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> Financial providers shouldn't be issuing moral judgements. It seems to be more common too. Nothing to do with "morals", everything to do with the risks assoc

> Financial providers shouldn't be issuing moral judgements. It seems to be more common too. Nothing to do with "morals", everything to do with the risks associated with prostitution. Same thing with Cannabis businesses, which payment processors tend to not do business with. These companies have very little morals, but their executives don't want to be thrown in jail for being digital pimps.

sowbug 4y ago
It's a circular argument. Businesses don't do business with Business X, so it's too risky for us to do business with Business X. Yet we have figured out how to let 16-year old kids drive 5,000-pound blocks of metal in public. The distinguishing element of the two cases is morality. (Substitute porn for prostitution to sidestep the question of legality; the result is the same.) I don't want the government to legislate morality. Everyone in a free society should have the choice to be moral or immoral; otherwise there is no morality. But if the U.S. government wants to effectively eliminate cash through post-9/11 KYC/AML laws, structuring laws, increasingly strict service-industry cash-transaction reporting requirements, and so on, then either the government needs to establish a genuinely amoral and private electronic-payment system that allows disgusting, vile, reprehensible, but legal transactions. Or the government must actively affirm the obligation of private payment processors like Visa and Mastercard to support transactions that conflict with their moral preferences. Our freedoms of speech and association are being swept aside as the government shunts nearly all financial activity through private enterprises. What good is the Bill of Rights if you can't do anything without a debit card?
- throw_m239339 4y ago
  > It's a circular argument. Businesses don't do business with Business X, so it's too risky for us to do business with Business X. It isn't a circular argument, running a business is all about risks management, choosing not to do business with people that could be link to sex trafficking mafia is very much effective risk management, that platform can go take their business elsewhere. This isn't even a partisan issue, prostitution is frowned upon by most payement processors for very objective reasons. It's a non story.

sowbug 4y ago

It's a circular argument. Businesses don't do business with Business X, so it's too risky for us to do business with Business X. Yet we have figured out how to let 16-year old kids drive 5,000-pound blocks of metal in public. The distinguishing element of the two cases is morality. (Substitute porn for prostitution to sidestep the question of legality; the result is the same.) I don't want the government to legislate morality. Everyone in a free society should have the choice to be moral or immoral; otherwise there is no morality. But if the U.S. government wants to effectively eliminate cash through post-9/11 KYC/AML laws, structuring laws, increasingly strict service-industry cash-transaction reporting requirements, and so on, then either the government needs to establish a genuinely amoral and private electronic-payment system that allows disgusting, vile, reprehensible, but legal transactions. Or the government must actively affirm the obligation of private payment processors like Visa and Mastercard to support transactions that conflict with their moral preferences. Our freedoms of speech and association are being swept aside as the government shunts nearly all financial activity through private enterprises. What good is the Bill of Rights if you can't do anything without a debit card?

throw_m239339 4y ago
> It's a circular argument. Businesses don't do business with Business X, so it's too risky for us to do business with Business X. It isn't a circular argument, running a business is all about risks management, choosing not to do business with people that could be link to sex trafficking mafia is very much effective risk management, that platform can go take their business elsewhere. This isn't even a partisan issue, prostitution is frowned upon by most payement processors for very objective reasons. It's a non story.