Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Smashwords, one of the independent e-book publishers at the center of the PayPal erotic content censorship scandal, announced that they are returning their terms of service to what they were before PayPal sent letters threatening to close their account if they continued to sell certain types of erotic content. CBLDF was one of many free speech organizations that signed a letter in protest of PayPal’s policy to ban erotic content that featured incest, pseudo-incest, rape fantasies, bestiality (including non-human fantasy characters).

Click through for Smashwords’ full statement.

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If you usually read Gary B. Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” comic strip on the comics page of your local newspaper, you may find the latest strips moved to the op-ed page or missing entirely this week. This week’s strips feature a young woman who visits an abortion clinic in Texas, a state that requires compulsory ultrasounds before an abortion, and the strips liken Texas’s practice to rape. Because of the contentious nature of the topic, several newspapers have elected to not run the series, or they moved it to their opinion pages or online.

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CBLDF has joined a coalition of free speech advocates in protest of PayPal’s new policy regarding the sale of erotica, banning the sale of material that depicts incest, pseudo-incest, rape fantasies, and bestiality (including non-human fantasy characters). Over the weekend, Suw Charman-Anderson with Forbes.com wrote a pair of articles about what many consider the real culprit behind PayPal’s move to ban the sale of certain types of erotica: credit card companies. The connection to the credit card companies was rumored early on, and further analysis as the story has developed has reinforced the conclusion among many observers. However, at least one credit card company has already denied involvement.

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Free speech advocates are concerned over Pakistan’s recent advertisement for companies to install a nation-wide Internet filtering system that could potentially block access to millions of Web domains. These advocates are apprehensive that this move by Pakistan may lead to broad governmental intervention and the censorship of political discourse in the country.

Click through for a summary and excerpts from an Associated Press report on this developing situation.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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If you live near the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, you might consider a trip to the special collections department of the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery for “All Lurid, Unsavory, Gruesome Illustrations Shall Be Eliminated: The Comics Code as seen through the UMBC Comics Collection.” The exhibit is open to the public and includes comics and original art from UMBC’s special collections.

More information on the exhibit after the jump.

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In 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten gained worldwide attention when it published a series of 12 editorial cartoons, several of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Depictions of Muhammad are forbidden by the Islamic faith, and the publication of the cartoons led to protests — many of which became violent — around the world. The Jyllands-Posten offices also became targets, weathering several threats. Most recently, four Swedes have been charged for allegedly planning a shooting attack on the offices. The four men have been charged with terrorism. For more on the story, visit The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship have written a letter to PayPal and parent company eBay in protest of PayPal’s threat to deactivate the accounts of publishers over certain kinds of erotic content.

Last week, it was revealed that PayPal had sent letters to several publishers threatening deactivation of their accounts if they did not remove content depicting incest, pseudo-incest, rape fantasies, bestiality (including non-human fantasy characters), and BDSM. In response, independent publisher e-books Smashwords notified its authors that they would need to remove the content in question because, in its words, “It is not feasible for us to switch to another provider, should such a suitable provider even exist.”

Read the full text of ABFFE and BCAC’s letter after the jump.

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