5 ms·

Corporations can make any judgement call about who can or should use their product. Though it does seem rare in the US for companies to prevent others from usi

by miah_ 2y ago

Corporations can make any judgement call about who can or should use their product. Though it does seem rare in the US for companies to prevent others from using their product based on ethical or moral reasons, but more should.

busterarm 2y ago
US banks don't do business with the porn industry pretty famously.
- Alupis 2y ago
  That is not due to morality though - that is due to the insane level of chargebacks and fraud revolving around payments within the porn industry.
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Except it is. High shrinkage can be baked into the business model and digital media is a high margin business that can tolerate it. Other industries with high fraud rates don't get cut out wholesale.
    - favorited 2y ago
      Exactly. Mastercard, Visa & Discover were perfectly happy to process PornHub payments for years - until enough external political pressure was applied. Religious special interest lobbying groups like like Focus on the Family and NCOSE (formerly known as Morality in Media) were celebrating when they stopped, as were Republican politicians like Josh Hawley (https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1337111830976753672 https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1337111830976753672).
      - Alupis 2y ago
        > until enough external political pressure was applied This doesn't pass the sniff test. You have been able to purchase porn for decades in various mediums - why would a website suddenly invoke the ire of the "morality police"? Even more-so when porn is freely available in almost every case when it comes to the internet. Really though, it has nothing to do with morality - it is straight up the risk profile of those websites. There's even a movie about the start of the online paid-porn industry and all the stuff they had to do to figure out how not to bleed money on chargebacks etc.
        pessimizer 2y ago
        > You have been able to purchase porn for decades in various mediums Have you? Or has it been patchwork and limited and volatile, with people being fined and jailed fairly arbitrarily? There were periods in the 80s and 90s where people were going through pornographic tapes and removing the swearing. > suddenly invoke Suddenly, after decades. Is the adjective just to make it sound more unlikely?
  - blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
    What about Visa and Mastercard blocking Wikileaks donations? Should that be allowed just because they are private?
    - Suppafly 2y ago
      Not the other guy, but I'm pretty much OK with that. Honestly I'm more OK with them blocking payments to quasi-illegal operations than I am with them blocking payments to presumably legal adult content. Ultimately, in both cases, there other ways to make those payments. Hell I'm more annoyed that I had to use giftcards to buy Minecraft for my kids back in the day, before Microsoft became their parent company, because of some weird financial law in my state.
      - Alupis 2y ago
        > Hell I'm more annoyed that I had to use giftcards to buy Minecraft for my kids back in the day, before Microsoft became their parent company, because of some weird financial law in my state. I'm curious to know more about this. I'm not aware of any laws in any state (assuming the US) where it's illegal or forbidden from purchasing video games using a credit card, or even a debit card.
      - blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
        > I'm more OK with them blocking payments to quasi-illegal operations I know cases have been brought against Wikileaks and Assange, but in my opinion they broke no laws. They acted within the bounds of journalistic freedom. I don’t understand how people are OK with news outlets leaking things like Trump’s tax returns but think that freedom of the press works differently in other circumstances. Why would it be different case by case?
csande17 2y ago
Companies can decide who they provide service to, and can give advice about who "should" use their products. But I don't think Proctor & Gamble has the legal authority to stop you from using Tide laundry detergent that you legally purchased from a grocery store or on eBay. The current era of tech is all about disguising web services as "products" you can "buy" (most recently exemplified by the Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1), so I can see how there'd be confusion, though.
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by miah_ 2y ago

busterarm 2y ago

US banks don't do business with the porn industry pretty famously.

Alupis 2y ago
That is not due to morality though - that is due to the insane level of chargebacks and fraud revolving around payments within the porn industry.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
  Except it is. High shrinkage can be baked into the business model and digital media is a high margin business that can tolerate it. Other industries with high fraud rates don't get cut out wholesale.
  - favorited 2y ago
    Exactly. Mastercard, Visa & Discover were perfectly happy to process PornHub payments for years - until enough external political pressure was applied. Religious special interest lobbying groups like like Focus on the Family and NCOSE (formerly known as Morality in Media) were celebrating when they stopped, as were Republican politicians like Josh Hawley (https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1337111830976753672 https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1337111830976753672).
    - Alupis 2y ago
      > until enough external political pressure was applied This doesn't pass the sniff test. You have been able to purchase porn for decades in various mediums - why would a website suddenly invoke the ire of the "morality police"? Even more-so when porn is freely available in almost every case when it comes to the internet. Really though, it has nothing to do with morality - it is straight up the risk profile of those websites. There's even a movie about the start of the online paid-porn industry and all the stuff they had to do to figure out how not to bleed money on chargebacks etc.
      - pessimizer 2y ago
        > You have been able to purchase porn for decades in various mediums Have you? Or has it been patchwork and limited and volatile, with people being fined and jailed fairly arbitrarily? There were periods in the 80s and 90s where people were going through pornographic tapes and removing the swearing. > suddenly invoke Suddenly, after decades. Is the adjective just to make it sound more unlikely?
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  What about Visa and Mastercard blocking Wikileaks donations? Should that be allowed just because they are private?
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    Not the other guy, but I'm pretty much OK with that. Honestly I'm more OK with them blocking payments to quasi-illegal operations than I am with them blocking payments to presumably legal adult content. Ultimately, in both cases, there other ways to make those payments. Hell I'm more annoyed that I had to use giftcards to buy Minecraft for my kids back in the day, before Microsoft became their parent company, because of some weird financial law in my state.
    - Alupis 2y ago
      > Hell I'm more annoyed that I had to use giftcards to buy Minecraft for my kids back in the day, before Microsoft became their parent company, because of some weird financial law in my state. I'm curious to know more about this. I'm not aware of any laws in any state (assuming the US) where it's illegal or forbidden from purchasing video games using a credit card, or even a debit card.
    - blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
      > I'm more OK with them blocking payments to quasi-illegal operations I know cases have been brought against Wikileaks and Assange, but in my opinion they broke no laws. They acted within the bounds of journalistic freedom. I don’t understand how people are OK with news outlets leaking things like Trump’s tax returns but think that freedom of the press works differently in other circumstances. Why would it be different case by case?

csande17 2y ago

Companies can decide who they provide service to, and can give advice about who "should" use their products. But I don't think Proctor & Gamble has the legal authority to stop you from using Tide laundry detergent that you legally purchased from a grocery store or on eBay. The current era of tech is all about disguising web services as "products" you can "buy" (most recently exemplified by the Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1), so I can see how there'd be confusion, though.

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