Saturday, July 15, 2006
Current mood: scared
[this post includes replies that were received via MySpace]
Some months ago the Department of Justice announced there would be a new push to arrest and prosecute pornographic obscenity. They announced a “short list” of items they regarded as obscene. One of the images listed is that of one adult peeing on another adult.
Peeing isn’t my fetish so I don’t think about it very often. But one adult peeing on another, in a video, which is viewed pretty much only by other adults who like peeing — I seriously doubt such a thing changes our world very much. Or seriously affects our society in a negative way. Or is dangerous. So dangerous that federal agents must spend years of their lives investigating and prosecuting it when they could be working on other cases. (An aside: I still vividly remember when my niece was kidnapped, the federal agent told us his own workload was 90 active cases of various kinds, and that really nothing would be done about my niece.)
Variations of the feds’ obscenity list decorate the websites of the billing services that are trying to work with adult companies. Take a look at poor CCBill’s exhaustive list of things they can’t bill for:
…cannot have on webpages/site and cannot link to such webpages/sites. Any and all depictions and/or actual occurrences and/or content and/or marketing and/or references to: 1. Underage: Provocative and/or Non-Provocative; including Hentai or animations. - 2. Rape: Rape, involuntary sex or forced sex; in all mediums including Hentai or animations. - 3. Bodily Excretions: Scat/fecal matter, person to person watersports, and/or a woman’s period or menstruation. - 4. Extreme Violence: Acts of extreme violence, and/or depictions of extreme violence in all mediums including Hentai or animations. Extreme pain and/or implying and/or suggesting extreme pain. Flogging (severe beating). - 5. Bloodletting or Bloodshed. Consumption of Blood. (Webmasters note! The blood rule can affect your linking to vampire fetish, goth fetish, and horror movie fetish sites!) Self-mutilation. Cannibalism. Depiction of gore inflicted by oneself and/or another individual or group. ‘Snuff’ or ‘Fantasy Snuff’ content and/or content involving or implying death or serious bodily injury. Autopsy photos. (Webmasters note: This can affect your linking to necro fetish and “darksites”.) - 6. Diaper Fetish: Diapers, Diaper Fetish and/or sites which depict models in diapers in all mediums including Hentai or animations; Sexual or Non-Sexual. — Not forbidden on CCBill’s website and not in the email list, but forbidden according to CCBill staff: Chloroform (chloro, chloroformed), Kidnap (kidnapped, kidnapping), Ransom.
That little word “chloroform” is what just lost me my merchant account. Not via CCBill but as I said, variations of these Forbidden Lists are everywhere now. As it turns out, two years ago when the merchant bank accepted my company for an account, my site was linked to an offsite webpage that had the word “chloro” appearing twice. Apparently it is that very link that led to them terminating my account a week ago. Even though they originally approved my account.
Now for the fun part. Apparently, these days, if your company is terminated for a “Content” reason, the bank automatically puts you on “TFL”. The Fraud List. Even though I didn’t commit fraud, I’m now on some sort of blacklist so other banks won’t want to give me a merchant account.
To give you an idea of how this affects things, 10 years down the road I could be trying to get a merchant account to run a candy booth in a mall, and be turned down because on my record, it looks like I did something fraudulent.
For the past couple years, merchant banks and billing services have been sporting these lists and dropping companies and giving people a hard time. One by one we’ve seen producers and even huge companies leveled to the ground. (People like to think that iBill caused it’s own problems, but it all started when their merchant bank said “we’re ditching you”. And two other prominent Adult-Site billers had died before that when their merchant banks abandoned them.) For some reason a lot of people see all this activity as random. As if there’s one narrow-minded shlub or board of directors at each place that initiates drop-kicking the adult producers. At this point I can’t believe that any more.
A few months ago CCBill suddenly began harassing a large number of their clients to “clean up” their sites. Ashley Renee was one of those contacted; they made her delete huge numbers of photos, even a few in which she was simply being led by tied hands and “looked unhappy”. During a phone call, someone let slip that CCBill had been “told” to do this cleanup.
I think that if a merchant bank really was the one initiating the cleanup, they would give a reasonable deadline and work with the biller to reach the goal. They wouldn’t want to lose all the money they make… they would want things to work out… they’d have no reason to put sudden, hysterical pressure.
So, I admit it, I think these demands come from somewhere higher up. Someone or something higher up makes contacts and says “do or die”. And that’s why there’s such an irrational, rushed hysteria to these ultimatums.
And such ridiculousness to some items on these lists.
