lemmy.dbzer0.com is willing to accept this content on their instance, as well as the potential legal risk coming from this, which they’re free to do.

Well, it's more that we believe a domain root url embedded in an image, or a link to a rentry doesn't really have any risks. At least, nothing likely to get us sued. Note that all these domain links existed (and still exist) in the reddit /r/piracy wiki for years without problems.

The reason being that almost all of these takedowns are coming from automated crawlers, who won't bother OCR every image they come across, or b64-decoding every string.

I'm unhappy with this decision and don't support it.

This is where the benefit of having more than one account on different instances comes in. When admins make a move users don't like, users can just log into a different instance to access the content they want to see.

Honestly though, not very good optics on doing this without any prior communication. You are going to do whatever you want on your instance, but as IIRC the biggest Lemmy instance, its a really bad look to be making changes without saying anything. It makes me (and likely others) wonder if you hadn't been called out on it by some users posting about it if there would even have been an announcement like this at all. Granted, there is no legal obligation for transparency, but many users here greatly appreciate the transparency in the past that was done prior to taking action for the most part.

Side note: Going to go out on a limb here and assume the content takedown request was Nintendo related, and the takedown request was probably filed by someone who does not actually represent Nintendo. This happens so often that it is basically my default assumption. This may or may not be the case here, but its hard to imagine that there would be anyone else with their eyes on such a tiny community as Lemmy, especially in comparison to Reddit.

We have recently received a takedown request for content not directly related to these communities, but it prompted us to review other piracy related content and communities.

What a pathetic response. I am interpreting this as:

We will fold whenever we get a legal request, real or not.

To users on .world, I strongly recommend scrubbing your posts, deleting your account, and then going to a different instance. These admins have proven that they WILL buckle to legal pressure no matter what - that means also giving up user data upon request. Your data is completely accessible by admins. That includes your private messages and unpublished pictures.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few scenarios:

• Being LGBTQIA+ in a country where its illegal to be
• Consuming content from websites not approved by the Chinese government while being a Chinese citizen
• Disparaging the Chinese government while being a Chinese citizen
• Activism discussion (eg. extinction rebellion, antifa, the auntie network)
• Right to repair in countries where its illegal to circumvent device DRM to perform repairs

I've deleted my account there because that TOS and so-called privacy policy are complete and utter trash.

When it comes to linking to content, it's essential to understand that simply providing a link does not equate to sharing the actual content. Each URL on the Megathread serves the specific purpose of leading users in a particular direction.

If this practice is deemed negative, then one could argue that every search engine operates erroneously. Search engines display results and guide users to specific destinations, mirroring the functionality of our approach to linking.

This shit again? Last time I jumped from world the instance I went to shut down. I guess its time to start looking at spinning up my own.

I get it. But I want to see that stuff. So I can't stay where I can't see it.

The decisions you make are one thing. The way you keep handling them so incredibly poorly is quite another.

People are always welcome to join the ship , the seas are all open for everyone to adventure.

Whilst I completely understand why you, as private individuals with limited income and not a huge org that has high priced legal teams on call, have made this decision (I think people forget that it costs money just to defend yourself in court, irrespective of how accurate or legal the charges might be), this is about the 3rd or 4th time that the Admin team have communicated and taken action very, very poorly.

It's really not a difficult thing to do. A post such as this either before or immediately after taking such important actions. I realise you're all busy people with real life stuff to do too but surely you tell new Admin's when they're onboarded that momentous decisions that affect a lot of people must be communicated to the members immediately?

I don't like the decision, like most people here.

But it's unbelievable to see the reaction of many users. Providing a free uncompensated server and bandwidth and monitoring and all the related stuff is apparently not enough. There's is people basically demanding free legal representation, protection, and challenges to many country laws. That's completely insane. The comments criticizing the instance for 'folding' against legal request better have ready 100k USD for retainer of a top copyright legal firm, with even more ready for a lengthy and expensive legal battle. Otherwise it is just nuts to me the responses we are seeing.

Again, of course I don't like it and will consider my options like moving instance, but I understand that I am responsible for the content I seek and the legality of it. I will not feel entitled to offload the burden of that responsibility on someone else demanding that it be carried for free.

To the instance admins I only have to say thank you for the service you provide, thank you for putting in actions the spirit of sharing and community. And please do exercise your right to protect yourself legally.

For us users is seems so simple as just export our stuff and go somewhere else, but for the instance admins there have been so much time and other resources invested that certainly must be sad and frustrating to risk it all, so it's better to follow the way that leads to the continuation of the project, and we should understand that if we want the project to continue, like I do.

I wish there were better options, like better laws or the independent tech for better protection and anonymity, but this is the reality of what we have and we all have to engage with things as they are. We can keep demanding changes to the people really in charge of the system instead of fighting among each other.

Not cool, reverse this

Why isn't this pinned to the site? I had to go searching for the reason

Might as well ban Lemmy.ml under rules 1, 2, 4, and 5.1 if you're going to start enforcing your rules.

I knew this announcement was coming and I'd figured this action would have come from an admin who wasn't aware of the previous context.

So you had plenty of time to make a decision, and follow through with it by banning multiple communities. But offering an explanation it's all "we're all volunteers and we're too busy for this shit!". Nice.

ಠ_ಠ

Behold my look of slight disapproval.

I'd much rather find out about these sorts of things from you guys than a fediverse post.

I already have an alt for nosing around on such stuff since last time around, so it's not hugely inconvenient.

Still, thanks for keeping things running. Much appreciated!

where’s the integrity? quite frankly i don’t get the “we didn’t know” rhetoric. the previous removal is literally the most controversial post of all time. understood that they can be subject to legal action. no blame for being risk adverse but this post is kind of a nothingburger.

What a shame, well the last piracy ban was what motivated me to join lemm.ee, no regrets at all, better uptimes, quicker updates and no censorship.

Running my own instance really starts to pay off

Shame that you folks couldn't even allow educational discourse on Piracy.

looks like I be spinning up my own private instance to not have to deal with de-federations or anything like that.

So to make it clear: people are allowed to make new piracy centric communities with the express rule to not post direct links to primarily providing copyright infringing material?

I‘m not a lawyer but I read legal texts at times.

This would most likely save .world from the repercussions (btw its how reddit mostly handles it afaik) and maybe some posts could be crossposted on a per case basis.

I‘m trying to be constructive here so please be gentle.

Disclaimer: it is fairly easy to host a lemmy instance, please consider helping thw fediverse by hosting if youre a tech savvy person. Otherwise, join a stable instance at https://fediseer.com