Summary of Terms of Service update
We felt it was important with the changes to the Terms of Service to have a post here which identifies some of the key changes. We also want to give you all the opportunity to ask any questions you have regarding the changes, or any questions you have about the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy in general.
While a lot of text has changed, these changes do not represent drastic changes in how the Terms of Service are enforced, which is described in our Abuse Policies. The changes to the Terms of Service were primarily done to clarify a number of situations which we did not feel were properly reflected in the previous version of the Terms of Service.
We have exactly one policy change to announce: we no longer allow children under the age of 13 to use the service. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires service providers to take a number of special actions regarding accounts belonging to children under the age of 13, one of which is obtaining parental permission. We have noticed that almost no parents have opted to grant permission to their children to use the service since we began this program several years ago, and LiveJournal is just not a platform which was ever intended to be used by children.
Now that we've covered the policy change, here is a brief summary of the changes to the Terms of Service which we feel are most significant:
* We have established that we act as a safe harbor on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in several places, and have further clarified that we do not claim any rights to, nor liability for, any content posted by users of the service in several places (Sections X, XIII.)
Section X (Termination):
* There is now a brief section explaining that we do not allow malicious Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activity.
* There is now a section regarding offensive content, which notes that we may suspend accounts, remove content, or flag adult content as we see fit to do so. It should be emphasized that this does not represent a change in policies, but briefly identifies the most common activities that result in these actions being taken. What actions are typically taken in response to these activities still follows the guidelines of our Abuse Policies.
* There is now a section regarding purging inactive accounts. We have made periodic announcements in news about these activities over the past few months, and felt that it was important to note within the Terms of Service that inactive accounts may be purged as part of our routine site maintenance.
* There is now a section regarding U.S. court orders and police investigations.
Section XIII (Journal Content):
* We more clearly urge users to flag their own content as adult where applicable, and state that LiveJournal may apply adult content settings to entries or journals/communities if we feel it has not been set appropriately.
These are the most significant changes to the Terms of Service. This post should not be interpreted as a comprehensive list of all changes made, nor should it be used in place of reading the actual Terms of Service.
That said, we welcome any comments, concerns, or questions you may have!
While a lot of text has changed, these changes do not represent drastic changes in how the Terms of Service are enforced, which is described in our Abuse Policies. The changes to the Terms of Service were primarily done to clarify a number of situations which we did not feel were properly reflected in the previous version of the Terms of Service.
We have exactly one policy change to announce: we no longer allow children under the age of 13 to use the service. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires service providers to take a number of special actions regarding accounts belonging to children under the age of 13, one of which is obtaining parental permission. We have noticed that almost no parents have opted to grant permission to their children to use the service since we began this program several years ago, and LiveJournal is just not a platform which was ever intended to be used by children.
Now that we've covered the policy change, here is a brief summary of the changes to the Terms of Service which we feel are most significant:
* We have established that we act as a safe harbor on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in several places, and have further clarified that we do not claim any rights to, nor liability for, any content posted by users of the service in several places (Sections X, XIII.)
Section X (Termination):
* There is now a brief section explaining that we do not allow malicious Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activity.
* There is now a section regarding offensive content, which notes that we may suspend accounts, remove content, or flag adult content as we see fit to do so. It should be emphasized that this does not represent a change in policies, but briefly identifies the most common activities that result in these actions being taken. What actions are typically taken in response to these activities still follows the guidelines of our Abuse Policies.
* There is now a section regarding purging inactive accounts. We have made periodic announcements in news about these activities over the past few months, and felt that it was important to note within the Terms of Service that inactive accounts may be purged as part of our routine site maintenance.
* There is now a section regarding U.S. court orders and police investigations.
Section XIII (Journal Content):
* We more clearly urge users to flag their own content as adult where applicable, and state that LiveJournal may apply adult content settings to entries or journals/communities if we feel it has not been set appropriately.
These are the most significant changes to the Terms of Service. This post should not be interpreted as a comprehensive list of all changes made, nor should it be used in place of reading the actual Terms of Service.
That said, we welcome any comments, concerns, or questions you may have!