Should NSFW Content Require Verification (For Copyright)? Minimum Reputation To Post? Part 2 of 2.

See Part 1 Here.

...Normally, that's exactly what I'd do. However, the client side filter simply hides things from your view. It does nothing to prevent abusive content from being monetized, aside from preventing you yourself from clicking on it.

I'm afraid you are out of your weight-class, little buddy.

This problem isn't about me or my personal enjoyment of Steemit. My goal is not to enhance Steemit for my personal viewing pleasure. My goal is to make (this particular type of) abuse economically disincentivized enough by the community that it will mostly die out on its own, and in doing so, protect others from other potential knock-on effects. The last thing Steemit needs is a bunch of NSFW-revenge posts monetizing activities that are starting to be criminalized in some jurisdictions.

The discussion in this area is ongoing. It's tricky to attach restrictive rights to property.

Anyway, off the top of my head, I see two options for restricting this content.

The first, and by far the easiest, is simply to attach a reputation requirement for posting NSFW content or using the NSFW tag. Depending on where this is set, it could mostly resolve the problem. This type of behavior is almost universally restricted to sub-60 (or sub-50) reputation accounts, many of which are likely recreated sock-puppets. A hard-line would stop a lot of this behavior without creating too much of a bar to new, legitimate posters or legitimate production companies with copyright and consenting, paid subjects. Unfortunately, this is relatively explicit censorship and may be ideologically inconsistent with other community positions.

The second option is for the community to require ID verification (or, in the case of production companies, copyright-holder verification) not unlike those already required in some online communities and with some businesses. Legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges that follow KYC (know-your-customer) laws also require verification images. Reddit is probably the best example of this, where if you post NSFW content without verifying either your identity (as the subject) or your copyright status, your content will be quickly removed by a moderator. Unlike Reddit, Steemit's content is preserved in the block-chain permanently, making it a particularly onerous place to have one's pictures illegally or immorally posted.

Thank you Kraken, for the perfect androgynous "ID verification photo" to titillate disappoint my audience with.

Flagging provides a similar power in the hands of the community here on Steemit, since down-voted posts are hidden by default, as well as their images...but who wants to spend their voting power and time, forgoing rewards to manually flag this behavior? This is one situation where I would not have a problem with a carefully-controlled, community downvote bot, though hopefully better options may be forthcoming from the more technically savvy.

I'm eager to hear any other suggestions or thoughts anyone may have. I realize these ideas may slow the free dissemination of uncensored ideas in a limited fashion, but I think broad community agreement can be reached on what abuse is and the fact that disincentivizing it is in all good-faith actor's best interest.

We don't want Steemit to be known as the place to monetize plagiarism and other sewage.

Sources: U of Maryland Law, U of Miami Law, Cornell Law, Kraken
Copyright: Office Space