Adieu. Aufwiedersehen. Gesundheit. Farewell.

[armstrongsubero]

@nixi does the include permission to restore deleted content?

Cause if it does I'll seriously question a user's right over thier data...I know that an EULA being a contract allows youvto waive those rights, but is it explicitly stated? (I mean who reads the EULA anyway? Lol)

I'm just asking here...cause I like the average Joe forum user didnt read the EULA....asking so in future other users can be aware.

[jsd]

As of today, I believe only California has a digital "right to be forgotten" law on the books (as far as the US).

You can argue the ethics here, but since she's not in California there's no real legal argument.

[armstrongsubero]

@jsd thanks for the clarification...

I still think its unethical though..and its America you can sue almost anyone for almost anything lol

[lacussucceed]

@armstrongsubero

The other side could perhaps argue editing past the normal time frame / remove it's contents was an abuse of credentials / rights on someones database / computer system.

I hope there won't be any lawsuits as it would likely be damaging for the parties involved.

[armstrongsubero]

@lacussucceed I think thats the same argument big tech makes, someone may own the computer systems and the platform...but it can be argued the user still has a right to delete their data if they so desire...

Thats for a court to decide anyway...in a long trial about ethics and right to privacy and what not...

[Merlin]

I wonder what the legal ramifications are though. If someone wants to leave a forum and deletes all their online presence, is it ethical or legal for a forum admin to restore everything?

[...]

I dont think restoring it without her permission is ethical and can bring a good lawsuit.

Was she right? No she was not, but she has the right to delete her presence if she wanted, admins are infriniging on her rights to restore posts against her wishes.

I think someone should contact her and find put if its okay.

And the way Jennifer acted, I wont put it past her to bring a lawsuit....

I'm just a volunteer and 9-year forum member. I'm not privy to all the legal details so I'm just expressing my personal opinion here. That said, I am sure that it is within the forum administrators' rights to restore content that was removed without approval.

As mentioned earlier, as part of signing up for the account you relinquish your rights to the content to the forum for community preservation purposes. There isn't anything special about that since most every web forum works that way. Normally this wouldn't be an issue since forum members cannot modify or delete their posts after 24 hours, but Jennifer was given special rights to edit her old posts in order to support the community. That did not include the right to go back to remove all her content. It would be the same if I were to just start deleting people's posts because I felt like it. I have the power but not the permission.

I think it would be different if there was the option for people to delete their own posts as part of deleting their online presence, but this forum doesn't have that option. If laws were passed to require forums to support that, then it would also be a different story since that would mean the forum would need to add a button that took care of that function for all users. Without that being the case, restoring the old content is not an ethical/legal violation in my opinion. It is more of a content management problem since it is the responsibility of the forum to maintain the content on the forum.

That is the reason that we're hesitant to remove posts or delete threads when people ask for it. We're trying to maintain an archive of the data for current and future forum visitors.

[armstrongsubero]

@Merlin Ahhh thanks for the clarification...

[Nixi]

@nixi does the include permission to restore deleted content?

Cause if it does I'll seriously question a user's right over thier data...I know that an EULA being a contract allows youvto waive those rights, but is it explicitly stated? (I mean who reads the EULA anyway? Lol)

I'm just asking here...cause I like the average Joe forum user didnt read the EULA....asking so in future other users can be aware.

What Merlin said. But also specifically this part in the registration agreement gives InstantCert owners the permission to restore cook's post or do whatever they want with our posts (and that's pretty standard in forums like Merlin said): 

“All information contained in your posts and threads become the intellectual property of the owners of this forum, InstantCert.com, LLC.”


“You agree that we have the ability and right to remove, edit, or lock any account or message at any time should it be seen fit. “

[jsd]

Despite this particular act of Jennifer, i do believe she has an honest to goodness firm conviction in her beliefs.

Seeing her file a nuisance lawsuit to demand what i imagine she would call a nanny state come in to interject itself between an LLC and her responsibilities to that LLC seems unfathomable. She has more integrity than that, surely. I don't think we need to argue this and disparage her in this way.

At least I hope we have learned at least that about her over 13 years or so.

[darthweezy]

I would think a middle ground should be met. Her individual posts should be removed (or replaced with deleted by author would be better) with the main thread/link still available for SEO purposes.