ЖЖ: Abuse team итп.

[avva]

В последние неделю-две в ЖЖ много писали и обсуждали конфликт, который возник между определённым количеством владельцев русских дневников и Abuse team ЖЖ.

Менеджер Abuse team ЖЖ попросила меня перевести на русский язык и запостить там, где это прочтут, что-то вроде её обращения к русскоязычному сектору ЖЖ. Я решил запостить у себя и дать ссылки в несколько сообществ.

У меня очень мало времени, я переводил на бегу, прошу прощения за погрешности и корявость языка. Для желающих прочесть в оригинале я оставляю английскую копию письма в конце этой записи.

Свои мысли и соображения я изложу в отдельной записи через час-полтора. Кстати, если вся эта история вас не интересует, можно прекращать читать прямо сейчас.

Если вы хотите задать какие-то вопросы менеджеру AT по поводу этого письма, можно оставлять их в комментариях здесь по-английски. Я попрошу её заглянуть сюда и ответить на все (серьёзные) вопросы. По-русски вопросы тоже можно задавать или обсуждать; если будет что-то важное, что требует прояснения, я переведу и попрошу её прояснить.

===дальше следует письмо менеджера Abuse team===

Я знаю, что в русском сообщесте ЖЖ есть немало разногласий по поводу работы Abuse team. Я попросила avva перевести это послание и поместить его там, где оно по его мнению будет полезным.

Сначала позвольте представиться. Меня зовут Дениз Паолуччи, я - главный Community Manager в LiveJournal. Эта работа включает в себя много обязанностей, но помимо прочего я управляю работой Abuse team.

Я хотела бы прояснить некоторые важные факты:

• На русскоязычных пользователей ЖЖ распостраняются ровно те же правила и Условия пользования сайтом (Terms of Service), что и на англоязычных пользователей. Подробные правила, которыми пользуется в своей работе Abuse team, можно прочесть по адресу http://www.livejournal.com/abuse/policy.bml . Они есть только по-английски, но наверняка кто-то может их перевести и на русский язык.
  
  
• В составе Abuse team есть носитель русского языка, который читает все жалобы касательно журналов, ведущихся по-русски, и переводит на английский язык все нужные подробности, несмотря на значительные личные нападки и преследование, которым за эту работу подвергается. Даже если какой-то конкретный случай решается другим членом Abuse team, не знающим русского языка, это происходит после того, как наш русский переводчик прочитывает все нужные записи и сообщает нам своё мнение о том, что следует сделать.
  
  
• За исключением нескольких особо серьёзных видов нарушений, как-то детская порнография, значительное нарушение privacy пользователя, и аккаунты, созданные исключительно для преследования других пользователей, Abuse team не удаляет журналы немедленно в случае нарушения Terms of Service (собственно, обычные членты Abuse team не могут сами удалять журналы, на это есть права только у менеджеров команды). Обычно пользователь сначала получает предупреждение с промежутком времени, в которое он должен удалить материалы, нарушающие Terms of Service. Если это не происходит в указанный промежуток времени, журнал удаляют до тех пор, пока пользователь не может стереть указанные материалы. Если вы получили письмо от Abuse team с указаниями стереть что-то, нарушающее правила, и сделали это в указанный срок, на этом всё заканчивается.
  
  К сожалению, у нас нет времени и ресурсов для того, чтобы подробно объяснять наши правила всем, кто спрашивает нас о них. Мы также не можем сообщать информацию об удалении или его причинах кому-либо, кроме самого владельца журнала.
  
  Нам хотелось бы, чтобы всем здесь в ЖЖ было хорошо и удобно и не было проблем с AT. Но это зависит не только от нас. С вашей, пользовательской стороны, есть несколько советов, которых стоит придерживаться:
  
  
• Пожалуйста, посылайте жалобы в Abuse team только в случае нарушения Условий пользования сайтом (Terms of Service, TOS). Каждая легковесная и необоснованная жалоба только замедляет нашу работу. Мы занимаемся только реальными нарушениями Terms of Service; все другие жалобы закрываются без ответа.
  
