Collective Shout targeting payment processors to have NSFW content removed from Steam and other platforms.

[OldVice]

I saw some news for this show up over the past couple days about this happening.

Steam and Itch.io have been the targets (that I know of) so far that this censorship group is targeting by pressuring payment processors (Visa, Mastercard) to have them remove NSFW media or they will no longer work with them.

https://itch.io/blog/993299/about-collective-shout

https://www.wired.com/story/steam-itchio-are-pulling-porn-games-censorship/

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indu...hists-and-things-only-get-weirder-from-there/

Pretty sure we're at a point where we need some kind of law that prevents payment processors from doing this kind of stuff when there is nothing illegal about the product or service.

 

[Manko-sensei]

Not only videogames, the termination of service also affects to retailers such as Melonbooks, NicoNico Douga (Video) or Suruga-ya. I was also sent the latter link in addition to this one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/1m3pwdy

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

It's really been way too long that the standard payment processors should've been supplanted.
They in the past already pulled stuff like this, they were not trustable for a while.
The US Citizens have at least the ability to repay Europe for Stop Killing Games(Metaphor here, but you really should do this here) by making noise for a bill that could stop it: Bill S.401 Fair Access to Banking Act
If you are a US Citizen that cares about this topic, call your local senator and ask them to support this bill. Also spread the news

 

[Angry_Panda]

The problem is that any payment system large enough to be widely accepted by consumers and merchants (that is, practical) is going to have shareholders who don't want to see their value diminished from bad press about facilitating questionable activities. None of the large merchants are going to switch to 'No-name Payment Network', because none of their customers are using it, and I'm certainly not signing up for a payment network that has no merchants using their services. Chicken, meet egg.

S.401 certainly means well, but it's going to run into problems if it passes - it refers to 'refus[al] to do business with any person who is in compliance with the law', but whose law? If something is legal in one state but not another (say, recreational marijuana), or if something is legal at the state level but not the Federal level (marijuana in general) or vice versa (dry counties), whose 'legal' takes precedence? If a state/county/municipality passes a law making depictions of rape illegal as well, reasoning that since rape is illegal depictions of it should be too, what happens?

 

[GipoScribantino]

what happens?

That's why an independent (from other government offices) juridical body exists.
When a law passes it is put into practice, then judges confirm whether it applies on a case by case basis.
Yes, different countries have different laws, but this is not news.

 

[jecroisenlasuperioritedubel]

I can not ‘elp My‑self but pity Them in a wꜽ — working up all over nꜷght , for ʃome Imaginary‑rules We hꜹe to abide by for Their Little fantesies becꜷse They hꜹe : connections & means to do It , verily ; getting angry at this would be like getting angry at Wꝏd‑eating bugs , that’s in Their nature to do that — ‘twould be dumb to : get angry at Them instead of ʃimply using pesticide.

 

[Angry_Panda]

That's why an independent (from other government offices) juridical body exists.
When a law passes it is put into practice, then judges confirm whether it applies on a case by case basis.
Yes, different countries have different laws, but this is not news.

On the first two lines, concerning the proposed S.401, this will eventually be true, but until there's a case that works through the courts to get to where a decision is made on how to rectify the conflicting laws, no one's sure where the lines are. No one wants to be that trial case.

(And I'll stop there, because this is getting into political territory.)

 

[Mangamoz]

Imperialism never ended, it just changed its tactics.

 

[BestBoy]

Ya I don't suggest lauding s.401 as the answer. It's a poison pill. It's backed by private prisons, the NRA, and fossil fuel companies.

 

[principeinquisidor]

Ya I don't suggest lauding s.401 as the answer. It's a poison pill. It's backed by private prisons, the NRA, and fossil fuel companies.

So more like a chemotherapy pill.

 

[OldVice]

Fun little update.

It looks like people are emailing and calling Visa and Mastecard in mass right now to express their concerns about their censorship to the point where the call centre people are asking if their call is about Steam and Itch.io. Their phone lines are constantly full and it doesn't seem to stopping at this time.

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Fun little update.

It looks like people are emailing and calling Visa and Mastecard in mass right now to express their concerns about their censorship to the point where the call centre people are asking if their call is about Steam and Itch.io. Their phone lines are constantly full and it doesn't seem to stopping at this time.

Good, make these monopolist scum suffer.

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Found a handy infographic

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

Japan (or korea) is retarded not to bank on this, actually it has been decades they have been affected by these duopoly.

 

[twinklecake]

The newly-added rule on Steam:

Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult-only content.

"In particular" means "including but not limited to". "Content that may violate" means "we will delete with prejudice". They worded it loosely enough to delete anything they want to, really. What even are these "rules and standards"?

I don't even know if Gabe can save us this time, especially considering this is one of several things happening right now that will give the powerful increased ability to control which facts and opinions get to be heard and which ones are deemed harmful (read: inconvenient) and therefore smothered.