Paypal and independant publishing
This is where i feel like the old Simpson's joke of Mrs Lovejoy going "will someone think of the children?"
Paypal is refusing to trade with independant publishers and online booksellers unless they remove any work which they consider to be objectionable
they are arguing that any seller of "adult" content is in breach of their terms and conditions (their prerogative) and saying either kowtow to us or we will "screw you guys, we're going home"
their rationale is that these independant erotica publishers, who are the worst offenders apparently, are peddling things which are illegal
however this is the biggest stretch since Mr Plastic found himself in Idlewild and his luggage in Heathrow.
What they are refusing to deal with includes Incest, pseudo-incest including fantasy incest, ie distant cousins, step cousins, relations in law and daddy fantasies (so call me daddy is out) bestiality including shapeshifters where sex is written, even in human form, under age, including historical romances where the age of majority either didn't exist or was with the onset of puberty, non consensual sex, dubious consent and non consensual fantasy, the use of inanimate objects or phallic substitutes, and consensual bdsm
now by their own ruling they are apparently banning such works as the bible, Romeo and Juliet, Nabokov, Bret Easton Ellis
unfortunately All romance Ebooks, Smashwords and a few others have just by the sheer volume of their sales been forced to acquiesce
however the presses themselves have risen up in complaint, the one I'm with, Excessica have turned around and said, easy peasy paypal, if it's your way or the highway we've got the driving music ready.
I do not believe for an instant that this is "about the children" or the legality of fiction or fictitious worlds because this is only affecting small presses and booksellers
the timing, starting on the 16th Feb is remarkably suspicious, this is bigbusiness pressuring the little fellow, and if it has nothing to do with the collapse of Sopa etc I'll let Alfredo the back monkey call me uncle.
I will repeat what I said about Sopa because I think it's just as appropriate now, small businesses can be innovative, in fact if they're not they collapse, but big business finds it cheaper to pressure legislation and dubious legalities (or buy out the middle men), it is cheaper to destroy the competition rather than use the same innovations that they are using and maintain superiority that way
another example would be Disney gobbling up Studio Ghibli, if you can't beat them buy them out
now according to the business rags eBay is having problems and has just bought out Magento (I swear I've written that as Magneto about five times) to create a sort of apple-esque all in one program - but it's profit margin is dropping (considering all the new charges) and it relies on paypal's sneaky hidden charges to survive as a big business
I would not be surprised if eBay is bringing in a large scale online bookseller and this is stage one of that plan
but here's the thing, let's copy Selena Kitt in this, let's thumb our noses at paypal
if you are given two options and one is paypal and one is something else, take the other road - you'll probably be better off anyway
so unless you want Santander to redecorate your house, rent movies for you or choose your clothes why the hell are we letting paypal decide what we can or can't read
sure they have the right to say we'd rather you didn't do this, that's their prerogative, but we have the same right to boycott the shit out of them! and ebay! and to share this opinion, to publicise this, whether or not you want to read these books is irrelevant, fight for the ability to actually buy them
and if you don't think this personally affects you or anyone you know - I'm an author on Excessica and I would have to remove most of the work I've published on there, none of which is illegal or even truly offensive because I have broken their rules.
if you don't listen to me, how about George Lucas
so this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNAHjsAnTd4
Selena words it better than me
http://selenakitt.com/blog/
so go to her site, and buy ten of her books in whatever options she chooses that aren't paypal, reassure us that we still to have the write to make our own decisions!
Paypal is refusing to trade with independant publishers and online booksellers unless they remove any work which they consider to be objectionable
they are arguing that any seller of "adult" content is in breach of their terms and conditions (their prerogative) and saying either kowtow to us or we will "screw you guys, we're going home"
their rationale is that these independant erotica publishers, who are the worst offenders apparently, are peddling things which are illegal
however this is the biggest stretch since Mr Plastic found himself in Idlewild and his luggage in Heathrow.
What they are refusing to deal with includes Incest, pseudo-incest including fantasy incest, ie distant cousins, step cousins, relations in law and daddy fantasies (so call me daddy is out) bestiality including shapeshifters where sex is written, even in human form, under age, including historical romances where the age of majority either didn't exist or was with the onset of puberty, non consensual sex, dubious consent and non consensual fantasy, the use of inanimate objects or phallic substitutes, and consensual bdsm
now by their own ruling they are apparently banning such works as the bible, Romeo and Juliet, Nabokov, Bret Easton Ellis
unfortunately All romance Ebooks, Smashwords and a few others have just by the sheer volume of their sales been forced to acquiesce
however the presses themselves have risen up in complaint, the one I'm with, Excessica have turned around and said, easy peasy paypal, if it's your way or the highway we've got the driving music ready.
I do not believe for an instant that this is "about the children" or the legality of fiction or fictitious worlds because this is only affecting small presses and booksellers
the timing, starting on the 16th Feb is remarkably suspicious, this is bigbusiness pressuring the little fellow, and if it has nothing to do with the collapse of Sopa etc I'll let Alfredo the back monkey call me uncle.
I will repeat what I said about Sopa because I think it's just as appropriate now, small businesses can be innovative, in fact if they're not they collapse, but big business finds it cheaper to pressure legislation and dubious legalities (or buy out the middle men), it is cheaper to destroy the competition rather than use the same innovations that they are using and maintain superiority that way
another example would be Disney gobbling up Studio Ghibli, if you can't beat them buy them out
now according to the business rags eBay is having problems and has just bought out Magento (I swear I've written that as Magneto about five times) to create a sort of apple-esque all in one program - but it's profit margin is dropping (considering all the new charges) and it relies on paypal's sneaky hidden charges to survive as a big business
I would not be surprised if eBay is bringing in a large scale online bookseller and this is stage one of that plan
but here's the thing, let's copy Selena Kitt in this, let's thumb our noses at paypal
if you are given two options and one is paypal and one is something else, take the other road - you'll probably be better off anyway
so unless you want Santander to redecorate your house, rent movies for you or choose your clothes why the hell are we letting paypal decide what we can or can't read
sure they have the right to say we'd rather you didn't do this, that's their prerogative, but we have the same right to boycott the shit out of them! and ebay! and to share this opinion, to publicise this, whether or not you want to read these books is irrelevant, fight for the ability to actually buy them
and if you don't think this personally affects you or anyone you know - I'm an author on Excessica and I would have to remove most of the work I've published on there, none of which is illegal or even truly offensive because I have broken their rules.
if you don't listen to me, how about George Lucas
so this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNAHjsAnTd4
Selena words it better than me
http://selenakitt.com/blog/
so go to her site, and buy ten of her books in whatever options she chooses that aren't paypal, reassure us that we still to have the write to make our own decisions!