Terms of Conditions (TOS) Jumped at Me.

Was just minding my own business on Steemit when a pop-up box appeared. Like Facebook, Twitter, Google, the Steemit box had me check off 2 things, the TOS and the Privacy Policy (PP) for the Steemit Inc. company. There were two options available for me at that time, to either check them off and click continue, or not. If you don't then that may be a dead end, at least at that moment it seems. I clicked on the TOS and the PP but the box appears on each web page you visit at that point. If I wanted to read the TOS and PP before signing, I could try to log out or try a different web browser to access those pages. Instead, I just checked them off and continued.

Happy First Year on Steemit

I joined Steemit a day before Father's Day, Saturday, the 17th of June, 2017, at 23:22:42 PM, according to SteemD and I have been, generally, liking Steemit over Facebook, Google, and other social ghettos that may censor more than Steemit. It is the 12th of June of 2018 right now, Tuesday, and my first anniversary on Steemit is coming in 5 days and I spend a lot of time on Steemit.

Steemit over Facebook?

Today, I got that pop-up about the TOS and PP and I have been reading them the past few hours today. Steemit may not be perfect but it is trying to be better than social ghettos that steal our content. We saw Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, before USA Congress, in the trials, in America, in 2018, and I do not really like that Facebook makes billions of dollars off us, we the people, each year, without giving us compensation or anything. Facebook has been censoring independent voices. Facebook went after me and millions of people. We all can see this. Facebook can do what they want, perhaps, you may say. But they lie about it. It would be better if Facebook was more direct and honest about what they do. Facebook has always been extremely, politically, left, but Facebook says they are a neutral platform. But they are not neutral. I'm not neutral. I'm more right. Facebook can make money. But Facebook then prevents some independent people from making money. They censor people. I've been banned and deactivated and put in Internet Prison by Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others, many times the past few years or more. I've been reading TOS contracts for many years since I joined the Yahoo Chat in like 1998, twenty years ago.

Steemit TOS Review

Today I was reading the 28 sections of the Terms of Service (TOS), last updated February 5, 2018, and it appears to be better than Google terms. I cannot say specifically if Steemit really is better or more fair. I'm not a lawyer but I bought a plane ticket in 2017 with some of my Steem. If you don't know, Steem is a cryptocurrency people make and use on Steemit. You can exchange Steem for Bitcoin and for other alt coins. Steemit is built on and/or is a blockchain. The TOS and PP of Steemit seems to be a little bit better or so much better than that of Google or Facebook. If there are problems with Steemit, we the people can tell them, tell us, talk about it, and things can get better, perhaps, or we can at least try.

Steemit versus Steemit Inc.

The first is the blockchain network and the second is a New York company that manages applications built on top of Steemit. The TOS seems to separate the blockchain from the company which includes Services. The TOS seems to say that the company tries to stay legal under, first, American laws, since Steemit Inc. is an American company, and secondly, the European Union (E.U.), and third, possibly, other countries, unions, places, maybe, to some extent, or whatever. Legally speaking, that may be the safest route. In America, copyright infringement claims may come to Steemit Inc. as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In other words, or for example, the U.S.A. federal government may come to Steemit Inc. (Company) with copyright claims. In those events, the Company may tell you, if you posted it. After some days, maybe about a month, the alleged copyrighted content will be removed off Steemit.com but maybe not off the blockchain itself, theoretically. So, you may find it still on maybe Busy.org or other websites, applications, of the Steem blockchain.

Steemit versus YouTube

CBS, through DMCA laws, said that some of my 2017 YouTube video was infringing on a copyright. The videos were protected under fair use, featured a few seconds of that famous boxing match but it was mostly me testing out screen capturing programs, like an Open Broadcasting Stream where you record from your webcam and desktop at the same time. There were times I recorded my English classes with my Vietnamese students in Saigon at McDonald's or at coffee shops. Companies like Sony and Warner Bros filed copyright claims because McDonald's plays music in the background at their stores and that got into my videos.

The Company Follows Laws?

Legally, Steemit can try their best to follow the laws of the land. For example, the DMCA thing. It may be good to follow laws. But at the same time, Americans should do their best to vote in and out bills, laws, that Americans believe in. The DMCA was signed and passed by Bill Clinton in 1998 by the way. Clinton is Funded by Soros who worked for Hitler. Copyright laws can be dangerous as centralized control can deem some things as maybe hate speech or terrorism or unsafe or racist or bad or not allowed or illegal or what have you. That reminds me of how Facebook deemed Diamond & Silk as unsafe. I may have questions about the TOS and PP. I'd probably ask about what a limited license may mean. The TOS says that each Steemit user has a limited license to access and use Steemit Content. The TOS seems to say that you agree to only post content that you have the right to post. Not sure if that is in relation to Steemit Inc. or to the whole blockchain root of it all or both or what. If you are in China for example and you write about something that Chinese government does not give you the right to share, then will Steemit take it down or what will happen?

Tommy Robinson? Legally, You Cannot?

Better yet, there was a news blackout issued by a judge in England on Friday, the 25th of May, 2018, on reporting on the unlawful imprisonment of Tommy Robinson. The European Union (E.U.) went after many websites around the world, legally speaking. There was gag order for about five days. TOMMY ARTICLES were removed off thousands of websites and newspapers around the world. The TOS seems to say that Steemit Inc. complies to U.S. and E.U. laws. Therefore, did Steemit Inc. comply to take down #FreeTommy articles on Steemit? Would Steemit do that, too? Did Steemit do it? Will they? Could they?

2018-05-25 - Tommy Robinson was imprisoned.
2018-05-25 - Steemit Privacy Policy (PP) was updated.
2018-05-25 - Tommy and PP, both on the same day? Why?

Steemit Privacy Policy (PP)

Steemit's PP, as of 2018-05-25, is saying something about the EU and which data they may collect. So, maybe they can find out who talks about Tommy Robinson and then seek to arrest them maybe. Already, EU police finds things people post on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc, and if the EU is against it, they find the people and they imprison them. This happens each day all over the EU. But you are not allowed to talk about it. I hope the best for Steemit and Gab and Bitcoin and Ubuntu and others and here is my rough draft of an incomplete review here in this post, this article, on these things. I may continue writing about these things in the future. I was planning on reviewing each section, each paragraph, line, word, thing, of the TOS and PP and then talk about the JAMS. Oh, by the way, JAMS has a connection to a Weinstein. Steemit has a connection or something to JAMS.