Smashwords vs Paypal - about censorship and money.

With the falling cost of technology and publishing, it is easier than ever to publish your own work online and distributed for free or for money. You can choose the format, the platform and whatnot. But the recent debacle with Paypal and Smashwords leave a bitter taste for the future.

Everything started in February 2012 when the e-book distributor Smashwords received an email from PayPal saying that if certain books with "obscene" content is not removed from their inventory, PayPal will ban their services for Smashwords.

According to Paypal, when users sing for the services, they sign the "acceptable user policy" and they effectively agree with the conditions that certain content is not allowed. This includes adult content.

PayPal spokesman told CNET that "We consider what's standard across the industry, our agreements with the card associations and banks that enable us to provide service to our customers, and of course, the laws governing the sale of adult-oriented content."

According to reports, Paypal was pushed to send the email to Smashwords because of its banking partners and credit cards associations with stance on inappropriate content.

Once Smashwords received the email, they contacted the authors and told them they have to remove the inappropriate content with words like rape, bestiality or incest.

Writers decided to take action and contacted Smashwords, Paypal and the rest of the institutions. While Smashwords and Paypal were in talks about the situation the Electronic Frontier Foundation with other free speech groups joined to stand against censorship.

Finally Paypal backed down, agreeing that books with images will be no longer demanded to be removed from the category. Instead certain books will be identified, the publisher then will be contacted to respond and either remove the content or challenge the decision.

Even though some people will think this is not a big deal, it certainly can turn into one in the future. Paypal is a middle man between people and businesses and what people do with their money is of no ones business as long as no laws are broken. Furthermore, banks, credit card institutions and Paypal receive transfer fees, so why would they need to but into people's decision what books to buy.

With more and more people buying online, we will become highly depended on services like Paypal and online payments, but we should not allow them to tell us what we can and cannot buy with our money.

Resources:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/14/44701.htm
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50946-censorship-battle-catches-smashwords-in-the-middle.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57392939-93/paypal-demands-obscene-e-books-be-pulled/