Imagine if you were the owner of a really large computer with CSAM in it. And there is in fact no good way to prevent creeps from putting more into it. And when police come to have a look at your CSAM, you are liable for legal bullshit. Now imagine you had dependents. You would also be well past the point of being respectful.

On that note, the captain db0 has raised an issue on the github repository of LemmyNet, requesting essentially the ability to add middleware that checks the nature of uploaded images (issue #3920 if anyone wants to check). Point being, the ball is squarely in their court now.

I agree with you, I'd just gently suggest that it's borne of what is probably significant upset at having to deal with what they're having to deal with.

we are working on increasing the number of full time developers.

I see where you are coming from, but who is supposed to make this statement, LW admins? Because it's not their role. And if it's Lemmy devs, then it shouldn't be we.

I mean, the "other priorities" comment does seem to be in bad taste. But as for the comment on the future of Lemmy, I dunno. I feel like they're just being realistic. I think the majority of us understand the devs have lives but if things don't get sorted out soon enough it could impact the future of Lemmy.

Thing is, if this continues to be a problem and if the userbase/admins of instances are organised, we can shift those priorities. They may not have envisioned this being a problem with the work they decided to work on for the next several months. Truly, the solution is to get more developers involved so that more can happen at once.

No one is paid for this, but moderation is going to become a problem for Lemmy and the volunteers who are admins are going to need support.

They just edited their comment

Wish I was a dev. I'd jump in to help so fast.

I can't seem to find the AMA thread from the devs but I remember they said they actually are being paid by some dutch organisation

DEVELOPERS produce a software to help people post images and text online. Nothing bad about that.

ADMINS install the developers software on a server and run it as an instance.

MODS (if any exist besides the admin) moderate the instance to keep illegal content off the site.

USERS may choose to use the software to post CSAM.

None of these groups of people have paid for or are getting paid for their time. USERS generally don’t take much legal risk for what’s posted, as instance owners don’t ask for personally identifiable information from users.

Sites like reddit, although we all hate it, do make a profit, and some of that profit is used to pay “trust and safety” teams who are paid (generally not very well, usually in underdeveloped or developing countries) to wade through thousands of pictures of CSAM, SA, DV/IPV and other violent material, taking it down as it gets posted to facebook, reddit, other major online properties.

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Developers, admins and mods are generally doing this in their free time. Not sure how many people realize this but developers, admins and mods are also people who need to eat - developers have a skill of developing software, so many open source devs are also employed and contribute to open source in their off time. Admins may be existing sysadmins at companies but admin lemmy instances in their off time. Mods do it to protect the community and the instance itself.

USERS can be a bit self-important at times. We get it, you all generate the content on this site. Some content isn’t just unwanted though, it’s illegal and if not responded to quickly could mean not only a shutdown instance but also possible jailtime for admins, who ultimately will be the ones who are running a “reddit-like site” or “a haven for child porn”.

Good bot