Black Listing v White Listing

The new SteemIt Terms of Service says that we cannot include links to sites in our blog posts without express written consent of SteemIt Inc..

14.1.7. [users may not] Use our services to promote third-party platforms or to promote each other without our written permission.

A link to a web site is a de facto promotion of the web site; therefore, SteemIt posts cannot contain links. Period.

The ToS does not give us a mechanism for getting links approved. Since I like to talk about different topics, I actually end up linking to a large number of different platforms when I write.

I know that this will sound strange, but I often end up deciding to include links while I am in the process of writing.

The SteemIt Terms of Service demands that we write to SteemIt Inc and receive written permission before including a link in a post. I really don't want to waste the time doing this; So, I would like to put together a proposal to create a database to mechanize the approval of disapproval of links.

A link clearing database will make it easy for people to find out if their posts are in accord or in violation of ToS 14.1.7 .

The first in creating a censorship program is deciding if it should be based on a black list or a white list.

I have developed programs for deleting spam emails. The first programs used a black list approach. When I encountered spam, I would blacklist the sender. The problem with this approach is that the spammers kept changing their return address.

I finally moved to a whitelist approach, I created a list of all my contacts. Only people I've contacted in the past could get through.

The most robust system for approving links would be to create a robust system with a whitelist, blacklist and quarantine zone.

SteemIt could maintain a list of approved and banned web sites.

When we write a post, steemit's filters could examine the links. If the links are in the white list, SteemIt would publish it.

If the post has links to sites that SteemIt bans; the system would reject the post.

If the post has links to sites that SteemIt has yet to judge; then the post would drop into a quarantine zone. The link would not published until the censors at SteemIt have approved the links.

I could write such a program. I have written spam filters for email accounts. Unfortunately, the fact that SteemIt added the following line to their ToS has me too depressed to write code.

14.1.7. [users may not] Use our services to promote third-party platforms or to promote each other without our written permission.

The idea that I have to get written permission from corporate before I include a link in post has me perplexed.

I have no idea what "promote each other" means. An at link is a promotion for another user. Eg, writing @justinsunsteemit into a post is a promotion for this user.

Anyway, I don't want to violate the Terms of Service. I really don't want to have to write an email to get every site reference in a post approved by corporate.

Anyway, I think a database that contains a list of approved and banned sites would be the best way to enforce the Terms of Service. Does anyone else have ideas on how we can comply with the ToS?