My parents had, individually, unfortunate experiences with religious intolerance. For example, my father was going to be a minister. He went to college and studied Philosophy and logic figuring it would make him good at talking nonbelievers into believing. Instead, he lost his faith in the process. This was a difficult thing for him and his parents.
He was an excellent student, and he was awarded a special scholarship that would send him to Europe for a year to study in a unique program. However, when he was getting ready to leave, he was called in to the Dean’s office. The Dean said “I’ve heard you’re not a Christian any more.” My dad was like “I guess not”. The Dean told him that the university was certainly not going to send him to Europe to represent the U.S. And they yanked his scholarship.
Their fear was that a person who doesn’t believe in God, has no fear of God, cannot be moral and can’t/won’t be a good person… in other words what if he went over there to Europe and raped and murdered people because he wasn’t religious… etc…
There are a lot of people who believe that only the fear of God keeps people in line. And maybe that’s why they’re so anxious to enforce religious beliefs, even onto non believers,, even onto people of faiths that aren’t exactly the same as their own; I think it’s because they’re afraid the whole world will just be full of atheist murderers or rampaging “heathens”… But I think people can be good people even if they’re not particularly religious. And I don’t think that a single faith system needs to be imposed on 100 percent of people in the world just to make society work.
I believe that I could just possibly go through life making pictures of myself tied up, and letting other adults see those pictures, and link to a webpage with the word “chloro” on it, without destroying the fabric of society, or adversely affecting civilization — in fact I believe that my website has done more good than harm to this world.
If I don’t get another merchant account, I will lose my current list of members, which will be an immediate drop of about 40 percent of my company’s income. My little company supports a family of 4. I’m wide awake in the middle of the night because I’m very worried and scared. When I was growing up I never would have imagined that the intolerance of strangers could affect my life in a drastic way, like how it affected my parents.
5:16 AM - 10 Comments - 6 Kudos
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Lorelei
Oh — and Jon’s bondage blog was deleted (without warning) by bravenet this week. Sigh.
Posted by Lorelei on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 6:04 AM
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Whiplash Studio.com
First, with out question, I think you’re website has done more good than anything else. I know it was one of the first sites I visited years ago that helped me feel much better about who I am. I’d go as far to say I think you and the great Shevette (for those in the know) really helped me feel more comfortable in my own skin about this part of my life.
It’s really disheartening to hear these problems befalling you. I’m about 6 months away from hopefully starting my site (hired my first model this week!) and the billing part of it is the one thing I am most perplexed about. Without question, this is making me think twice about content and whether or not I’ve even link to other pages now. I hope something works out for you and please keeps us up to date on the solution you do find.
In addition, I don’t know what recourse you’re going to take when it comes to being put on this fraud list, but I don’t think the bank can legally do this. Fraud is a crime and they must have a basis to make this accusation against you. While they do hold the right to refuse business to anyone they see fit, they do not hold the right to screw with your credit. You might want to look a little more into that one as far as protecting yourself.
I for one think its crap that someone else, be it a religious organization or the government (which is what I think it is) can come thru and take out our expression of free speech. They aren’t shutting down adult book stores are they? Is the porn industry being closed? No. You know why? It’s easier for mom and dad to make sure Timmy doesn’t go into such an establishment than it is to make sure they don’t sure by a website. I think a lot of parents see the computer the same way so many saw TV; a means to occupy their child, a baby sitter more so than anything else. So rather teach their children right and wrong, rather than monitor where they go and what they do, they leave it up to someone else to remove content they don’t agree with from the medium. It’s always pushed on to someone else. Thats just my two cents on bad parenting.
In closing L, I think the religious intolerance you’ve dealt with just plain sucks for lack of a better word. As with any religion or race, it’s the few bad eggs that make the rest of us look bad. I for one like to think of my self as a very religious person. I’ve visited your site many a time and what I’ve seen there hasn’t affected my morality one iota. If I came to something on your page that wasn’t my cup a tea, I simply went to another part of your page and was just fine with that, no big uproar, no proclamation of “I’ve never come here again!” And again, consider my self a pretty good Christian. As a Christian, I want you to know that I’m praying for you and your site and your family. I’m praying that you find a way around your problems and your webpage returns to the success it has always been a prospers for many years to come. And I do so because I want you to know, we’re not all out to get you (little lol there). We’re not all rotten eggs. Best wishes to you and may this all resolve in your favor very soon.
Posted by Whiplash Studio.com on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 6:55 AM
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Duct Tape Messiah
As leads the government-so goes the companies; or is it the other way ’round?
