In the world of LJ

[hummingwolf]

Hey guys, Warriors for Innocence are back! I suppose this is what SixApart gets for putting advertisements on LiveJournal.

In other news, Permanent Accounts will be on sale soon; and for every account purchased during the first 36 hours of the sale, LJ will donate $25 to EFF, RAINN, Creative Commons, and WITNESS. "We know that other actions count too, so we're actively working to make our policies more transparent and our actions accurately reflect the will of the community. To this end we are working on:" [see list at link].

Comments

[primaldog.livejournal.com]

I've toyed around the idea of getting a permanent account, though I'm still not sure if it will be worth it. I guess we'll see.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Could be worth it if you expect to be around for a few years and you think you'd enjoy having 130 icons (or however many perm accounts can have now).

[swimmingotter.livejournal.com]

I love how, in that Warriors for Innocence email, they ask for an email to send the screen shot to. Um, no thank you, I don't want you to put me on your email list you crazy CRAZY people.

Oy.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that does look a bit fishy, doesn't it? Silly crazy people.

[kaukomieli.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that they're being serious but I'm afraid that they are.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Which do you mean--Warriors For Innocence, for trying so hard to rid the world of anything that offends them? Or LiveJournal, for trying to sell permanent accounts so soon after offending fandom? ;-)

[kaukomieli.livejournal.com]

Warriors for Innocence — it's as if they've got nothing better to do with their time :)

[hasufin.livejournal.com]

One does begin to wonder where the line between activism - even activism one disagrees with - ends, and extortion, slander, and libel begin.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Indeed. When one finds evidence of actual criminal behavior online and one wishes to do something, there are perfectly reasonable things one can do. Contacting the appropriate law enforcement agency, for example. Complaining to assorted advertisers that LiveJournal or a page on LiveJournal is a "Child Sex/Rape Site", however, is not perfectly reasonable.

[hasufin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I have to temper that with the realization that bringing social complaints to advertisers is a legitimate form of activism; recently a blogger was able to exert considerable pressure on a radio station by targeting advertisers (http://blogontherun.wordpress.com/tag/round-up-the-nazis/).
If it's okay for people I agree with to do it, it's okay for people I disagree with to do it, too. I try to be consistent about that sort of thing.

However, characterizing LiveJournal as an "Child Sex/Rape Site" seems to me to be a libelous and actionable statement. But I'm certainly not a lawyer, and odds are I've confused libel and slander anyway.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

characterizing LiveJournal as an "Child Sex/Rape Site" seems to me to be a libelous and actionable statement.

That's kinda the part that gets me. Though I don't know if it qualifies as an actionable statement, it certainly doesn't strike me as a sane one. Trying to convince people that an entire blogging/personal journaling site is evil because some people write Drago/Sirius fic also strikes me as unreasonable, though I understand that WFI's later releases did focus more on non-fannish journalers. I still believe that in the case of people who seem to be breaking the law, the better course of action is to contact law enforcement agencies, not advertisers.

[hasufin.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not a lawyer but it seems to me that it's a statement which is not provably true (and I think is provably false) but is being made with intent to cause harm to the subject.


IN cases of actual illegal actions, usually it's better to contact law enforcement. However, I also know that there have been many cases where law enforcement was extremely sluggish to address such issues - until they got media attention.