[libertate]

It is all a big pile of mess...

If you put a TOS up that states that nothing is private, including PMs, then you imply that you are monitoring it. So you get sued if a message is illegal (threat, copyright, criminal content, etc.) and you missed it.

If you say the writer owns copyright, then you have to deal with "owner" demanding removal.

If you say PMs are private, then you have to encrypt them, and make darn sure you protect it well.

What I have come up with is a twist - the poster is the copyright holder, but grants the site a sole distribution, non revocable license for in perpetuity, and we guarantee zero privacy.

This gives me the right to look at it, distribute it, not have to delete it, (or delete it) yet retains the responsibility with the author for it's content. So the site becomes sort of a "vessel" or transport only. This has been tested with ISPs and carriers and it works.