Anyone feel safer yet? We’re all watching each other and reporting on each other and sending out memos, faxes and writing new laws to protect ourselves- but does anyone really feel safer yet? I just feel violated. I feel like a child and not in a good way with that spirit of joyous abandon and freedom. I feel like that kid from the wrong part of town; the one everyone whispers about, points at and make rude comments behind his back. Didn’t do nothing. Didn’t hurt anyone. But you wouldn’t know it from all the watching and whispering.
Posted by Duct Tape Messiah on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 4:27 PM
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Charlzm
How’s the option of moving billing to an offshore company going? I know the US government is trying to go after offshore gambling sites now (probably due to not being part of their revenue stream more than anything else), but hopefully they’re not going to go after international credit card billing companies yet.
Posted by Charlzm on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 7:33 PM
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Lorelei
I’m told that the Fraud List I’m on is an international list, but I’m applying to two different offshore merchant banks to see if they’ll take me anyway.
Posted by Lorelei on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 7:49 PM
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Richard
It’s sad how the phrase “religious intolerance” has come into acceptance. The thing that is especially disconcerting is that most religions teach tolerance. One of the things I’ve learned, since getting involved in bondage forums, is that an interest in bondage crosses religion and politics. A person, with conservative politics and a religious background, can also find a fascination with bondage. Their background may force them to repress and avoid the subject, but it doesn’t mean that they aren’t turned on by bondage.
Human beings are imperfect creatures and it is not uncommon for imperfect creatures to do the wrong thing. I’ve seen many different examples of how people use religion in their lives. I’ve seen many use religion to better themselves and they quietly go through their lives practicing the doctrine of their faiths in good and generous ways. I’ve seen others dangerously treating their religion like a legal treatise where sentences, taken out of context, allow them to do very irreligious things while wrapping themselves within the pretext of the sanctity of their religion. It is a very rare thing to see politics mixed with religion in a fashion that isn’t troublesome. There is something about group dynamics that favor the loudest person over the smartest and devolves that group’s dynamics to the loud individuals who commit them to action no matter how wrong those actions may seem later. I don’t blame the sins of religion on the faiths being practiced, but on the people exercising their religions the wrong way.
The two things that surprise me most about the current spate of censorship is the near lack of public discussion and near silence from organizations like the ACLU that one would expect to be on the forefront of the issue. The end effect is that the public is largely unaware that their choices are being slowly taken away from them.
I hope you can get past this.
Posted by Richard on Sunday, July 16, 2006 at 3:18 PM
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Jeff Tucker!
The country we live in gets scarier everyday….BIG BROTHER is watching and all that.
Posted by Jeff Tucker! on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 6:09 PM
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The Dance Commander
Isn’t it always funny how the goverment says “Freedom of Expression”? But then when it goes out of the boundries of the way THEY want it expressed it gets yanked and becomes “Taboo” or “Immoral” What next? Bondage Photography linked to Terrorists? It’s stupid and moronic and when I rule the world I will make three rules.
1. Freedom of Expresion will be literal.
2. Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream will be sold at absolutely no charge.
and 3. The Show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel will be picked up and run another twenty seasons. Because Buffy and Angel totally own. (lmao)
Anyways, I hate how hypocritical people are. You’d think they would spend all the money used to shut down something as harmless as your site and actually put it towards something harmful….like oh say…I dunno….maybe finding a dirty looking dude who likes sending the government video diaries of his next plans…..
Anyways Keep you head up Lorelei, and I swear if I have to I’ll start my own petition to stop this shit….in fact that’s not a bad idea.
Posted by The Dance Commander on Friday, July 21, 2006 at 10:37 PM
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bill
very well stated.each day we lose more and more of our freedom of choice and self-expression.critizism runs rampant in the “holy”, these ar the people who are ruining the fabric of society by trying to forcefully impose their outdated ideas from an era long since passed.who the hell do these people think that they are, trying to decide what’s good and bad for us, and then attempting to cram it down out throat.i am a full grown man, and have been for a while.i have been making decisions on my own for years (good or bad it doesn’t matter)i am the one that suffers from a bad mistake or benefit from a good one. i think certian “people” need to get a hobbie and concentrate on whats really ruining our society. politics,religion and greed. you would think these people would be more concern with national security than cleaning up a love bondage site that is owned and operated by two full grown,concenting adults.to those “people” whom seek to impose their will and try to tell me what i can and can’t view i say ” now go away or i shall fart in your general direction!” and ” your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries!”
Posted by bill on Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 12:37 AM
Alex got really frustrated with me and threw a tantrum of sorts. She must think I’m a complete dimwit to “forget” to feed her 2 meals in a row. 
Paypal does not permit any adult-oriented products — they drop-kicked me a coupla years ago.
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