  
• Если кому-то, кого вы знаете, закрыли журнал за материалы, нарушающие Terms of Service, пожалуйста, не помещайте их у себя тоже. Я знаю, что по мнению многих это полезный способ протеста. Это не так. Нарушения Terms of Service остаются таковыми, даже если их повторяют сто человек. Всё, к чему это приводит - это увеличение нашей нагрузки и нарушение нормального функционирования вашего сообщества. Если кто-то знает, что определённый материал нарушает Terms of Service и всё равно помещает его у себя в журнале, мы пропускаем обычное предупреждение и удаляем такой журнал сразу, потому что автор знал, что намеренно нарушает Terms of Service (но и в этом случае владелец журнала может получить его обратно, когда согласится удалить нарушающиe правила материалы).
  
  
• Если у вас есть много свободного времени, и вы свободно владеете русским и английским языками, вы можете попробовать подать свою кандидатуру в Abuse team. Нам постоянно не хватает русских переводчиков, которые могли бы разделить нагрузку, приходящуюся на тех, что у нас есть. Но при этом есть несколько важных критериев, которые следует упомянуть. Мы не принимаем в Abuse team никого, кто не может быть абсолютно беспристрастным, нейтральным и непредвзятым во всём, что касается решений AT. Нам нужны люди, свободно владеющие английским и могущие свободно и непринуждённо общаться по-английски - это потому, что наш процесс обучения новых членов Abuse team проходит по-английски. Нам нужны люди, могущие сохранить полную конфиденциальность всего, что связано с обращениями в Abuse team - вы не сможете обсуждать подробности работы и отдельные случаи нигде, ни даже в своём личном журнале, и вы не сможете публично обсуждать правила Abuse team без разрешения менеджера. Это тяжёлая работа - некоторые из наших добровольцев занимаются этим около 20 часов в неделю - и при этом работа добровольная и неоплачиваемая. Но если вы хотите помочь сообществу, и если вы думаете, что сможете быть совершенно непредвзятыми и беспристрастными в том, что касается принятия решений, и сможете выполнять правила в точности так, как они написаны, вы можете прочитать инструкции по подаче своей кандидатуры на странице профиля сообщества lj_abuse.
  
  Я лично не владею русским языком в достаточной для общения мере. Я изучала русский язык в школе, и с тех пор забыла практически всё, чему меня учили. Если у вас есть какие-то вопросы, задавайте их по-английски. Если выяснится, что я упустила что-то важное, то рассчитываю на то, что avva мне сообщит.
  
  

====дальше следует английский оригинал письма===

I know that there's a lot of controversy in the Russian community about
the Abuse team, and I've asked avva to translate this message
and post it where he thinks it will do the most good.

First, let me introduce myself. I'm Denise Paolucci, and I'm the lead
Community Manager for LiveJournal. I do a lot of things for
LiveJournal, including managing the Abuse team.

I'd like to assure you all of a few basic facts:

* The Russian-speaking userbase is held to the same policies and Terms
of Service that the English-speaking userbase is held to. These
policies can be found at http://www.livejournal.com/abuse/policy.bml.
They're in English only, but I'm sure someone can translate them for
you.

* We do have a native Russian speaker on the Abuse team, who reads all
complaints about journals written in Russian and translates the
appropriate material, despite serious personal harassment. Even if the
actual case is handled by someone who doesn't speak Russian, our
Russian translator has read everything and let us know what the proper
course of action is.

* With the exception of a few important things, such as child
pornography, serious invasion of privacy, and accounts created only to
harass another user, the Abuse team doesn't suspend a journal
immediately if the journal is in violation of the Terms of Service. (In
fact, members of the Abuse team cannot suspend journals; this must be
done by a manager of the team.) Generally, a user will be given a
period of time to remove any material which violates the Terms of
Service. If the material is still there after that time, then the
journal will be suspended until the user can delete it. If you receive
an email from the Abuse team telling you to delete something, and you
delete it before the deadline given, nothing else will happen to your
account.

