"Bear in mind that it's not always the "religious right" who complain about erotica."

True, that's why I just said "conservative," though that label, like most is not really accurate. Sounds nicer than blue noses though :-) The urge to dictate other people's morality does cut across many lines, we have feminists against censorship as well.

You may be right regarding China. Ebay famously stopped selling some Nazi items after complaints from France and Germany. The problem is that is a proverbial slippery slope. Every country, and in many cases, subdivisions within countries have different ideas on what's acceptable. If you start forcing everyone to comply with the mores of the entire world then soon everything will be banned. What if the Chinese want to ban "subversive" books? I'm sure the Iranians don't want people picking up 'The Satanic Verses' on eBay either.

The good news is that PayPal wants to be the world's moral guardian, they may find out the truth of the old saying, 'Bankruptcy is to capitalism what hell is to Christianity.' "China executes people for running porn sites." Yes, and despite the executions, excommunications, etc. vice flourishes. That's why prohibition was a dismal failure for everyone except the Mafia. Government has a hard enough time enforcing laws against real crime. Corporations aren't going to have any more luck at enforcing thought crime laws than they have.

Message edited on: 11/19/2004 17:03

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken