jumpingjacktrash:

mizstorge:

copperbadge:

pukbak:

tielan:

wrenb77:

suricattus:

suricattus:

digitaldiscipline:

suricattus:

majesticduxk:

Hey there other LJ users… what’s the go with the new user agreement? I had noticed that lj is no longer https last week… man. time to actually move over to dreamwidth maybe

I just saw that today.  I’ve already set up at Dreamwidth but I’ve been resisting the final move because 80% of my people are still at LJ.

I haven’t read the full agreement yet, but we can’t read or post until we do agree, so I should mosey on over and see what BS they’ve got in their ToS….

I believe I have found the giant “fuck you” clause:

Section 7.4 of the new ToS: “Article 10.2 of the Federal Act of the Russian Federation No. 149

“ references this un-lovely tidbit of Russian legal malarkey:

Article 10.2.
The Details of Dissemination of Generally Accessible Information by a Blogger

1. The owner of a website and/or a website page on the
Internet on which generally accessible information is placed and to which
access exceeds 3,000 users of the Internet per day (hereinafter referred to as
“blogger”) when said information is placed and used, for instance
when said information is placed on the given website or website page by other
users of the Internet shall ensure the observance of the legislation of the
Russian Federation, for instance:

1) shall not allow the website or
website page on the Internet to be used for the purpose of committing the acts
punishable under a criminal law, disclosing the information classified as state
or another specifically law-protected secret, disseminating the materials
containing public appeals for carrying out terrorist activities or publicly
justifying terrorism, other extremist materials and also the materials
propagating pornography, the cult of violence and cruelty and the materials
containing obscene language;

2) shall verify the reliability of
placed generally accessible information before it is placed and shall
immediately delete unreliable information that has been placed;

3) shall not allow the dissemination of
information about the private life of a citizen in breach of the civil
legislation;

4) shall observe the bans and
restrictions envisaged by the legislation of the Russian Federation the
referendum and the legislation of the Russian Federation on elections;

5) shall observe the provisions of the
legislation of the Russian Federation that regulate the procedure for
disseminating mass information;

6) shall observe the rights and lawful
interests of citizens and organisations, for instance the honour, dignity and
business reputation of citizens as well as the business reputation of
organisations.

2. The following is hereby prohibited when information
is placed on a website or website page on the Internet:

1) the use of the website or website
page on the Internet for the purpose of concealing or falsifying information of
public significance, disseminating knowingly unreliable information under the
disguise of reliable messages;

2) the dissemination of information for
the purpose of discrediting a citizen or some categories of citizens on the
basis of sex, age, race or ethnicity, language, religion, trade, place of
residence and work and also in connection with their political convictions.

3. The blogger is entitled to:

1) freely search, receive, transmit
and disseminate information by any method in accordance with the legislation of
the Russian Federation;

2) set out on his website or website
page on the Internet his personal judgements and assessment with an indication
of his name or pseudonym;

3) place or allow the placement on his
website or website page on the Internet texts and/or other materials of other
users of the Internet, unless the placement of such texts and/or other
materials contravenes the legislation of the Russian Federation;

4) disseminate advertisements on an
onerous basis in keeping with the civil legislation, Federal
Law No. 38-FZ of March 13, 2006 on Advertisement on his website
or website page on the Internet.

4. An abuse of the right of disseminating
generally accessible information that has manifested itself as breach of the
provisions of Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the
present article shall entail criminal, administrative or another liability in
accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

5. On his website or website page on the
Internet the blogger shall place his name and initials and an e-mail address
for sending legal-significance messages to him.

6. On his website or website page on the
Internet the blogger shall place immediately after receiving a court’s decision
that has become final and contains demand for its being published on the
website or website page.

7. The owners of websites on the Internet
who have registered as network editions in accordance with Law of the
Russian Federation No. 2124-I of December 27, 1991 on Mass Media are not
bloggers.

8. The federal executive governmental
body carrying out the functions of control and supervision in the field of mass
media, mass communications, information technologies and telecom shall keep a
register of the websites and/or website pages on the Internet on which
generally accessible information is placed and to which access exceeds 3,000
users of the Internet per day. For the purpose of ensuring the formation of the
register of websites and/or website pages on the Internet the federal executive
governmental body carrying out the functions of control and supervision in the
field of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and telecom:

1) shall organise the monitoring of
websites and website pages on the Internet;

2) shall endorse a methodology for
assessing the number of users of a website or website page on the Internet per
day;

3) has the right of requesting from
organisers of dissemination of information on the Internet, bloggers and other
persons the information required for keeping such register. Within 10 days
after receiving a request from the federal executive governmental body carrying
out the functions of control and supervision in the field of mass media, mass
communications, information technologies and telecom said persons shall provide
the information so requested.

9. In the event of detection in
information-telecommunication networks, for instance on the Internet, of a
website or website page which contain generally accessible information and to
which access exceeds 3,000 users of the Internet per day, including the
consideration of relevant applications of citizens or organisations, the
federal executive governmental body carrying out the functions of control and
supervision in the field of mass media, mass communications, information
technologies and telecom:

1) shall include said website or
website page on the Internet in the register of the websites and/or website
pages on the Internet on which generally accessible information is placed and
to which access exceeds 3,000 users of the Internet per day;

2) shall identify the hosting provider
or the other person which ensures the placement of the website or website page
on the Internet;

3) shall send to the hosting provider
or the person mentioned in Item 2 of the present part a notice in electronic
form in Russian and English concerning the need for provision of details
allowing to identify the blogger;

4) shall record the date and time of
dispatch of the notice to the hosting provider or the person mentioned in Item 2
of the present part in the relevant information system.

