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kutsuwamushiApparently, Paypal decided to forbid people from using its services to buy or sell dirty books.
Apparently, Paypal has now reversed that decision, for the most part - but will still forbid "obscene" images.
I missed this entirely. That's what I get for not reading my friends list, I suppose.
This wouldn't have affected me much; I don't use Paypal to start with. But in a broader sense, when one company has the ability to basically shut down small internet publishers with a change of policy, that does affect me. Our reliance on private companies for the technology and services that drive the internet means that free speech online is in a weird place.
This is just a couple days after I ran across yet another story of PayPal arbitrarily shutting someone down on Regretsy. Regretsy itself has an interest in this kind of story because of PayPal's shutting their charitable drive down.
Apparently, Paypal has now reversed that decision, for the most part - but will still forbid "obscene" images.
I missed this entirely. That's what I get for not reading my friends list, I suppose.
This wouldn't have affected me much; I don't use Paypal to start with. But in a broader sense, when one company has the ability to basically shut down small internet publishers with a change of policy, that does affect me. Our reliance on private companies for the technology and services that drive the internet means that free speech online is in a weird place.
This is just a couple days after I ran across yet another story of PayPal arbitrarily shutting someone down on Regretsy. Regretsy itself has an interest in this kind of story because of PayPal's shutting their charitable drive down.
