Important Information

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"I assume most of you don't live under a rock here on LJ -wink-so I'm pretty sure that you're aware of all the crap that LJ has been putting us through lately. They've taken away the option to create Basic accounts (meaning it's Paid or Plus with the ads). But what some of you may not be aware of is that they're using a program like Facebook's 'Beacon' to log and then share some of your information -information about you as well as the sites you visit and what you do there with advertisers.

Explained a little of what's going on in her post here:

Basically,anytime you visit an LJ page with ads on it, your gender, birth date,country, 10 most popular interests and the content of your first public post are sent to an ad-targeting server. If none of those things are available, the server starts scanning the public content of your journal. You don't even have to have a Plus account for this to happen;if you've ever visited an LJ page with ads on it, or even have someone with a Plus account on your f-list, they've done this to you already.craftykim@LJ explained in a comment over at lj speaks what kinds of things this sort of technology is capable of, using Facebook's "Beacon"program as an example:

"For people who don't understand,beacon tracks ALL of your computer activity on the internet so long as you are logged in with that browser. It then reports back to the mothership:

*where you go
*how long you are there
*exactly what links you look at.

"So somewhere in the ether a record then exists of everything you've done(or your IP)--bit torrent files or software. Well, there's a record of it. Music sharing? The RiAA would like a share. Looking at porn at home? Your employer might want to purchase those results.

"The reality is right now, the company keeps those files and nothing happens. But tracking illegal activities is a compelling reason to allow seizure of the information. And the information itself is valuable beyond the primary use for ads.

"And we have a graphic example in front of us of how companies hand possible profit."

ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE: Friday, March 21, from midnight to midnight GMT.

For one day, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ.

SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site.

So, for one 24-hour period, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT, let's see how many people we can get to pledge to contribute NO CONTENT.

This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the userbase.

We are holding the Content Strike because we want to demonstrate that LiveJournal is content-driven.

We are holding the Content Strike because we want the new owners of LiveJournal to better understand the power and resolve of the LJ Community of Users.

We are holding the Content Strike because all of us, Paid, Permanent and Plus users as well as Basic, want to demonstrate our solidarity as a Community of Users. We do not consider Basic users to be freeloaders, we consider them to be valuable content-providers and Friends.

We are holding the Content Strike because we ache to do something to show our displeasure, and commenting on the post -- even with cat macros -- just isn't powerful enough!

For more information about the strike check out the journal of .