What's troubling about @chainflix is that this account is not just sharing content, it's using the Steemit and DTube platforms to personally profit from the work of others, without adding any personal content or commentary - or value. What would be much more useful would be a series of thoughtful reviews of movies we might enjoy, with links to where these films could be legitimately watched.
I am not a fan of the copyright industry by any stretch. Sharing and re-mixing the things we love is what culture should be all about. But that's not what's happening here. Worse, this kind of copyright violation discredits our platform and makes a reasonable conversation about copyright more difficult.
As for the other stuff, the implications are especially troubling. If things cannot be deleted from the blockchain, and someone shares material with the blockchain that is outright illegal, could this potentially put the entire platform into legal peril? Could the witnesses who are responsible for maintaining and making available the contents of the blockchain be considered legally responsible for this content?
Any illegal content could potentially imperil the platform. Outside actors who see Steemit as a threat (pro censorship governments, competing social media platforms, or even aggravated trolls with a chip on their shoulder) will then have an incentive to provide this content in an attempt to get it shut down, or tied up in litigation.
You've got me worried, @stellabelle. At least downvoting and making the stuff less visible is a good indication of our intent to keep that stuff off of here.
I agree with you however, steemit inc. said they will remove any illegal content and also anything DMCA that is brought to them. I think they already have done so in a few cases...not sure on details though. It would be nice if this were laid out for the community
That's good...I think. I'm strongly anti-censorship, BUT - the last thing we need is to give censors and their attorneys ammunition to argue that a platform like Steemit should be censored.
I guess I'm just afraid that if we don't take care of this ourselves, someone else will step in and take care of it for us.