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Paypal Forces E-Book Publisher To Censor Erotic Content

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

hey! writes "On February 18 of this year, global giant payment processor PayPal sent eBook publisher Smashwords an ultimatum: if Smashwords didn't remove all eBooks with certain erotic content from its catalog in the next several days, PayPal would immediately stop handling payments. Smashword's TOS already precluded child pornography, but now PayPal wants them to also censor depictions of consenting, non-related adults acting out incest fantasies. Likewise, fantasy novels in which human characters transform into non-humans are affected if those characters have sex. ZDNet has a summary of the impact of these changes, which would among other things ban Vladmir Nabokov's Lolita. As outrage mounts, finger pointing is in full swing. Smashwords blames PayPal, and PayPal blames the banks it deals with. The crux seems to be that erotica buyers have a higher rate of 'chargebacks' — customers who buy stuff then demand their money back. Fair enough, but is a customer really more likely to return a book because it depicts one kind of fantasy between consenting adults vs. another? Perhaps the problem is just the quality of writing." Note: as you can probably tell from the summary, the linked articles (while factual in nature) discuss subjects that may not be suitable for workplace reading.

15 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. Will this kill Twilight? by forkfail · · Score: 4, Funny

    Likewise, fantasy novels in which human characters transform into non-humans are affected if those characters have sex.

    Please?

    --
    Check your premises.
    1. Re:Will this kill Twilight? by medcalf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah, Twilight, a sweet romance about the choice between and bestiality and necrophilia.

      --
      -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
    2. Re:Will this kill Twilight? by jd2112 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not only that, but I heard that a 100-year-old teenager has sex with a teenage girl in those books.

      FTFY.

      Dick Clark was in Twilight?

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  2. Bitcoin! by stevegee58 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everybody switch to bitcoin and put these losers outta business!

  3. Oblig by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Down with this sort of thing!

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  4. Re:More likely to return? YES by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does anyone really doubt that if you purchased a book that fantasizes incest.. and ANYONE else finds out about it, the first words from your mouth are: "my card was stolen"

    Unless it's your sister who finds out... ;)

  5. When asked to comment by tmosley · · Score: 3, Funny

    When asked to comment, Paypal representatives responded, "If you don't like it, you can yiff in Hell".

    1. Re:When asked to comment by tmosley · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think that is in their standard form letter for their complaints department.

  6. Re:More likely to return? YES by gnick · · Score: 3, Funny

    I could mention Alabama, but I won't.

    I think you forgot how not to mention Alabama...

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  7. Re:It's not enough... by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Funny

    Absolutely. Who are they to determine what is and what's not allowed. Who do they thing they are, Apple?

  8. Re:As someone in the payments industry... by Xacid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yet I could feasibly buy a horse cock dildo at my local adult store using my credit card from potentially one of these banks...

    Just a paperweight, right? Neighhhh.

  9. Actually.... by RobCull · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot is not one person, there are many people with many ideas.

    There's just you and one other person (who can type REALLY fast).

  10. Re:The man who fell to Earth? by jamstar7 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, on the upside, if those vampires were human, the networks would be in deep shit for promoting pedophilia. Remember, all of those vampires are over 50 & their 'girlfriends' are under 18...

    --
    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  11. Re:Wouldn't that include the Game of Thrones books by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · · Score: 3, Funny

    Shapeshifting in the Bible? No.

    Incest in the Bible? Genesis 19:30-38.

    19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

    19:31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

    19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

    19:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

    19:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

    19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

    19:37 And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

    19:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

  12. Re:The man who fell to Earth? by dsvilko · · Score: 1, Funny

    Or distinctly non-human ghosts having (implied) sex with humans? (Looking at you Mr Holy)