31May
Since I believe that there is in every man the spirit of God, I cannot destroy human life. The whole of my life has been devoted to acts of creation (being by profession a composer) and I cannot take part in acts of destruction. I believe sincerely that I can help my fellow human beings best, by continuing the creation or propagation of music.
-- Statement sent to the Tribunal for the Registration of Conscientous Objectors by Benjamin Britten in May 1942.
And, just when we thought this month couldn't get any worse, Six Apart caved in to the ludicrous demands of a bunch of crazed lunatics. The shadowy group, calling itself Warriors [sic] for Innocence, claims to have been assisted by Scott Kraft and the incomparably useless Denise Paolucci. Many hundreds of journals and communities, such as a Nabakov reading group, were forcibly closed for no adequately explored reason.
Oh, that's not to say that Six Apart didn't attempt to cover its ample backside. Here's an example apology notice. It deserves a proper fisking, but isn't going to get one from here. We are, though, going to pick up on a couple of points:
Our legal counsel advises us that it would increase LiveJournal's liability if we were to allow your journal to be unsuspended for you to delete the illegal interests from your profile. This is because if someone were to remove the illegal interests from his or her profile, but was in fact using LiveJournal to coordinate, solicit, or participate in illegal activity, LiveJournal would most likely be considered to have foreknowledge of that activity and thus become liable.
In additition to the what if they're not doing illegal activity line, we find ourselves - again - relying on an interpretation of the peculiar laws of the area where Livejournal is located. Let us spell it out for the hard of thinking. These are not universal standards. Indeed, these are not standards across all 49 provinces and territories between 49°N and Yucatan. Yet again, Livejournal is promoting its local standards above those of the rest of the world. More.
We also read that,
We have been advised that listing an interest in an illegal activity must be viewed as using LiveJournal to solicit that illegal activity... The Abuse team does not have any discretion; if a journal profile contains interests that support illegal activity, we must suspend the journal.
We believe Six Apart is talking pure and unadulterated bullshit. We challenge them to take the Goldsmith test: publish the entire legal guidance they have received, so that colleagues more learned than ourselves may subject the company's actions to scrutiny, then approval, or laughter.
And we offer this counter-example: holocaust denial is currently against the law in a number of civilised countries, though not including the one where Six Apart claims to be located. Would the twelve journals and three communities that list holocaust denial as an interest also be suspended? Someone else can submit those.
Who are these people?
It is a fact that Warriors [sic] for Innocence (1, 2a 2b) hides behind a GoDaddy registration, and operates entirely from a G****email account. It appears to consist of little more than a brother-and-sister and (possibly) one other person. Like Six Apart, these people do not wish to be held to account in any meaningful manner.
We asked an expert on all things warrior for his considered opinion. Raven, are these people true Warriors? I was hoping my warriors would be as wise as the owl. It turns out that you are all as feather-brained as the sparrow. For your lack of care, you must leave the quest.
In all seriousness, we would advise Sue and John Pierce to seriously consider some form of protection. Whether intended or not, the consequences of their actions have upset an awful lot of people, and we fear that someone will take matters way too far, and give them both barrels of a loaded shotgun. This would be wrong in so many ways, not least because Jerry Falwell has barely settled in to his unexpected new residence.
The evidence suggests that Mr. and Miss Pierce are part of a dominionist religious group. (Dominionism in a nutshell.) These christianist groups seek to make the world according to their interpretation of christian doctrines, predicated on a particular belief concerning the second coming of Mr. Jesus in the year 2000.
Is Six Apart any good?
If Six Apart can't be trusted to have good customer service when dealing with something as serious as account deletion, how can they be counted on to take care of the little problems?
Six Apart head honcho Barak Berkowitz told an online journalism site that,
Our decision here was not based on pure legal issues. It was based on what community we want to build and what we think is appropriate within that community and what's not.
Let NLeseul's response speak for many. Six Apart provides the servers. The users build the community. If Six Apart tries to force the community into one direction, it will fail, for it denies the individual, and that is a gross moral error.
