Let's Talk...

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

mrua7 sent me an except from an email she received with emphasis on certain conditions of the new LJ agreement.  I'm writing this initially on Dreamwidth and copying it to LJ. Although there isn't an actual statement of intent to plagiarize or edit the work, if we're still looking at LJ then we have signed the agreement and our work is, for all practical purposes, no longer strictly our own.  Perhaps this was always true, but seeing it in print is a little problematic for me.  I'm open to counter opinions and enlightenment.
Please feel as free as you can to comment, either on LJ or at DW.  If you don't have a Dreamwidth account you can go www.dreamwidth.org
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"Basically they're saying the site has the right to take anything we post on LJ and use it as well as alter it as they see fit.   That holds true for private messaging too....

addendum about the new agreement. Credit to lj user kirathaune, who inserted the bold type.

Of particular note - CREATORS, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS:

“9. Content

9.1. By posting Content, User shall:

9.11. Guarantee to the Administration that Content and terms of its appearance on the Service meets all the requirements of the applicable laws, that User has received all rights and permits necessary to post such a Content;

9.12. In respect of any Content which constitutes intellectual property, User provides to the Administration a non-exclusive (simple) license to use his/her Content in order to provide the Service by reproducing his/her Content as well as by making it public for the entire period the Content is posted on the Service. If User participates in any rankings or if User’s Content is used in any editorial projects of the Service, User provides to the Administration an additional authorisation to modify, shorten and amend his/her Content, to add images, a preamble, comments or any clarifications to his/her Content while using it, and in certain cases based on the Service functions, an authorisation to use User’s Content anonymously.”

Also, in the definition of Terms, section 3:

“Content means User`s information within the Service, including any information published during the process of Registration, in Blogs and Communities as a note or comment as well as sent by User in private messages using the Service.”

Comments

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

So, is Section 7 going to be abandoned here on LJ, or are we cross-posting? I have a dreamwidth, and it's identical to my LJ, as I use it as a backup (I got it years ago during one of the times LJ had been down), but I would like to know the fate of the comm here.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I am importing all of the Section VII entries to the sister site on DW. You can find the link in another post. mrua7 has a good suggestion if you're unsure of posting on LJ, and that would be to post on ff.net and/or AO3 and provide a link only, rather than posting the entire story here.
Dreamwidth is a fallback, not primary at this point. It doesn't hurt to be prepared though.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Ahh, ok, thanks! I do cross-post already (as I think a lot of us do), and I think mrua's idea of linking posts rather than posting here is a good idea. That being said, from what I'm reading here, you still "own" your content--they can just spread it around how they wish (although the modifications thing has be raising eyebrows--though maybe that's for translation purposes). Granted, if it's something personal you'd rather not get spread around, that could be a problem, but for writers and stories, we still own them, so that's a (minor) relief, at any rate.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Please bear in mind that LJ is governed by RUSSIAN law, not US law--so don't be so sure you still "own your content." That's a big part of the reason that I will NOT be crossposting to LJ and am doing a farewell-please-keep--in-touch circuit now. I am mirlacca on DW, if anyone would like to link.

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

While you make a good point, that they refer to your content as your intellectual property is what makes me slightly optimistic.

That being said, you could easily be right, in which case, I'm glad I haven't posted any original fiction on LJ, but just fanfics, which I can't make money off of anyway and are cross-posted elsewhere with timestamps to prove I wrote it first. If they do tweak and/or spread around my fics (can't imagine why, but eh), I'll probably be extremely annoyed, but at least I won't have lost my rights to something I could have published for money.