The tethering policy that we have held here at AF for a long time has now been lifted, as well as our approach to some potentially illegal content. After a long period of discussion between administration and the moderators, we're doing what we feel is best for the Android community and AF in general.
While we as a forum do NOT endorse nor encourage illegal or immoral activity (such as tethering against your TOS, call recording against state law, altering key phone identifiers against carrier policy, etc) - we will no longer blindly ban all conversations relating to such discussions on a site-wide basis. There are so many grey areas that it's simply impossible to continuously determine what is and isn't acceptable in a consistent manner without stifling conversation and muzzling freedom of speech. While AndroidForums.com technically "owns" the content posted on the site, each user is responsible for the lawfulness of their posts and we take no responsibility for what a user chooses to post or ask here.
We will no longer target tethering or other breach-of-TOS conversations on AF. Android related actions that may be illegal in some states (recording phone calls is the best example here) will also be left alone. We will, however, continue to target piracy, copyright infringement, and endorsement of hate crimes, etc etc.
Please know that any information posted here is ours to do what we wish with - including providing account information tied to threads/posts if a court or law enforcement agencies were to ask for it. (Not that we expect that to ever happen) We will, under our sole discretion, comply with law enforcement requests for certain data should we be approached. It will be up to the end user to ensure what they do here remains within the boundaries of the law and agreements they make with carriers, and they will accept ultimate responsibility for any consequences for a breach.
Much like YouTube's policies, we will assume our users are acting within the boundaries of the law, will investigate situations where we're notified of illegal material, and will cooperate with 3rd parties who request we take down information that is shared illegaly. With that said, we still reserve the right to remove any content for any reason we see fit (this is a privately owned site, after all).
To those who are against this: Please understand we cannot please everyone, and this is what we feel is best for the community and the site. Please simply avoid any threads that you don't agree with.
Our staff will not aide in helping users find or create information that is actually illegal. Illegal vs against TOS are two different things and each situation will be taken on a case by case basis. The information may reside on the site - but it will be up to the members to find it or point each other to it. Staff will absolutely not take part in this, and can lose their badge for doing so. (For the record, tethering is not considered illegal.)
In using this site you are agreeing that you understand and will comply with the terms stated above. The site's terms of service, to which all members must agree, have been updated to reflect this change. All site stickies concerning this will be updated or removed shortly.
Thank you.
They used to...I may still have the PM scolding me, but that'll remain in my inbox. I was happy to see this because it comes up often and diverting traffic away from here and over to XDA is never good, being that we're less active here to begin with.