Full Cocked

Because who wants to go off half-cocked? So yesterday, it came to light in the US that a Russian LJ blogger posted a live execution video on his LJ a few days ago. NPR reported this yesterday afternoon, even though it happened a few days ago. Last night, I saw many people's posts of outrage: How could LJ let that be shown, but the Snarry pic was removed? How can you stay on this service? And so on and so on.

Here's the important words:" LJ LET THAT BE SHOWN." Well... yes. And no. Do you honestly think that LJ has a filtering program reading journals and all their posts - ALL 13 million journals? *cough* Why would they add a tattle-tell button on LJs, then? Someone got pissed off here in the US/Europe (probably the US) about the Snarry pic (MsScribe?) and reported it, and several other posts/images. The Russian blog system, while under the umbrella of LJ isn't really RUN by LJ. It's run by SUP. SUP is extremely controversial in Russia for a multiplicity of reasons: 1) the internet is heavily monitored by the state in Russia as are MOST news sources like TV, radio, papers, and SUP isn't a part of the state controlled internet, 2) LJ pretty much = internet in Russia, which is under US laws, right? and 3) SUP is headed by Anton Nosik, a Jew and Israeli. And a large portion of Russians don't like Jews. Or Israelis. There has been a tremendous upsurge of Neo-Nazism in the former USSR. The Kremlin is anti-freedom of speech. The Russian LJers were TERRIFIED (and rightly so) that LJ would be selling their personal info to the Kremlin/KGB. LJ assured them that would never happen. (They have stuck to that promise. Because they're not really doing ANYTHING with the Russian LJs)

Anton Nosik (his livejournal for those that speak Russian is dolboeb which actually translates into dick head!) is anti-Kremlin, anti-censorship. Again, he's also a very controversial guy - he built up underground newspapers advocating freedom of speech, access to the internet, etc, from scratch. He's very Russian. He's not some MIT nerd that created something "cool." He's not a highly educated, smooth operator. As evidenced by his crappy statement to the press about the video: "People post what they feel must be posted, and write what they feel must be written. There is a list of things that LiveJournal users agree not to do, but posting pictures of an execution is not on the list. There is a clause forbidding comments that incite ethnic hatred, but whether it applies to this particular video is an open question."

Clearly a video that shows a live execution-style murder, a live HATE CRIME murder should be understood that it's WRONG. Disgusting. Unacceptable. I think we can all agree to that. Please also know that the world's journalists are pushing for all videos/information to be allowed to be posted as a way to show what is happening in the world (multiple orgs on line - that is just one example.) Can we sit in our safe houses and say one is fine and the other is not? Sure we can. And we can crank the AC up and go to the supermarket and etc. etc. But how many of you knew that Neo-Nazism is on the upsurge in Russia? How many of you knew that 7 of these types of killings A DAY are happening in Russia? You (and I) do now. Just like how we found out about the Taliban's public executions - by leaked videos online that hit the news media.

LJ has handed the reins of the internet over to SUP - they announced to Russian users back in October that this would happen. Russian bloggers were very upset by it; they want the services/protection of LJ. But... it was a done deal. SUP has its own support and abuse team. You can imagine how efficient they are.

My stance is this (and I will NEVER tell anyone through guilt or other bullying how they should spend their fucking blogging time or dollars. You're a grown up. Do what you want.) execution videos are bad, mm'kay? I do not support hate crimes, mm'kay? If I stick around on LJ, that does not mean the terrorists win. I am not going to call the other blogging sites Safe Zones. *cough* The video was ORIGINALLY hosted by a service like YouTube and embedded in the dude's LJ. Where's the outcry that YouTube/etc. is implicit with hate crimes and murder? LJ didn't (and maybe STILL doesn't) KNOW about the video. Hell, most of YOU didn't know about it. And we bloggers know events faster than the admins at LJ, you can bet your sweet patootie on that one. Also, 6A just launched their largest/most important (to them) software the day the video came out, MoveableType 4. They're probably all on red alert for that rollout/potential bugs/etc. You know: paying attention to where the money is coming in, because that's how they think.

LJ is trying in their corporate way to allow fandom some level of what we've been doing. Just because ponderosa's pics were pulled, her journal banned doesn't mean that LJ hates teh ghey and LOVES the hate and murder. That is beyond a jump to conclusions, that is a freaking Evil Knievel leap across the Grand Canyon, imo. Because three years ago, when that blogger from Alaska allegedly had her mother killed and took part in some of it - then came home and blogged about having killed her, that didn't make LJ complicit with murder THEN either. In fact, her blog was used in court as evidence. She was acquitted, actually.

Here are some links for reading so you can draw your own conclusions (just make sure your conclusions are of age, ahaha.)

• Radio Free Europe/Russia posts about Livejournal past and current video issue
• Russian LJers learn about the SUP deal
• Russian LJers complaints to LJ about SUP deal, LJ's comments on their soon to be Pontius Pilate stance
• More info re: LJ --> SUP
• SUP, anarchism, and the anti-semitic feelings of Russian bloggers re: Anton Nossik
• SUP's FAQ page (Note how here it explains that this is an INDEPENDENT support service from LJ (profiles, basic text posts hosted in SF, vids, pics hosted in Russia)
• Article about how Russia is trying to find where the video originated: US, Russia, etc. (which servers)
• Six Apart only has 155 employees WORLDWIDE. None of the listed employees are Russian, btw. (.pdf file)

There will be NO angry yelling/finger pointing allowed in this post. If you want to have a calm, rational discussion about any of this, yes please! (And much love to romanyg for originally bringing this to light.)
crossposted to IJ, GJ

[ETA: Sat. night]

• We may not be getting new info out of Russia due to a bill that may be passed by Putin where discussion of extremist activities warrants the same punishment as the extreme activity. (Wow. Remember, we're dealing with the Russian gov't on this one.)
• Also, we may not be hearing anything more from the authorities, because they secretly agree with the Neo-Nazis (read the right sidebar.)
• I think that we'll see something soon from the SOVA Center, which tracks racism/hate crimes (as well as other functions) and keeps the world abreast of these issues. Their Website.
• This blog collects news from other Russians'/Ukranians' blogs. The bar at the right is routinely updated. Note how many of the news sources from the people come from LJ posts.

[ETA Sun. AM]:

• On Kommersant.com The poster is named, and his username is also identified. He apparently has multiple journals. I have reported the post to Abuse. WARNING: the beheading video is on the user's journal. Click at your own risk.
• The BBC has reported that authorities in "foreign countries" have been notified about the material on their servers. This could mean Europe, South Africa or San Franscico for 6A servers.