We also believe that accepting the fundamentalist christian viewpoint, even when advertisers are used as an intermediary, is a gross moral error. Even though Mr. Berkowitz has backpedalled furiously from his actions, he and his staff have still caved in to violent religious extremists. It is too easy to assume that the community we want to build is part of the religious nuttery propounded by the complainants.
Mr. Berkowitz gave a mumbled half-apology, almost two days after the problems began. His response was generally seen as unsatisfactory.
It is worth noting that last year's Tit or No Tit brew-ha-ha also exploded over the Victoria Day week-end. We are not sure that this is entirely coincidental.
It is also worth noting that Tit or No Tit was also an attempt to enforce a socially-conservative mindset on Livejournal. Is Six Apart a front group for some religious whackjobs? Do we know the faith (inherited or currently professed) of Mena and Ben Trott? Of Barak Berkowitz? Of Six Apart's shady financial backers?
So, where next?
Petitions will not change minds. Six Apart has got itself into this mess because Warriors [sic] for Innocence threatened to go to the advertisers. The best response? Complain to the advertisers yourself. Something along these lines should do the trick - fill in the gaps between the % signs yourself...
Dear %advertiser%,
I saw a commercial from your company on %Six Apart site%. Six Apart, the owner of this site, believes in surpressing free speech so that it might make its site more appealing to advertisers such as yourself.As you have advertised on a Six Apart site, I must conclude that you support this company's offensive position. I am no longer interested in your products and services. I shall, of course, reconsider as soon as you can confirm that you no longer advertise with that company.
Yours faithfully,
%your name%
A difficult bit is finding some way of communicating with the advertiser - usually, a simple Scroogle search for them will reveal a contact form or address, and there's a list of some adverts currently in rotation. A fun bit is copying in someone at Six Apart, for instance the company's chairman, barakb25/at/livejournal.com .
The really difficult bit, though, is seeing this through. If you see an advert for Pirates of the Spanish Main III
and fire off this letter, then you don't go to see the film. And if you don't intend to see it through, don't send the note in the first place. This whole mess was begun by a few people concealing their true intentions; don't stoop to their level.
Last year, we called for an open and honest set of policies from Six Apart. We've been rewarded with the grand non-total of nothing. Again, the most important thing is to talk to your own customers. Don't give interviews to the press. Don't have stupid malicious liars putting out misinformation on Metafilter. And being shot down in flames for it - the final link is Good Stuff.
It is far easier to retain an existing customer than to attract a new one; in turn, that is far easier than winning back a disgruntled former customer.
In summary
Here's your concise guide to what has happened, and what we expect will happen.
1) Two dominionist fundamentalist christians convince themselves that Livejournal is in league with the devil, because some people express interest in things they believe are not in accordance with their interpretation of the Bible, such as incest, homosexuality, democracy, and chocolate.
2) DFCs write to Livejournal to complain about these matters.
3) Livejournal staff surpress their laughter, and politely tells DFCs to get stuffed.
4) DFCs send screenshots to advertisers.
5) Advertisers think that this might cost them one or two sales, and have a quiet word in Livejournal's ears.
6) Livejournal head honchos worry for the bottom line, enter full-on PANIC! mode, and hear what they want to hear from their lawyers.
7) Livejournal suspends all the journals and communities that the fundies have reported, plus quite a few that they haven't.
8) A zillion Livejournal customers get really rather het up.
9) Anil Dash makes a fool of himself on Metafilter.
10) Livejournal's ultimate owner talks to the press.
11) Zillions more Livejournal customers get really rather het up, not so much because of step 7, but because of step 10.
12) Livejournal's owner apologises and says he might set things straight. Perhaps. If you're lucky.
13) Half of Livejournal throws out a random string of consonants and deems the matter closed.
14) The other half remains unhappy and make noises about moving, but will wait to see if step 12 does happen.
15) Time passes. People come to realise that step 9 was quite fun. Green should be white, indeed.
16) Eventually, almost a hundred people do abandon their journals.
17) Profit!
18) Mr. Christ returns to Earth, is horrified by the things being done in His name, and is about to speak out when he is jeered off stage by the dominionist fundamentalist christians, who realise that they believe in nothing more than their own infalliability.
