As mentioned on my Wednesday night radio show, Amazon Web Services (AWS) "Trust & Safety Team" wrote me regarding a complaint from the general public, about content in the User Comments beneath stories on this site. AWS told me, in writing:
"Thank you for your response. As a reminder, you may host content that does not violate the AWS Acceptable Use Policy (http://aws.amazon.com/aup/).
Regarding future correspondence relating to a complaint, in some cases we may specify actions you’re required to complete. As an AWS customer, it is your responsibility to ensure you are not using, or facilitating, or allowing others to use, the Services or the AWS Site for activities prohibited in the AWS AUP.
We appreciate your time and attention concerning this complaint.
Best regards,
AWS Trust & Safety
So the company now requires __me__ to enforce __their__ Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), upon __your__ comments. If I comply, my web site and radio show streaming servers can remain on AWS. If I do not comply, my entire livelihood can get shut off.
When I disabled comments last week, a lot of you wrote me saying you enjoyed the comments area and wanted it brought back. I did that.
Within ONE DAY, I had to delete several comments and throw several users off the site permanently for what they posted.
I have thus decided that User Comments will remain, but will **NOT** be visible to the general public. Only paying subscribers can see those comments now.
I will also be altering __my__ Terms of Service to require subscribers to keep confidential, anything they see posted in User Comments, and to contractually agree they will not "report" such content to any other entitry, or if they do, they agree to the disclosure of their identity by the entity to whom they complained, and agree to financially compensate __me__ for the effects of their outside complaint.
This will put the cry babies on the hook, contractually and financially, for whining to some outside entity about other people's free speech.
Want to limit what OTHER PEOPLE say? Be ready to pay for it if your efforts get this site and show shut down. Tens-of-thousands of dollars out of YOUR pocket if you whine to someone else.
Don't accept the terms? Then you can't be here.
Contracts can work to my advantage the same way they work to the advantage of those who want to Censor others.
