdig.livejournal.com]

It's though to say ban the trigger interests. That's how incest survivors groups have been yanked.

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't bother me if, before this, they had actually done ANYTHING about journals where actual illegal activity was being discussed and confessed to.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*nodsnods* That, more than anything else, convinces me this isn't driven from a complaint place - just a business one. Just shut 'em up - keep the harpies happy, and they'll leave us along again. Maybe.

Meanwhile, you want help with a troll? SOWWY.

[drlaurac.livejournal.com]

I guess all my breastfeeding posts will be friends only from now on. Pthththt.
As a parent, I don't think that kids need protecting. Mom and Dad need to be monitoring Internet use, and kids need to see some of this stuff with Mom and Dad, because it's a part of the real world. It's the parent's responsibility, not the rest of the world!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

It didn't matter if they were flocked or not. flocking doesn't stop anonymous readers, only fellow ljers.
Also Warriors for Innocence is reportedly funded or associated with by some very right-wing fundamentalist political groups, per some of the links I've been seeing.
More here, check ont he back entries for more links.
http://gehayi.livejournal.com/264200.html

[drlaurac.livejournal.com]

So you're saying if I flock a post, it's still a target?!?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

You want to take that risk - but my understanding was they were going after the interests on your profile, more than anything else. (WTF.)

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

It could be, according to the LJ terms of service listed in one of the comments in this thread. As kyburg noted, they used interests, but it's not hard to scan content. The backup program, LJ Book, that a lot of folks have mentioned can turn your lj into a single pdf file, and then you could pick up any search term you like. (Actually, probably far more useful for folks trying to track down an elusive bit of fic, honestly.)
I've read in a couple of places that outside folks are able to read lj flocked posts that people within lj itself are not able to read, I haven't seen it so. Must run. May try again later tonight on testing it.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Testing the rumor that strangers can see f/locked posts:
You used to be able to search on a journal name even if you yourself remained anonymous and were not logged in.
This is no longer the case.
If I enter lj home without logging in, I can only look at randomly-chosen ljs. I tried flipping through a number of these random choices, looking to see if I was getting in where I didn't "belong"--no. I did find one which was blank to me, probably entirely f/locked.
However, this is just using ordinary lj tools, this is not hacking in with any other access programs or SQL etc methods.
Also, when I go directly to my friends page and look around, forgetting to log in, f/locked posts are not visible, which was the concern noted in a couple of places.
RE: outside access programs, I know LJBook requires you to log in using your lj name and password (retained only for 30 minutes), for instance, so it's less likely someone else could archive your data, except with consent from the LJ Abuse Team or similar access.