Luna del'Corvo

...you're like that ex who always finds a new way to disappoint....

I have been trying to get back here, again, as I have before, and have actually had a little success. Right in time for the new "Service Agreement." Where to begin? There are, of course, the censorship implications. And then there is the idiocy of making me sign an agreement that LJ itself declares is non-binding, but my consent to it (required to use the site), implies agreement to the version I can't read because it's in fucking Russian? Really? THat's taking Orwellian to a whole new level....

So, despite my what? 15 year-history here, I am am trying to actually commit to the transition for Dreamwidth. This really grind my gears since my account here has been a permanent one for...oh, a decade or so, and DW will end up costing me a pretty penny that I *really* can't exactly afford right now. And, my whole getting back here has a lot to do with those of you who are still here, and there seems to be a dearth of anyone I know on DW, or at least that I can find.

MY plan is to begin using DW full-time, while still reading and commenting here. Eventually, I will probably turn off commenting and essentially set this whole thing to private. I don't know if I can *quite* bring myself to delete it, though the new Soviet Overlords may take care of that for me - I've never been subtle about my liberal views, after all.

I will keep up here, but please, look for me on DW (link below) if you too have made or are contemplating the move there. Peace, all!

Look for me on my mirror journal, LunaDelCorvo on DreamWidth. If you are on DW too, tell me at this post so I can add you there!

From ZDnet:

PayPal’s new aggressive campaign wants to stop independent e-book publishers that use its service from including certain kinds of erotic content in their catalogs.

On Saturday February 18, PayPal began threatening indie book publishers and distributors with immediate deactivation of the businesses' accounts if they did not remove books containing certain sexual themes - namely, specific sexual fantasies that PayPal does not approve of.

PayPal told indie e-book publishers and retailers - such as AllRomance, Smashwords, Excessica and Bookstrand - that if they didn't remove the offending literature from their catalogs within a few days of notification, PayPal would close their accounts....

Read the article HERE.

Whatever your stand on erotica, porn, whatever, the fact remains that this kind of manipulation of markets is absolutely unacceptable, and if not stopped here will establish precedent for similar draconian limits in the future. PayPal operates like a bank. Just like your bank honoring your check, or your Visa card company, they process transactions between merchants and buyers. Imagine if your bank told you they would no longer process payments at certain retailers? Or if they said 'Sorry, we won't handle payments for this type of item.' You may not like porn, or sex toys, or rainbow kitten calendars, but as long as they are legal items, it doesn't mean it's OK for a financial institution to tell you you cannot spend your money on them, or retailers that they can't sell them.

Now I realize that this may sound like the classic slippery slope. However, this is how the Right has operated for decades. Find some out of the way place and try Move X. If it isn't stopped, try it somewhere else. Pretty soon you have legal precedent. The Right is all about incremental warfare. Look at the abortion battle - they gave up on forward assault on Roe a long time ago. Instead, they have found hundreds of ways to come at it sideways, from parental consent to the width of clinic hallways. Having observed this for so long, I think it is not at all unreasonable to ask, if this move by PayPal flies, what's to say it will only be erotica that payment processors are allowed to censor?

What would stop them from deciding they won't process payments for booksellers who sell 'subversive' literature? Why stop at books? Is it really so hard to imagine big banks, in cooperation with GOP insanity (of which we've seen plenty recently), deciding not to process credit card transactions to Planned Parenthood? Or payments for contraception? Or any of a zillion other things they may decide they don't like?

I don't know as I write this if there are petitions or actions pending on this, but if there are, I'll add them here. If there aren't, I'll start them. meanwhile, I encourage everyone who uses PayPal to contact them now, and tell them censorship is never acceptable.

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ETA: There is some indication (unproven as yet) that this is being instigated BY credit card companies, and PP is the first big processor to be feeling pressure towards censorship from above. In which case, damn I hate being right....

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ETA 2: Some good links for more info and petitions are below:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/7/stop-internet-censorship/
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-censorship-2