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I agree. Even in the United States the right to engage in commerce is protected by the state in the requirement for all businesses and individual to accept "leg
by trevelyan 15y ago
I agree. Even in the United States the right to engage in commerce is protected by the state in the requirement for all businesses and individual to accept "legal tender". It is strange to argue that this function of state is only intended to govern cash transfers.
More to the point, this is a fairly transparent case where service was denied to a free speech organization without even the allegation of illegal activity on the part of the accusers. I wonder if skeptics would consider it acceptable if payment providers stopped processing donations for the Democratic Party?
- GHFigs 15y agoDefine "free speech organization".
- iamdave 15y agoI think that's a pretty obvious one, isn't it?
- GHFigs 15y agoThe fact that at least five people on Hacker News think it's wrong to even ask makes me even more certain that it was worth asking.
- trevelyan 15y agoIf you don't think Wikileaks constitutes free speech, I'd be more curious how you define it yourself.
- GHFigs 15y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glittering_generality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glittering_generality
- trevelyan 15y agoI'm not "asking for approval". I'm asking for your definition of free speech.
- GHFigs 15y agoI told you how I interpret "free speech organization". If that interpretation is not what you meant, I'm not surprised: that's why I asked to you define what you meant in the first place. I had thought that asking for a clarification would help me understand what you actually mean, but you seem to be fixated on starting an argument about the generality instead. No, thanks.
- fleitz 15y agoNo business is forced to accept legal tender, you're only forced to accept legal tender for the payment of debt. (eg. You can't make Amazon accept cash unless they ship you the goods before accepting payment)
- trevelyan 15y agoBusinesses in the United States are not permitted to refuse to conduct business with individuals for arbitrary reasons. Some states like California have stronger laws that require reasons for refusal to be legitimate business ones. So yes... I could absolutely take Amazon to court if they refused to sell me a book and then accept USD in payment simply because I exercised my right to free speech elsewhere.