still unknown (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kimmi8) wrote in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} lj_biz,@ 2006-10-18 15:19:00 |
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LJ and SUP
We've licensed SUP, a Russian internet company, the right to use the LiveJournal brand. They'll be operating portions of the LiveJournal service for our Russian userbase (and only for those that want this support). This partnership is an effort to improve the speed, usability, and services that are offered to our Russian community. The only changes that Russian users will see is an improvement to user experience, translation, and support.
The Russian users that have agreed to this support will still continue to be a part of LiveJournal, for as long as they want to be. SUP will be able to promote other products or services they develop to the Russian community, but they won't be able to disconnect anyone from LiveJournal or break apart the community. LiveJournal will still be in control of your journals. We're partnering with SUP to offer a better experience, since we know we've been strongly limited by not being able to serve our Russian community in their native language.
Here are a few of the common questions we know you have:
* What criteria will be used to determine whether a journal is "Russian" or not?
It will be a combination of if you write primarily in Cyrillic, have listed your location as a country from the former USSR, or use a Russian browser.
* Will there be a way to opt out of having my journal transfered?
No journals are being transferred; it's just a change in how the site will be supported. You will be able to opt out of getting the new Russian features, and to continue to be supported by LiveJournal/Six Apart).
* Will information from these journals be given to the Russian government? Personal information?
No. Not in any way that would not happen today, such as a court-ordered subpoena. SUP is acting as our agent and will be bound by our Privacy Policy
* Will they have access to Russian users' private account information?
Again, only under our privacy policy, and bound by the same terms.
* Is SUP under any legal obligation to keep users' information confidential?
Yes, they are. They don't own any information, and they can't reuse it in any way not covered by our policies.
* Will SUP have access to non-Russian users' account information?
No. They have no involvement at all with other users on LiveJournal.
* Will they be handling payments for Russian users?
Yes, eventually SUP will be supporting this, which will allow us to make the payment process far less painful for users in the Russian Federation.
* Is SUP bound to maintain LJ's Terms of Service, or will they have the ability to create their own? What about the privacy policy?
The Terms of Service and privacy policy will not change without our express approval. We don't expect any changes, except to cover new services SUP will be able to offer, such as Russian SMS, etc.
********
If you have further questions, you're welcome to comment here! Or, for Russian-language support, ask questions directly in the SUP community:sup_ru.
P.S. Sorry, we haven't had a chance to translate this post. In the meantime, you can use http://translate.ru (...and think, in the future you won't have to anymore).
We've licensed SUP, a Russian internet company, the right to use the LiveJournal brand. They'll be operating portions of the LiveJournal service for our Russian userbase (and only for those that want this support). This partnership is an effort to improve the speed, usability, and services that are offered to our Russian community. The only changes that Russian users will see is an improvement to user experience, translation, and support.
The Russian users that have agreed to this support will still continue to be a part of LiveJournal, for as long as they want to be. SUP will be able to promote other products or services they develop to the Russian community, but they won't be able to disconnect anyone from LiveJournal or break apart the community. LiveJournal will still be in control of your journals. We're partnering with SUP to offer a better experience, since we know we've been strongly limited by not being able to serve our Russian community in their native language.
Here are a few of the common questions we know you have:
* What criteria will be used to determine whether a journal is "Russian" or not?
It will be a combination of if you write primarily in Cyrillic, have listed your location as a country from the former USSR, or use a Russian browser.
* Will there be a way to opt out of having my journal transfered?
No journals are being transferred; it's just a change in how the site will be supported. You will be able to opt out of getting the new Russian features, and to continue to be supported by LiveJournal/Six Apart).
* Will information from these journals be given to the Russian government? Personal information?
No. Not in any way that would not happen today, such as a court-ordered subpoena. SUP is acting as our agent and will be bound by our Privacy Policy
* Will they have access to Russian users' private account information?
Again, only under our privacy policy, and bound by the same terms.
* Is SUP under any legal obligation to keep users' information confidential?
Yes, they are. They don't own any information, and they can't reuse it in any way not covered by our policies.
* Will SUP have access to non-Russian users' account information?
No. They have no involvement at all with other users on LiveJournal.
* Will they be handling payments for Russian users?
Yes, eventually SUP will be supporting this, which will allow us to make the payment process far less painful for users in the Russian Federation.
* Is SUP bound to maintain LJ's Terms of Service, or will they have the ability to create their own? What about the privacy policy?
The Terms of Service and privacy policy will not change without our express approval. We don't expect any changes, except to cover new services SUP will be able to offer, such as Russian SMS, etc.
********
If you have further questions, you're welcome to comment here! Or, for Russian-language support, ask questions directly in the SUP community:
sup_ru. P.S. Sorry, we haven't had a chance to translate this post. In the meantime, you can use http://translate.ru (...and think, in the future you won't have to anymore).
