Steemit.com Bans Infamous Hacker @thedarkoverlord for Violating ToS
The hacker group The Dark Overload that made the news last week, has officially been banned from steemit.com with their account no longer being accessible. This is on the flagship frontend steemit.com owned and operated by Steemit Inc., not the Steem blockchain itself.
As you can see, @thedarkoverlord can still be found on other frontends:
https://busy.org/@thedarkoverlord
https://steempeak.com/@thedarkoverlord
Steemit.com is still the #1 most used frontend app, and most used Steem app in general.
Earlier in 2018, Steemit Inc. added Terms of Service to steemit.com, which anyone using the site was obligated to agree to in order to keep using it.
@thedarkoverlord is apparently in violation of the ToS for hacking, and has been blacklisted from the Steemit.com frontend as a result.
Here are the ToS sections that explain why:
Suspension or Termination of Service.
13.1. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Services in our sole discretion, immediately and without prior notice, and delete or deactivate your steemit.com account and all related information and files in such without cost to you, including, for instance, if you breach any term of this Agreement. In the event of termination, your access to the funds in your account will require you access to the Steem blockchain via the command line API or third party tool, and will require you to have access to your backup of your Account data including your Account and Private Keys.User Conduct
14.1. When accessing or using the Services, you agree that you will not commit any unlawful act, and that you are solely responsible for your conduct while using our Services. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you agree that you will not:14.1.2. Use our Services to pay for, support or otherwise engage in any activity prohibited by law, including, but not limited to illegal gambling, fraud, money-laundering, or terrorist financing activities.
Hacking is prohibited by law, hence Steemit Inc. decided to remove the account of the @thedarkoverlord from being used or accessed through steemit.com.
What do you think of this action?
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I think it is Steemit's call to make. It is the blockchain itself that is censorship resistant, not the individual front ends. Those are at the discretion of whoever is running them. Maybe someone will come up with an open source local interface to the blockchain one of these days...a program you can download and use as your interface instead of relying on a web interface that someone else controls.
I am fucken pissed! The hacker in question has proof that the 9/11 was a false flag operation, this was supposed to be a descentralized blockhain, with no external censorship, what do we do to defend freedom!? We banned the poor guy who is risking his live for telling the truth...We now live in a dictatorship of minoritys, murders, pedophiles, and fagoots...Let´s see if the faggots have money to maintain STEEMIT... Cause smart people won´t buy this shit...I am almost for shure powering down after this.
Read rather than cry.
They can use other frontends.
We seek more listings, coinbase and co would never list a coin which can be used by hackers, scammers and potentially terrorists .
What do you want, ISIS next?
Their page is gone from steemit.com, but not the blockchain .
Steemit just made it more difficult to access their content .
Ok ok...ISIS has nothing to do with showing the world the truth about 9/11...
If we want STEEM to get listed on CoinBase ever, then we can't have hackers attacking US government. Coinbase will be de-listing coins that harbor such activities. Sucks, but that is reality.
So true
Kind of ridiculous... It looks like SteemIt is turning out to be exacly like Facebook. What a pity.
That's what happens when you operate as a business - Steemit Inc.
When you're a business, you deal with bank, and they'd fuck you. Also you're private, they can easily fuck one, but they will have a hard time fucking millions
So, the only way is to have a Steem that is own by no one...
Can someone help me to put up a Steem?
I will make it a free for all ... with modification. Take this is a world/humanity project. Interested party please contact me.
That's already in place. As you can see, the account was removed from SteemIt.com but not from the STEEM Network. Use Busy.org instead. Or eSteem. Or SteemPeak. Or Partiko. Or 1Ramp... No need to re-invent the wheel.
I agree completely! Someone please tell Jordan Peterson and his buddies.
Posted using Partiko Android
So a bunch of scam artists who had been on Steemit for a few days trying to rip people off with their fake "hacks" have been banned. And that is being seen as censorship. Meanwhile there are Steemit posts with real content being flagged all over the place and nobody is calling that censorship. Double standards much?
It's interesting how this post has earned $12.40 and 127 votes while another post saying essentially the same thing has been flagged because someone doesn't like the presentation...
https://steemit.com/steemit/@boyanpro/steemit-took-down-theoverlord
I have been flagged twice for speaking my mind already. I won't do it a third time.
SteemIt is obviously not the right place to have political or religious debates.
I will keep my blog neutral.
I will keep focusing on art, photography and if I want to talk about anything even slightly controversial I'll head back to Facebook. I feel safer over there, as odd as that might sound.
