Terms of Service issue with Frappy

[Christian]

Not really sure if this should go in LEGAL ISSUES or MISC but anyway...I had a user picture pulled from Frappy because in their opinion it violated their terms of service (was sexually graphic). I sent them this email:

Dear Frappr Team:

Thanks for your email concerning my picture.

I read the terms of service and am aware that sexually graphic material is not permitted on the site. However, I do not agree that a naked person is sexually graphic. This opinion has also been upheld in the courts. As a user of your website I will certainly abide by your policies but I think your team should make the determination that nudity in and of itself is not sexually explicit material.

I look forward to hearing your opinion of this matter.

Thanks,

I did read the entire terms of service and they have it all wrong. I mean, their TOS is fine but they went beyond their own rules. What do YOU think??

[Christian]

Not really sure if this should go in LEGAL ISSUES or MISC but anyway...I had a user picture pulled from Frappy because in their opinion it violated their terms of service (was sexually graphic). I sent them this email:

quote:

Dear Frappr Team:

Thanks for your email concerning my picture.

I read the terms of service and am aware that sexually graphic material is not permitted on the site. However, I do not agree that a naked person is sexually graphic. This opinion has also been upheld in the courts. As a user of your website I will certainly abide by your policies but I think your team should make the determination that nudity in and of itself is not sexually explicit material.

I look forward to hearing your opinion of this matter.

Thanks,

I did read the entire terms of service and they have it all wrong. I mean, their TOS is fine but they went beyond their own rules. What do YOU think??

[NakedGary]

Christian

Same issue on these providers, hosts, and social networks sites that don't know what plain non sexual nudity is, are not nudists, and relate all nude pictures as sexually explicit.

This same concern is expressed in detail and in images attached at this forum link:

Link to "Miscellaneous" MySpace & Photobucket's Nude Violation Terrms and Moderationa are Goofy!


.

[John Spooner]

Further on this subject, and this really can only be described as absurdity gone mad, I had this photo of me and my dachshund removed from the Webshots photo site. No explanation, just a standard advice message from the robot.
I availed myself to their "comments" facility and respectfully told them how ridiculous the matter was, I even sent them links to photos on their own group of a pornographic nature.
Regards. John S.

[NakedGary]

John Spooner, S. Oz.

I have done the same as you after various image and video hosts’ sites have deleted non-nude images without explanation from one's photo album. Attempting to contact these providers and hosts is next to impossible, and most email goes into the bit bucket as some examples below.

They could care less as they get their revenue from advertising. Members and photo albums are expendable and do not affect their net profit.

Example [One of Many]:

Your message

To: Myspace - ProfileContent
Sent: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 13:02:59 -0700

was deleted without being read on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:22:25 -0700


It doesn’t do any good to email them as they never see it, delete it, or not concerned with members or users input as they are ad supported. Maybe some email to their advertisers, with a Cc: to them will get their attention as they are so concerned with the revenue that supports them.
.

[Centauri4]

I would say that it is almost more productive to post a "Review" of the service elsewhere (like here) or on Tribe.net for example and let people know what you think of the good and bad features (or policies) of any online photo service. Or web hosting company for that matter!

You can say what you like about them and then throw in for good measure that you feel they are unaware of the protections offered by the U.S. Constitution regarding Freedom of the Press (or freedom of speech) with a view that the Internet is the new 'electronic free press'.

I believe this battle against non-discriminate censorship has gone on for generations and will likely continue for several more. About all the "average" user can do is store their content on their hard drive (complete and intact), and continue uploading it to service after service after service as a form of non-violent protest. I mean after all, in a world where "page views" have become the de facto standard of measuring online advertising success, your content is HIGHLY LIKELY to reach the eyeballs of dozens or hundreds or thousands of viewers before being removed (on many services), and at least some of them may be encouraged to follow your example.

Like myself here on ClothesFree.com, I originally had an avatar that was not in-line with the theme of the site and I thought I had to change it to show support for our cause. So I did. That was the first time I went from a "mug shot" to a full-frontal nude photo. But then I decided that my picture was not really expressive of a naturist theme or the nudist lifestyle, it was a candid photo of me working on a large scale Halloween prop in the nude. I selected it as the best from a series of them taken while I had been working on this prop for several hours while nude the entire time. However it just seemed a little "exhibitionistic" and posed to me, so I changed it to my current softer and friendlier 'Nude Correspondent at large' style photo, and boy did I get a wonderful response! At least six people have written words of encouragement for my current avatar. A self-portrait photo that was again taken candidly one afternnon while I was at home getting some sun.

Persistence pays off, sometimes in subtle unexpected ways.

[John Spooner]

Dear Gary and Centauri.
Thank you for your comments.
Unfortunately these organizations exist solely for profit and care nothing about content, members or any laws.
Someone who is a paying member may receive some superficial "benefits" but that is about all.
On a happier note and on the same subject, a while back I joined up with Flickr and started an album, I placed several pictures in it including a few of me taken at our legal nude area. The next day I received an e-mail from them stating that some were inappropriate material for "public" listing and that they had changed them to "private". I appreciated this and replied to them as they had taken the trouble to do so and explain their reasons to me as a new poster. We correspond now and then on various matters and our relationship is amicable. So I can certainly recommend Flickr going by my own experience.
Regards. John S.