As I tried to finish a Suzan Harden title and take a mini-vacation of Easter (while getting wildly sick), Amazon decided to launch a silent pre-emptive strike against indie erotica authors like Alter Ego--AGAIN!
This time, Amazon rank-stripped all erotica titles. And if your romance was a little too steamy, your books got thrown into the erotica dungeon.
Unfortunately, this occasion wasn't due to some prude in the ranks. Nope, this time it was due to idiots in the United States Congress. They slipped something through last week under the guise of the budget. Something to allegedly save the women and children!
Don't get me wrong. Sex trafficking is a bad, BAD thing, and it should be stopped. But the Senate and the House of Representatives have cobbled together bills (SESTA/FOSTA) that are far too broad in scope and very vague in specifics. (By the way, the primary sponsor of SESTA, Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio, is a real dick, and there's part of me that wants to run against him as an independent. GRR!)
So now the major tech players are totally panicking. Amazon isn't the only one hiding stuff and shutting down shit left and right. Craigslist has already shut down their personal ads. Reddit has shut down several subforum discussions regarding sex. Barnes & Noble is kicking off writers who had the temerity of writing erotica, even if their erotic works are no longer available on B&N's website!
And before anyone thinks this is about partisanship or political parties, both sides are equally guilty in my opinion. On the surface, it seems innocuous. However, this is a blatant government attack on First Amendment rights by using the tech giants to enforce these vague policies. And I can pretty much guarantee this stupidly written law will be used to shut down health information sites.
Why do I think that? Two reasons:
(1) We've been down that rabbit hole once already. Medical websites were deactivated over Congress's last few attempts to shut down porn sites until medical exemptions were written in.
(2) Because I had to get a mammogram on Monday. Roughly a year ago, I discovered a lump in my left breast, right below the nipple. The last couple of biopsies have come back inconclusive. My surgeon doesn't want to cut if he doesn't have to, so he and my ob/gyn are keeping a close eye on the damn thing. And frankly after having my right breast sliced up sixteen years ago, I'd prefer not going through that again unless it's absolutely necessary.
I'm a strong believer in cancer screenings. I have been for the last thirty-something years. DH has already been down that ugly road, and I don't wish it on anyone. When I say please do your self-checks, I mean it. (That goes for you guys, too!) I've posted self-check videos on this blog for that very reason.
And because the 'bots that will be used to enforce these rules cannot look at context, odds are in the next few weeks this post or my account may disappear. Necessary pictures and demonstrations of techniques will disappear. And it will be detrimental to women and men alike.
If you're an Ohioan, call Sen Rob Portman at (202) 224-3353 or Sen. Sherrod Brown at (202) 224-2315, and tell them SESTA needs to be refined to make it effective. If you're from another state, look up your senator or representative here. Here's the text if you wish to read it.
So let's see if these PSA are still here in a few months:
For the ladies...
And for the gentlemen...
Because nobody asked, here’s my 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket.
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Because nobody asked, here's my Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket. Note this is
not what I expect will happen, but what I want to happen because it would
be fun.
6 hours ago
Oh, good grief. :/
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think this crap happens because it's easier to shut down a bunch of erotica authors/vendors than it is to actually detect and shut down actual real-world traffickers. So they can point to the books and say, "See, we've protected people from porn, at least! We've done something!" and claim a victory, however small, on the subject of... sex-related-crime-stuff, and then wave their hands and deflect onto something else.
It's like the idiots wasting resources on processing and deporting undocumented folks who've lived here for a decade or three, who own homes and run businesses and pay taxes and have never been in trouble with the law, rather than going after the actual criminals -- drug dealers and gang leaders and organized crime types -- who've snuck into the country for nefarious purposes. The same effort will get you one real bad guy or a thousand peaceful people who've been contributing to society. Kicking out the thousand looks more impressive, and you're less likely to get shot while doing it.
It's greed for recognition coupled with laziness, and apathy about what their job actually is.
Angie
*sigh* Exactly.
DeleteInstead of passing laws forbidding tech giants from squelching speech, since they control so much of communication, the government is using them to squelch speech. You can almost seem them celebrating. Oh what a glorious loop hole!
ReplyDeleteI've waited for the Dems to grow a spine on so many things, but I think the money driven campaign system doesn't allow strong candidates on speech, campaign finance, taxes, jobs or war. Big talk, no action.
Suzan if you ran you'd hate it. You'd either have to sell out to get any funding and momentum going or you'd languish in obscurity. :-(
Dude, I already languish in obscurity. LOL
DeleteIt's a happier life!
Delete