I will not stop speaking my mind. They can flag as much as they want. That's on them and their conscience.
You are right, this SP bullying is ruining everything Steem stands for.
If you want to make money and please everyone, then dont post controversial. If you want to post controversial, then accept that some people get offended. You will make less money. You just cannot have both.
There is no reason to feel safer on fb. There is simply no money for you in the first place and therefore you dont feel the consequences of pissing people off.
You have a good point there! :-D
Anyway, if I want to return to Facebook, it will be a problem, since they erased my account because I refused to submit my Identification Documents.
wow you need to give them identification nowadays? I left long time ago when it was still possible to make accounts without any form of identification.
Me too, I never give my personal information. I think the most personal that I could give to them was my name and my birthday.
Unless we can speak our minds we have nothing! (but I must admit I'm using a few different Steemit accounts to make that more viable)
flagging is not censorship. It is disagreement over rewards.
Removing some accounts from a front-end is censorship, especially when it is done without official announcement. All of the people going on steemit and not seeing new posts from thedarkoverlord think there were no new posts.
It does not even matter if they are scammers. It is not steemits job to protect me. I dont want a nanny interface. I can make my own decisions what to read.
That is a thing that I always talk about. I'm a grow man that doesn't need a government or a organization saying to me what is good and what is bad. For me, the steemit made a censorship, however, if the thedarkoverlord say, "OK, I agree with the rules", they could make this by their rights of todo.
Flagging as it is being done on Steemit - certain accounts targeted with down votes and abusive comments - until they have a sub zero rep and they are forced to leave the platform - that is a standard censorship tactic on Steemit and is being carried out as we speak.
The idea that flagged posts can still be seen, so it's not censorship is often put around on Steemit, just as the idea that because the flagging is being done by one account that means it isn't censorship either is also promoted.
Both these ideas are very inaccurate...
I fully agree about not wanting protection from scammers, but keep in mind that there were very few people on Steemit willing to point out that they were scammers when a bunch of high profile Steemians were promoting this as a great breakthrough in freedom. Simply because we can see we will be flagged if we say anything.
One day we may all have to use a range of different Steemit accounts because we simply don't know what we are "allowed " to say - now I'm talking about long term Steemians here, not two day old scam accounts!
Very good comment, true and sad last part.... Fk the flagging assholes, I will still say what I believe in and try and help out when peeps are flag bullied.
Is this the first time someone has been banned from steemit.com? First I have heard of it anyway.
I use busy exactly for this reason ;)
busy.org or steempeak.com
There are other accounts that have been banned. You can check on the github page.
Posted using Partiko Android
While I sort of see why STInc did it, I have mixed feelings. Their posts belong on the ‘dark web’ with their content not the way most see it. I disliked their focus on selling to the highest bidder but was interested in the material they offered. I am still unsure if it’s even legitimate, ya people looked at it but it was only a very basic layer. Did they truly have damaging info or was it just a larp?
Posted using Partiko iOS
I think this is a great move. Why?
It's yet another move that separates Steemit from the Steem blockchain. We need people looking at our platform from the unique perspective of what it is, not some Podunk social media that will never make it.
That's totally true!
That is the thing that I love in steem blockchain. Even if I want to censor all people by creating a front end just with my content, I can do this and all the other accounts continue to exist in the blockchain.
I'd like to see a front end which only publishes content that's on chain but not on steemit.com.
That could certainly provide some fuel for an exodus to other front-ends. I wonder if you could add scripted posts to that list of excluded content, and how the the general quality of the visible posts would look. Interesting!
Wow. I can understand why the company would want to shield themselves and Steem from liability for illegal acts. But I don't like how those TOS are worded - "prohibited by law" in what states or countries, exactly? "Hate speech" and language or art that may blaspheme certain religions are against the law in some places. What about all those Venezuelans earning Steem as an alternative to their devalued currency? Is that legal, in a socialist country?
I do defend Steemit's right to remove people in extreme cases. I do not want our beloved Steem economy supporting really harmful things like child porn or terrorism. I do not see the dark overlord as equivalent to that type of threat. Maybe there are things I don't know, but it bothers me.
Steemit Inc. can do whatever they want, but actions like this will just further encourage the use of other interfaces.
that is the point that I'm trying to say in my posts. They have the right to to this, since everyone who use the steemit.com agree with the ToS, however, that shows they are trying to censorship the account just for the content, which could create a run out of the Steemit.com front end.