7340 – Sakes. Why isn’t this more widely publicised yet?

Some pretty real security issues in LJ –

Request #502593

From: whimsicalmusing[info]whimsicalmusing (********@gmail.com)
Account type: Paid Account
LiveJournal: username: userinfowhimsicalmusing
style: (S1) lastn: 76828 friends: 76606 calendar: 2 day: 5
email validated? yes
cluster: Roastbeef, subcluster 9
data version: 7
underage? no
Support category: General/Unknown [previous|next]
Time posted: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:20:37 GMT (19 hours ago)
Status: answered (awaiting close)
Summary: Privacy concerns over google’s blog search
Original Request:

I have some concerns over google’s new blog search and want to know what steps livejournal is taking to ensure the privacy of their clients. My journal is friends only, with good reason, and I enjoyed knowing that those familiar with blogging could only find me if they knew my lj name, but now, even if I’m quoted in another entry I can be found.

Furthermore, this new search has a direct link feature that links you directly to every public post you’ve ever made.

In short, I’m sure I’m not alone in this privacy concern, and google’s made it impossible for a laymen to get through to them and request to be removed from their database, and I wanted to know what you would do (if anything) to make this bad situation better. I know I’m not alone in this concern.


Diagnostics: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

burr86 [info]burr86 – love is blind; friendship is clairvoyant

Answer (#1972030)
Posted: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 01:48:43 GMT (13 hours ago)

The “Block Robots/Spiders” option enters HTML <meta> tags into your journal’s code to indicate that the content should not be archived or cached. Unfortunately, data feeds such as your journal’s RSS feed do not have similar tags that instruct spiders not to archive the data. As such, the feature in question has no bearing on other sites’ ability to read your RSS feed.

While it is not possible to entirely disable your RSS feed, you can limit its output strictly to the subject lines of your entries. To do this, you can go to http://www.livejournal.com/admin/console and execute the following command:

    set synlevel title

Your syndicated feed will only display public entries to logged-out users, along with anyone not on your Friends list. If your protected content has been archived on Google’s Blog Search, then it was archived at a time when the entry was public. Unfortunately, there is no way for LiveJournal to require the removal of the material in question; you, as the content owner, will need to speak with Google about this matter. You may also wish to consult legal counsel if you believe your copyrighted material has been archived without your consent, to discuss what recourse you have in this situation.


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