10. Within three working days after
receiving the notice mentioned in Item 3 of Part 9 of the present
article the hosting provider or the person mentioned in Item 2 of Part 9
of the present article shall provide the information allowing to identify the
blogger.

11. Having received the information
specified in Item 3 of Part 9 of the present article, the federal
executive governmental body carrying out the functions of control and
supervision in the field of mass media, mass communications, information
technologies and telecom shall send a notice to the blogger informing that his
website or website page has been included in the register of the websites
and/or website pages on the Internet on which generally accessible information
is placed and to which access exceeds 3,000 users of the Internet per day, with
reference to the provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation
applicable to said website or website page on the Internet.

12. If during three months access to the
website or website page on the Internet is below 3,000 users of the Internet
per day that website or that website page on the Internet shall be removed on
the blogger’s application from the register of the websites and/or website
pages on the Internet on which generally accessible information is placed and
to which access exceeds 3,000 users of the Internet per day, with a notice to
this effect being sent to the blogger. The given website or website page on the
Internet may be removed from that register when no application is filed by the
blogger if access to the given website or website page on the Internet during
six months is below 3,000 users of the Internet per day.

Sweet baby spaghetti monster.  Even allowing for shitty translations, I’ve spent the past few decades reading 20-page publishing contracts, and dealt with a handful of real estate contracts, and I’ve never seen such a dense block of legal excrement.  Well-played, Russian lawyers, and by well-played I mean Crowley would be impressed. 

Short version, as I see it: nothing obscene by Russian legal standards (in Putin’s Russia, LGBTA discussions could fall within that, much less actual smut), and even if you’re squeaky clean and hetero-vanilla, any and everything you say is subject to their (legal) judgement.  So yeah, for’ex, prohibiting “the dissemination of information for the purpose of discrediting a citizen or some categories of citizens on the basis of sex, age, race or ethnicity, language, religion, trade, place of residence and work and also in connection with their political convictions.” could be seen as protecting someone from abuse or libel, and that’s great – but it also means that if the Russian government decides they don’t like your political activism, they have the right to use that post as “abuse” that “shall entail criminal, administrative or another liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.”  And then “the hosting provider or the person mentioned in Item 2 of Part 9 of the present article shall provide the information allowing to identify the blogger.”  

Shorter version as I understand it: Livejournal no longer pretends to adhere to the concept of Freedom of Speech and/or privacy as (still) practiced in the USA.  If any practicing (or perfect) legal beagles want to elaborate on how I’m right/where I’m wrong, I welcome the instruction.

I’m not surprised by any of this, I’m just sad that I’m not surprised.  

follow-up: even if I were willing to sign, holy shit this is a red flag, pun intentional:

ATTENTION: this translation of the User Agreement is
not a legally binding document. The original User Agreement, which is
valid, is located at the following address: http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos-ru.bml.

so, what you’re agreeing to isn’t the translation given, but the original user document.  Which is in Russian.  And might be exactly the same context as the translation… and might not.

Um.  Children, this is the point at which I say “get in the damn car and drive in the direction of Away Very Fast.”

I’ve resisted the move to DW but you better believe I’m moving now!

LiveJournal and what’s going on there. FYI.

For Mr @copperbadge. I thought this would be a interesting read for you.

I haven’t had a ton of time to research any of this, because holy shit wank ALWAYS HAPPENS ON LJ WHEN I’M ON VACATION. WHAT THE FUCK LIVEJOURNAL. 

But I do think it would be incredibly wise of people to make the migration to the Dreamwidth platform, which in function and structure is nearly identical but which in terms of ideology and philosophy is run by fans and fairly liberal. At the very least, I would back your LJ up on Dreamwidth (and throw them some dollars if you can, they work hard). 

Dreamwidth can import not just your entire journal but also the privacy locks on posts (I checked this morning), icons, comments, and communities and their comments as well.

If you don’t have a Dreamwidth, once you make one you can literally pick up your entire LiveJournal content and plop it down in a Dreamwidth username of your choice. The only thing you’re likely to lose is your layout, and you may have to re-find some friends.

Import a Journal
Import a Community

You can backup multiple journals to a single DW journal, but for communities you will need to build a DW community and back your community stuff up to it (you also need to own, not just moderate, the community on LJ). I don’t know if you can put multiple communities into one DW community account. 

I’ve had a DW for ages, and I had all the plans IN PLACE to do the backup but was waiting until after vacation. So what I’ve done today is taken an account labeled cblj-backup, and backed my two significant LJs up there (Copperbadge and Sam_Storyteller) and my fiction community at originalsam-backup. More to come about this once the process is complete, which it isn’t yet. 

FWIW, Tumblr is now my main platform, but I do post to copperbadge on Dreamwidth, and all my fanfic is posted to and will remain at AO3 under the username Copperbadge there. 

I guess it’s time to start deleting posts at my LJ.

ok but what does this even mean for americans?

if i don’t delete the lj i haven’t touched in years, which has lgbt fiction on it, is russia going to try to sue me? cuz i actually kind of think that would be hilarious.