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Removal of piracy communities (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Earlier, after review, we blocked and removed several communities that were providing assistance to access copyrighted/pirated material, which is currently not allowed per Rule #1 of our Code of Conduct. The communities that were removed due to this decision were:

We took this action to protect lemmy.world, lemmy.world's users, and lemmy.world staff as the material posted in those communities could be problematic for us, because of potential legal issues around copyrighted material and services that provide access to or assistance in obtaining it.

This decision is about liability and does not mean we are otherwise hostile to any of these communities or their users. As the Lemmyverse grows and instances get big, precautions may happen. We will keep monitoring the situation closely, and if in the future we deem it safe, we would gladly reallow these communities.

The discussions that have happened in various threads on Lemmy make it very clear that removing the communites before we announced our intent to remove them is not the level of transparency the community expects, and that as stewards of this community we need to be extremely transparent before we do this again in the future as well as make sure that we get feedback around what the planned changes are, because lemmy.world is yours as much as it is ours.

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[-] [email protected] 80 points 10 months ago

I don't understand why people are upset even a little about this. This is a prefect advert for the fediverse. If you are not completely happy with an instance(which can never realistically happen) then you just host your own or have multiple accounts. Apps have this built in and easily accessible. Why do people want to concentrate everything they want into one instance? What if that instance goes down? This should not be hated or applauded.... just ignored as the way the fediverse should work. Don't get too attached to any single instance.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

I don’t understand why people are upset even a little about this.

Change is uncomfortable. Understandable if you frame it in the recent changes in streaming services, for example.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Who do you think uses Lemmy in the first place? Normal users or pirates? This is not a shift of gears that will get the advertisers flocking, and this will not suddenly open the doors to the hidden cache of users that were not around because of "pirates." Not to mention, instead of this action, what should have been done is to warn the instances and ask them to follow the rules they had on Reddit, where users are not allowed to link to pirate sites.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

This wasn't done to get more users, it was done because an instance wants to protect itself. But in the end it doesn't matter why it was done at all. Just access those channels you want another way which is the point of the fediverse. Nothing of value has been lost by this decision. Everyone can still access those channels using their favorite app just as before.

[-] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

I mean it is even common to have several reddit accounts, so not even that novel.

[+] [email protected] -12 points 10 months ago

"A generic Lemmy server for everyone* to use.

The World’s Internet Frontpage Lemmy.world is a general-purpose Lemmy instance of various topics, for the entire world** to use."

*everyone we approve **entire world may not include you

[-] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I mean... Yes?

For most websites to be functional, they need to be moderated. If you let anarchy reign, it's not some utopia like I've seen a shocking number of people online claim that it would be. It ends up with a lot of racism, hate speech, doxxing, threatening violence, illegal content being posted, users being harassed, and other terrible things. Most people won't want to be part of a site like that because it isn't accepting or welcoming, it's a dumpster fire.

No one should have come into Lemmy.World and thought, "Huh, this is going to be true freedom! I'm going to start advertising selling cocaine!" Maybe they'd want to, but the site isn't just anything goes. They're trying to run it on the open web and draw in a stable community. To be clear, I'm understanding but unhappy about the decision to ban communities about piracy. But criticizing a website by saying, "I thought you said anyone could come in, so why do you have rules, HUH?" That's bullshit!

[-] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Noone's stopping users from using Lemmy.World here. You just can't do stuff related to piracy in the process. There's a difference between "you can't do X here" and "you aren't allowed to be here." If you're incapable of engaging with a social space without bringing piracy into it that's a you issue.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

It's not Ruud who approves or disapproves of users. It's Hetzner, his hosting provider. If you have a problem with the restrictions that Hetzner and the movie and music industries are imposing, take it up with them.

[-] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago

Notably absent from the piece you quoted: "to do anything". See how that works, Sparky?

Everybody can use it. From the entire world. They just can't use it for things that are against the law, against the rules, or against human decency.