Unfortunately, we don't have the time and people available to explain
our policies to everyone who asks us. Nor can we provide information
about a suspension to a third party who writes in when a journal is
suspended.

We certainly want everyone to have a pleasant experience journaling
here on LiveJournal. However, this has to work both ways. There are a
few things you can do to keep things running smoothly.

* Please only make a complaint to the Abuse team if the material is a
violation of the Terms of Service. Every frivolous complaint delays the
handling of more serious issues. We will only handle actual violations
of the Terms of Service; anything else will be closed without response.

* If someone you know is suspended for posting material that violates
the Terms of Service, please don't post the same thing. I know many
people think this is an effective form of protest. It isn't. Violations
of the Terms of Service are still violations even if 100 people post
them. All this does is increase the workload for the Abuse team and
disrupt your community further. If someone knows something is a
violation of the Terms of Service and posts it anyway, we skip the
warning step and suspend the journal immediately, because they knew it
was a violation when they posted it. (They can still get their journal
back by agreeing to delete the content in question.)

* If you have a lot of free time, and speak both English and Russian
fluently, you might want to consider applying for the Abuse team
yourself. We are always in need of more Russian translators to take
some of the load off the translators we have available to us now.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind. We will not accept
anyone who can't be completely fair, neutral, and impartial about
decisions. We need people who are fluent in English and comfortable
working in English, as our training process is conducted in English. We
need people who can keep absolute confidentiality about Abuse cases --
you won't be able to discuss Abuse work anywhere, not even in your
personal journal, and you won't be able to speak about Abuse policy in
public without a manager's permission. It's a lot of hard work -- some
of our volunteers spend around 20 hours a week on Abuse stuff -- and
it's unpaid. But if you want to give something back to the community,
and you think you can be absolutely fair and impartial about decisions
and uphold the policy exactly as written, you can go to the userinfo
for lj_abuse and read how to apply.

I do not personally speak Russian very well; I studied it years ago in
high school, and I've forgotten almost everything I ever learned. If
there's something you want me to answer, please ask in English. I'm
sure avva will let me know if there's anything I've missed.

Comments

[dyak.livejournal.com]

1. One problem with Terms of Service as they stand is that they are violated by anything that is in LiveJournal.com's opinion "objectionable" ("You agree to NOT use the Service to ... [u]pload, post or otherwise transmit any content that is in LiveJournal.com's opinion ... objectionable;"); however nowhere do ToS define what IS actually objectionable in LiveJournal.com's opinion.

Giving an exhaustive list of what is objectionable in LiveJournal.com's opinion and providing this list or referring to it in ToS would eliminate both any guesswork on the part of users and any appearance of arbitrariness on the part of LiveJournal.com in regulating the posted content.

2. Abuse Policies and Procedures are a good step towards formulating LiveJournal.com's policies regarding objectionable content. It would help if they are elevated from their current secondary status to become THE exhaustive list of what is forbidden by ToS.

It would also help if the Abuse Team would refer explicitly to the "chapter and verse" of LiveJournal.com's policies when informing users about their violations. Currently they seem to be using general terms like "advocating violence" without quoting the actual terms being violated.

3. The current Policy regarding illegal content seems to be self-contradictory and overbroad. Currently it is as following:

"Illegal Content
Summary
Providing information on how to break the law; soliciting others to break the law or assist the user in breaking the law.
Note
Includes material which is intrinsically illegal, such as threats against the President of the United States or attempting to arrange the sale of controlled goods or substances. Also includes advocating or promoting violence against a particular group (hate speech). Does not include material regarding future or past illegal acts, unless they are instructional in nature or encourage others to perform the acts discussed."

The Note covers content that is legal and, more importantly, is a part of generally accepted legitimate discourse on political and social issues. Someone advocating death penalty or armed self-defence is promoting violence against a particular group (criminals). Someone advocating a war against a nation is promoting a huge act of violence against a perticular group (armed forces of that nation).

