Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Never mind censorship: this is a service provider telling their *customers* how to run their business.
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But Smashwords is also a service provider -- for authors -- and they also engage in such censorship. This describes Smashwords policy
before PayPal stepped in:
We already have some of the industry’s strictest policies prohibiting underage characters (we don’t even allow non-participating minors to appear in erotica), and our vetting team is always on the lookout for “barely legal” content where supposed adults are placed in underage situations.
Almost everyone agrees that service providers will make these kind of judgments, not just with fiction, but also with things like manuals on how to lure kids into a car or make poison gas. The only fair way to judge PayPal would be to read the book in question. I am not volunteering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Purple Lady
So is this just against independent publishers books?
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Not on purpose, but you do have a point. If Random House or Yale University Press let through a book that seemed to advocate sex with kids, there would be a public controversy over how to interpret the book in question. PayPay would probably follow the lead of the likes of MasterCard and VISA, who in turn would let the public controversy play out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DuskyRose
I don't think it's up to Paypal to decide that they can't have them by telling the retailer what they can and can't sell.
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Do you really mean this literally? That they should facilitate not just selling books on making the poison gas, but the poison gas itself?
I'm wondering if you travel the subway to work every morning as I do. Since you live in Virginia, I guess it is possible.