I have got some of this at second-hand, but as I understand it, the problem is that LJ originally intended to have a sensible appeals procedure, but then their lawyers got worried that, if they allowed appeals, or allowed people to access their journals to remove offensive material, or copy stuff for their records, LJ might subsequently be liable for knowingly allowing someone to conceal evidence of a crime. So e.g. the incest survivors have to be penalized because they got caught up in a mass sweep, and some actual criminals might abuse the appeal procedure.

I take your overall point, but LJ have allowed themselves to be paniced by a few quite unpleasant people - the sort of people who are as obsessed with illegal immigrants as they are with paedophiles and who, it seems, deliberately infect all visitors to their site with malware. (I had no spyware when I checked this morning and 62 items after checking out Warriors for Innocence; other people have reported the same).