The Abuse Team so far has been extremely restrained in its application of the policies regarding content promoting violence. This restraint deserves to become a part of your written policy. I suggest the following text for the Note:

"Proposed Modified Note
Includes material which is intrinsically illegal, such as threats against the President of the United States or attempting to arrange the sale of controlled goods or substances. Also includes assisting illegal violence. Does not include material regarding future or past illegal acts, unless they are instructional in nature."

One objection to this modification might be that it allows expressing extremist views on Livejournal.com as long as no laws are violated by the expression. I don't think forbidding extremist views from Livejournal.com does any good to eliminating these views from the society, if this is what you are trying to promote by the current ban. On the opposite, when extremists are mixed in with the "general population", their views may be exposed to the criticism of those whom they rub against, as opposed to echo chamber environment of extremist sites visited only by extremists.

[toshick.livejournal.com]

I think that in definiton of "Illegal content" you should specify particular law. For example, discussion of tax evading in Russia should unlikely be object for Abuse Team.

[dyak.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[enot.livejournal.com]

dyak, avva - спасибо, вы делаете именно то, что надо.

[dyak.livejournal.com]

Спасибо.

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

There's a lot here, so let me take this one piece at a time:

* We can't document everything that's forbidden. We can't make a list. The lawyers won't let us, and it's not a good idea anyway, because that means that if something else (not on the list) comes up, we won't be able to act on it.

* Likewise, we can't make the Policies and Procedures completely official, because there are things that aren't covered by those policies and need to be decided when they come up. Again, the lawyers won't let us. We need to keep that disclaimer on top. The policies are our current interpretation of the Terms of Service. They may change in the future, based on the needs of the service and based on the userbase.

* You make a good point about specifying which section of the Terms of Service are being violated. We try to do this, but sometimes we forget. We are human, after all. We won't ever refer to the policy document, because it's not official, but we do try to say something like "This is a violation of Section XVI, part 3, of LiveJournal's Terms of Service".

* The Terms of Service are run by United States law, specifically California, which includes "hate crimes" legislation. That's why we have the "promoting violence" part of the policy. It's illegal in California. It's not designed to forbid extremist views; I think all of us agree that it's better to show those views so moderate people can understand them and counter them. It's not okay, however, to use LJ as a place to coordinate or call for attacks on specific groups of people. Talking about why you hate a group of people is fine; trying to get other people to hurt them isn't.

* If you have suggestions on modifying the policy, there's a Feedback link on each policy! I can't take suggestions informally, it has to go through the process. :)

[dyak.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Just one point.

Even the best decision may seem unjust when left unexplained. You gave some very good reasons why the ToS and the Policies are what they are; perhaps a Commentary to ToS could be provided so that Livejournal.com's intentions and limitations are clear. Especially valuable would be differentiating between "internal" intentions and "external" limitations.

For example, you've mentioned a California law regarding promoting violence. Why not post its text for everyone to see that you are not exactly operating in a vacuum. It would help to counter any misperception that Livejournal.com is well shielded from a civil liability for users' hate speech by 47 USC § 230 (http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-230.php).

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

We don't want to get into the mess of providing complex legal justifications for what we do and why we do it. First, it would take up all our time, leaving us with no time to actually do our work! Second, our lawyers won't let us, because that would be providing legal opinions, and we're not qualified to do that.

We do try to make it clear in our policy document why we've decided to create each policy. It will be time to go over that policy document soon and make revisions to it, and when that happens, I'll keep your suggestions in mind. You might also want to leave feedback to the policy document; there are links on each policy.

[dyak.livejournal.com]

Again, thank you. My only wish is that more people would see what you told me here. :)

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

That's part of the reason why I asked avva to post this, so people would be able to see.

[jobana-mati.livejournal.com]

>The Terms of Service are run by United States law,
>specifically California,

Does Californian law truly provide legal base
for the items like:

You agree to NOT use the Service to:

Intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable
local, state, national or international law,

Sounds like a blonde joke, no?

And this one

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT LIVEJOURNAL.COM
SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES,

seems to defy the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
No jury would hold it legal; in any conflict situation
the Constitution comes first.

Were the TOS truly compiled for internal use?