I’m not one to get in the mix of controversy… but in the past month, there has been a huge uproar about the changes that PayPal had made to their TOS. Primarily, it dealt with certain subjects that were often explored in the erotica genre.
I’m not here to debate what should and shouldn’t be published, but the notion of a single company refusing something was quite scary. I hovered on the sidelines and watched the battle ensue because that’s where I felt most comfortable. The initial idea of banning certain subjects started to spark the notion of “what-ifs”… what if they refuse certain types of horror? What if they determine that certain murders in books aren’t allowed? Etc…etc…
Through the efforts of Mark and Smashwords, along with an amazing group of authors and readers, it seems the decision has been reversed. Again, while some may not agree with the content, the important to remember here is that free speech should not be taken away… if you don’t want to read it, then don’t.
The same goes for any genre… some people don’t like blood and guts just like some people don’t like romance.
So I’d like to extend a big congrats to the indie community and those who stood up to fight and make their voices be heard.
http://blog.smashwords.com/2012/03/paypal-revises-policies-to-allow-legal.html
I don’t see what Paypal did so much as censorship as much as product-line selectivity. A business should have the right to determine what or what not they will sell. Then they should allow the market to prevail.