PayPal Lifts Ban on Erotic Books

PayPal, the dominant processor of Internet payments, has retracted its threat to close the accounts of online booksellers who sell works that include descriptions of rape, incest and bestiality.  "This decision recognizes the important principle that neither PayPal nor any other company involved in payment processing has any business telling people what they should read,” said Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).  NCAC joined the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) in writing a protest letter to eBay, the owner of PayPal.  "It is an important victory for free speech on the Internet,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said.  NCAC and ABFFE issued a press release.

In mid-February, PayPal delivered an ultimatum to online booksellers and distributors, including Smashwords, BookStrand.com and eXcessica, giving them just days to remove all erotic books describing rape, incest and bestiality.  More than 1,000 e-books were removed from the Smashwords website before PayPal agreed to postpone a final decision on cutting off payments.

NCAC and ABFFE also joined with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and 30 other groups to post an online joint statement.

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Read ABFFE's Interview with Kathy Barco & Valerie Nye., editors of the anthology Censorship Battles in American Libraries