Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Breaking News - PayPal v. Smashwords

Here's a breaking story on MSNBC: Paypal, Visa and Mastercard have backed down from their stance on erotica e-books.

Lots of folks I admire, like Kris Rusch and Joe Konrath, believed this was just business and not censorship. But when the strike was against a genre predominantly written and consumed by women, then I believe it is censorship.

This DOES NOT mean I agree with the sale of legally banned stuff, like child pornography, which the finance providers are BOUND BY LAW not to facilitate. That's a whole 'nuther ball of wax.

But today's report relieves me to no end. It means I can continue to write and read some of the stuff I love.

And many, MANY thanks to Mark Coker for spearheading the efforts to stop this farce!

2 comments:

  1. Glad things worked out and that you are relieved.

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  2. Thanks, Ivy. I wasn't directly effected by PayPal's ban, but it doesn't take a genius to realize this was the beginning of a crackdown.

    There's a lot of stories out there that I don't like and I don't agree with. But I CHOOSE NOT to buy or read that kind of stuff.

    And I always have other parents give me that wide-eyed stare, the gasp of shock, and the "Don't you want to PROTECT your child!" crap.

    To which I respond, "I monitor my kid's story consumption. Don't you monitor YOUR kid's?"

    I talk with my kid on a regular basis about what's appropriate and what's not. I wish more people would worry about getting their own house in order, instead of trying to make me and mine conform to their own warped view of reality.

    ReplyDelete