Saturday, March 10, 2012

Bile and Brimstone: The PayPal Censorship


Wow, people. I don't know how to feel. I'm elated that Visa's given a response to Remittance Girl, saying they have absolutely nothing to do with PayPal's censorship. But I feel like throwing up when I read PayPal's blog post on the matter! Can you say double standard? Maybe the should hire some of the writers of banned erotica to write on their blog posts, because what this guy wrote - and the way he wrote it - catapults me into a fit of rage. Not the effect they want when they're trying to "set the record straight" and calm the people who have been "chattering" about PayPal's decision. 

I'm off now, to sit in a corner and breathe for a bit.


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14 comments:

  1. Well, if what they want to do is block *images* of rape, etc. why aren't they f*ing saying so? That would be so much clearer than what they're telling us now.

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  2. I read it and I can see why you are upset. Basically, they welcome feedback, but they aren't going to change their "policy". What a load of crap!

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    1. Yup, and worse still is that whenever someone tries to leave a comment on PayPal's blog post, their comment doesn't show! Honestly, there should be loads of comments already (I know of people who have sent in comments).

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  3. I'd like to be able to say that I think PayPal is going to shoot themselves in the foot with this, but I don't hold out much hope on that. I think that it's great that Visa is coming out to state that it's NOT their doing as PayPal said. I think that the other credit card companies need to come out with their own statements like this to REALLY clarify the issue for consumers. I know PayPal WON'T be getting any of MY $$!

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    1. You know, I think you're right :/ They seem pretty rooted on this, unwilling to budge (but as Lisa says, still want feedback! Right...).

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  4. We spoke to the various credit card companies and reported this awhile back (a week or so maybe?). PayPal made a choice but wanted to push off their choice and blame others. I think what bothers me more is that they thought us stupid. Did they really thing that places like NBP wouldn't call the sources they blamed directly?

    Not only does that not make sense, but look at all the adult items you can pay for with Visa and Mastercard (I'm talking down to the Bunny Ranch, Escorts and so on).

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    1. Yes, I blogged about it here too, after you did (with a link). This whole finger pointing thing is just weird!

      Thing is that after you blogged about this, Selena still insisted that credit card companies were at fault (she's spoken to them directly), so people were doubting the cc's involvement again.

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  5. If they say they have nothing to do with it I think they should tell pay pal to stop posting what is not true, but I really think that was just an answer to get people off their back.

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    1. Agreed, and still... Mark Coker seems to think that this may have been a series of bad communication and vague interpretations: http://www.bannedwriters.com/2012/03/10/visa-writes-us-back-this-is-not-our-doing-paypal-censorship-erotica/comment-page-1/#comment-301


      (Mark Coker on March 10, 2012 at 6:40 pm)

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  6. I like to let my dollars speak. They keep telling me to use google checkout instead of paypal, and send money via a different route. I'm good with that.

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    1. Unfortunately Google Checkout only works in the USA and Canada :/ I'm spreading my credit card info on all the book seller sites - I don't really mind it ;) I'm limiting my PayPal usage to a bare necessity (when credit card are not an option - wish there was another international payment processor out there...).

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  7. To avoid using Paypal I just signed up with Skrill. They were referred to me by vendors at craft fairs. Their fees are comparable to PP and able to accept payments world wide.
    https://www.moneybookers.com/app/?rid=29611383

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    1. Oooh! Thanks SO much! I've read their ToS and there's nothing in there about "obscene" or "objectionable" content. Will be blogging about this. It seems to be UK based, which could explain the lack of moral clauses ;) Now, let's hope that booksellers will include this as a purchase option...

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