Self-expression is not illegal. WFI are vigilantes. You caved to pressure from a fanatical vigilante group and in doing so implicitly assumed responsibility for the content of every journal on LJ -- creating a dangerous precedent for every online networking and/or blogging service, and for the future of speech on the Internet. Shame on you.
Now I know why so many users were hesitant about SixApart acquiring LiveJournal. Once you bring in a larger corporation with their lawyers and insurance, freedoms start to slowly disappear. LJ is network of writers, of people who share thoughts, stories and ideas. If we were looking for censorship or publicity, we'd be on MySpace.
LiveJournal's interruption of service in light of POSSIBLE legal issues needs to be based on consultations with law enforcement officials, or legal advisers. NOT associated advertising companies who've been receiving unsubstantiated information from a vigilante group that is too scared to even name what particular law enforcement organization they are allegedly working with.
I'm not a part of those communities, but I dont support the labeling of everyone in them as pedophiles. The whole of the internet does not have to be candy-coated. Parent your god damn spawn.
I agree that victims should be allowed a therapeutic response to what they've been through, and that writers should be allowed to explore the depths of their creativity, even if I don't agree with the subject matter.
‘I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ - VoltaireYou may want to protect the children.But you can NEVER take away our right to freedom of speech.
Agreed. This is a gross violation of freedom of speech and personal rights, as well as an infuriating example of what is, to put it simply, bad business. Way to alienate your clientele, LJ.
Discretion needs to be exercised in this matter. That sort of discretion has not been used, and for it innocent fanfiction authors are being punished when they have done nothing wrong. This is both unfair and simply not right.
WFI are a group of self-righteous vigilantes that resembles the past hate-groups that have existed in human history. What they are doing is just another form of hate crimes and character slander. We must all band together and fight!
Groups like Warriors For Innocence usually hurt more people than they help by making things inconvenient for people who are, in fact, INNOCENT. If they want to stop pedophiles, perhaps they should target the Catholic church first...heh.Shame on LJ for not taking the time to study groups for CONTENT rather than just glancing over interests.
There may be toboos in our society, but to silence people for speaking/writing about them is wrong. Livejournal is just looking for a human rights/ freedom of speech (expression) lawsuit. :|
An interest can be listed for many reasons... survivor of the act, roleplay between consenting adults, a different definition or reference of the same word, or an interest in relevant fiction all are reasonable occasion to include something as an interest and are all entirely legal. Steamrolling over everyone who lists a questionable word in their interests is an absurd way to handle this.
I am not a fan of rape/incest/shota. My only fetish is that I like to read about two men together in a romantic and yes, sexual relationship. It's my personal preference and just because I like it doesn't mean I'm about to go for a sex change so that I can be in a relationship with a man as a man. Now, I'm happy that SOME communities and users that were actually advocating pedophilia and 'illegal' activities may have been deleted but am angry and saddened to find out that many INNOCENT communities and users were also taken down without just case. To target innocent fanfic writers and group them with such people is wrong and though I may not be a fan of what they write I will defend their right to continue writing it.
This war for innocence as it's being called in some cases, is outright childish. I agree wholeheartedly with the statement of this petition. Some people will write stories to vent frustrations or deal with past events that have left them traumatized. Who are we as a whole to deny these people that right? Since when was expressing yourself such a crime in this world?Livejournal, I'm ashamed and extremely appalled by your actions.
If LJ doesn't come out and apologize soon, and reinstates the suspended but innocent communities, I am not going to renew my paid LJ account.Your loss, 6A.
Although I, personally, am not a fan of incest/pedophilia/sexual abuse in fiction, I will fight to the death to preserve the right of authors to write about it in published, non-published, and fan-based fiction.
By trying to delete the legitimite sites along with any sites containing allusions to illegality (i.e. mentions of actual pedophilia), LJ has confused the issue of exploring something for the sake of fiction, a safe outlet, and actually doing something wrong. This is unfair in a lot of respects, and I hope that they will reconsider the issue.
Being in a fandom does not mean you are bad or immoral. Being in a 'shota' community does not make you a paedophile. Being in a 'yaoi' community does not make you gay (because yeah, people still think gay is a virus). Everyone has their kinks, their preferences. Leave us be. We know what we're doing and what it implies. We put disclaimers and warnings, so it all depends on the individual. It's not fair (to say the least) to go about deleting people's PERSONAL journals because of what they like and what they do.
13,007,660. That's how many journals have been created since lj's inception. 13,007,660 journals and/or communities created by people who needed to express themselves and be heard for whatever reason. And now you're claiming that anything YOU deem
