Rik's Coffee Thoughts
Random
thoughts, mostly about writing, publishing, sailing, God, cats, my
life, my loves and whatever happens to run across my mind between the
first espresso and the last cup of regular before my shower. Now - if I could only get Captain Hook to bring me my espresso without spilling it, we'd have a good thing going.
I was going to title this "PayPay, Porn and Us", but I thought that might be a construed as being inflammatory. So - "PayPay Publishing and Us" it is. So, according to Mark Coker, Founder, CEO and Chief Author Advocate of SmashWords, PayPay has decided to start “aggressively enforcing a prohibition against online retailers selling certain types of ‘obscene’ content.”
TechCruch picked up on this with photos of three well armed policemen (now who's getting inflammatory) http://techcrunch.com, with bold headlines that read, "PayPal As Moral Police? Forces E-Book Sellers To Remove Certain Erotica Content"
One TechCrunch reader wrote: "I've signed petitions against this censorship crap!"
Well, I think that this is really an interesting "moral issue". And, we all tend to say "what one person believes is totally up to them."
So, let's say the moral issue is "people with green hair".
I say, "I don't believe in writing about people with green hair. It is against my karma."
You say "No worries, as long as you don't stop me from writing about people with green hair."
I open a corner store and say, "I don't believe I will sell any books about people with green hair. It is against my karma."
You say "No worries, as long as I can sell my own books about people with green hair down the street at the other book store."
My store goes international and I say, "I don't believe I will sell any books about people with green hair in any of my international stores, either. It is against my karma."
You say, "No worries, as long as I can sell my own books about people with green hair in other international stores and on my own web site."
I buy UPS and say, "I don't believe I will do business with any stores that sell any books about people with green hair."
You say, "No worries, I'll ship with FedX."
I buy VISA and say, "I don't believe I will do business with stores that sell any books about people with green hair."
You say - "Hold on, I use VISA! Censorship! Gestapo Tactics! Right to Arm Bears! Motherhood and Apple Pie!"
So, is it censorship or is it just an inconvenience to you that has you upset?
Just Rik's morning coffee thoughts ...
