Forced Terms of Service? Dear Steemit, I do NOT agree!
Hi there Steemer, you can't speak or access your wallet unless you sign the rules we made up -- Jokes on you, Steemit
Am I the only one ticked off by this? I expect this kind of crap with Facebook. But I came to Steemit as an open blockchain based network that an individual entity could not control. I joined Steem as an alternative to corporate goons, not for more of the same.
Yet today I am presented with a box saying I have to agree to someone s terms. Who's terms? This is my page and my wallet and my content on Steemit is my own. I don't recognize the fake laws of illegal governments of force, nor Steemits ability to enforce those upon me with ever-changing TERMS. Forced checkboxes don't change that. I DO NOT AGREE.
What happens if we don't "agree" which I did under duress since apparently not agreeing would mean my content and my wallet would be locked away and effectively stolen by Steemit.
This feels like Steemit hijacking our wallets and forcing us to comply for access. If they can lock us from our accounts for not agreeing to their terms, what stops them from locking us out because the government says so This is censorship and it's unacceptable.
A platform whose access controlled by the whims of people behind their desks is not free speech.
Any thoughts on this Steemers?
Hi Gavin, so far as I understand, the Steemit service is controlled by a company... whereas the Steem blockchain is decentralized and not "controlled" by that company.
Thus the Steemit platform has to comply with laws and whatnot or it gets shut down by regulators, whereas the Steem blockchain (so long as their are "witnesses") would theoretically continue on beyond the death of any platform "built" on it.
Again, as far as I understand, anyone (company or individual) could also build platforms ...like Steemit on the Steem blockchain, and use or not use a TOS for that new platform at their discretion (and/or peril).
At face value your concerns seem legit to me... but if my understanding is right, Steemit, as a platform and a company that answers to the state to keep the regulators off its back probably was going to end up having a TOS and Privacy policy at some point to cover their rears legally.
There's a niche out there though... the Steem blockchain is ripe for developing an "underground" platform... just no one seems interested in doing that at the moment.