RE: Updated Steemit.com Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
I gotta take sides with truthforce here, as much as I never tend to support usernames like that, but I live in China and I post about Chinese pseudoscience and corruption in science occasionally. I have just kickstarted a series on problems China faces in which I was to write about the mass surveillance and authoritarian dictatorship practices and so forth.
Now, I was already a little paranoid about the risks of doing this because they quite literally watch everything we do. But if the ToS allows the regime to be handed over my phone number, for example, well that's it for me. With the phone number they could find where I am in what cafe within minutes, my address, my friends. Everything.
And to say it doesn't happen is absurd. It's not even a secret how many are prosecuted here for what you might consider benign things. One girl was arrested for merely planning to hand out stickers promoting women's equality on International women's day. They got in there in advance of the 'subversive crime against the party'.
There is quite a large Chinese userbase on here and I'm sure many of them are enjoying the fact that their content isn't constantly erased and censored like it is everywhere else in China (try writing the words 'winnie the pooh' on any Chinese social media. Won't work).
If it becomes the case that steemit will take down everything according to chinese rule in the same way companies all over the west are doing in an attempt to suck China's big d***, and if it's the case that they will hand over user data of those individuals... this becomes a very dangerous platform indeed - for me specifically if I continue with this series (which I probably will, but now with my tongue firmly bitten and in control)
First of all, I appreciate the conversation. Often political discussions end up in argument, so I enjoy the polite way in which we're handling it here :-)
Getting back to your point of view, I think we should talk about accountability. If you are resident in China where doing promotion against the Chinese government is absolutely illegal, and you consciously publish such type of content in a completely open web space, then who else but you should be accountable for that?
Well if you had that very intention and are aware of the possible political impact, why would you send your phone number to Steemit, Inc - a company based in the US - then? I'm not sure if you're familiar with the service of Anonsteem where you can purchase a Steem account for only 5 Steem (or 0.0025 BTC) and enjoy complete anonymity. I've created a couple of accounts like that and it's a good option for those who don't want to give away their personal data.
I guess it's important to not mix up things as I already stated in my initial comment: Steem is not Steemit. But who am I telling this? As a member of Steemstem you're surely totally familiar with the two concepts...:-)
Steemit, Inc cannot delete any information from the blockchain but they can respond to take down notices and delete content from their website steemit.com. As a company based in the US, they're also liable to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - I recommend every Steem and Steemit user to study that concept.
As I mentioned before, the question is: what's your purpose? Why are you using Steemit.com? If you're trying to stretch the Chinese law, then well... you'll need to deal with possible consequences.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but according to your today's blog post (picture at the very end) you seem to enjoy the deliberate provocation...? :-)
Honestly, it's not Steemit Inc who publishs propaganda against the Chinese government... Also I guess you're expecting cooperation and support from the headquarter - but at the same time you use the term STINC referring to them. Why? :-)
Again, I enjoy talking politely about such sensitive topics! I've definitely learned something new today, so thanks for that... and: Steem on!
This is of course true, but I didn't start Steemit with that in mind, I first wanted to write about treating pets and the like. My goals change. But aside from this, it's not always deliberate acts of criticism that is the issue.
As I said in the OP, writing the words 'Winnie the Pooh' can get you in trouble here, because it's considered an indirect mockery of the leader Xi JInPing. Helping charity and human rights may seem like you're doing the right thing, but if it gets too popular, you can get in trouble.
There is a whole Universe of control over things we can't even imagine, depending on the whims of political strife at any given time according to the CPC.
Chinese are often looking for a place to go to escape all this and if they're anything like me, they came to this platform with that understanding - they wouldn't have been aware of anonsteem when first joining, and this is often a problem when companies change their ToS, often under the radar. What you signed up for is no longer what you thought (or never was but deliberately made unclear).
So when it comes to accountability, I don't think it's too fair - perhaps in my case it is, but I feel what I write about is for raising awareness and I hold a belief that this is important in a world increasingly under the thumb of the CPC. It's easy for me to do while I'm living here directly experiencing it. But anyway that's a story for another day. The situation is far more broad than my own anecdotal scenario.
Of course I know steem is not steemit =P but my concern is the lack of clarity in what they hold on to and what personal data they can provide. IP addresses, perhaps? I'm not sure. Liberosist shared some similar concerns that what he is doing is, by the legal standpoint of the west, is very illegal just by holding the server with all the illegal content flowing in and out of it.
The clarity of the legality of steem on the whole is very vague, and steemit hasn't made their position on the whole thing entirely clear. Admittedly I haven't read the ToS yet other than the above point because the ToS was literally not available when they made me click accept (lol), So an in depth read might provide some ease, along with numerous hours of digging into EU and US law...
I just use STINC cause it's easier to write/remember. I had no idea it was a derogatory term? (Though I did pick it up from #price in steem.chat...)
And heyyy I'm not doing propaganda! This is defined as misleading and biased to promote political cause. I'm just gonna write about the facts and the data along with my personal opinion =)
I also enjoy things not exploding into divisive hate, so thanks for that =) I understand I'm writing from a place of ignorance but STINC have not addressed that comment for many hours last I checked, which concerns me all the more
Thanks for the detailed reply!!
I guess many of us who live in constitutional states have no idea how it is to be part of such a controlled system. That is also why we're less concerned about the mentioned changes in the ToS, but well after reading your comments I understand that you're in a completely different situation.
Well I guess when the CIA or FBI knocks on your door there is few information you're able to hold back...:-) Of course any mark you leave on the internet can be traced back to its original source. Especially in blockchain based environments where literally every move you make is stored forever, we need to be careful with the information we provide.
Again I understand your concerns due to the situation you live in, but in the end you won't be able to call someone to account for your own doings. I think it's even naive to believe that in decentralized environments you can do whatever you want.
Decentralization is not the same as lawlessness, and ignorance is no excuse. So if you sign up to Steemit.com and start publishing sensitive content, then it'd be rather childish to say: "Nobody told me I couldn't do illegal things here."
Haha, the price chat.... Okay, then I'm not surprised you used it...:-D
It's definitely derogatory, so if you were not aware you may try to avoid it in the future...:-))
I'll go catch some waves now (offline)...! :-)
It's a about having the liberty/freedom to freely express yourself. Just because there is a law, it doesn't mean it's there for the best interest of citizens . You are talking about abiding the law, the other users are talking about being human and having the human rights respected . You're totally missing out on the point here .
I'm repeating myself, but you do have that liberty/freedom to express yourself via the Steem blockchain - and your messages will be even eternalized forever. You're a) mixing up the concepts of Steemit.com and Steem and b) forgetting that one can create a Steem account anonymously.
Nobody forces you to give your personal data away.
By the way it was you who published his full name, age, portrait pictures and country of residence in his introduction post...:-) If you wanted to be anonymous here, why would you do that?
Now if freedom of speech means being able to promote concepts such as racism (like truthforce mentioned in his examples above), then we're not defending any human rights by asking for such freedom.
Nowadays that freedom of speech is often used to create hatred and to attack minorities. The common belief is that threatening someone on the internet is completely fine.
It's always the message that matters.
So I don't think I'm missing out any point...:-)
Again, thanks for your statement and Steem on!