Books With "Questionable Content" Being Deleted From ebookstores In Sweeping Ban

Nate the greatest writes "The Kernel started an uproar last week when they 'discovered' that the Kindle Store and other ebookstores sell adult content in the erotica category. None of the content is actually illegal, but it is icky enough that the major ebookstores decided to respond by removing anything even vaguely questionable. Unfortunately, they went too far, resulting in an act of censorship the likes of which we haven't seen since Paypal went after the indie ebook distributor Smashwords. The Daily Mail reports that WH Smith went so far as to shut down their website with the promise that it won't reopen until all self-published titles have been removed, and according to BBC News, B&N is also deleting content. Numerous authors have reported on KBoards that Amazon and B&N have removed far more than just the titles that feature questionable content like pseudo-incest; they appear to be running keyword searches and removing any title that mentions innocuous words like babysitter, sister, or teenager. And they're not the only ones; there's a new report that Kobo has jumped on the ban wagon as well."

So, no more Game of Thrones, then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because that's chock full of incest, and we wouldn't want to apply our arbitrary rules inconsistently, would we?

Too far

[Anonymous Coward]

They may be going too far in their deletions, but whether you like it or not, it IS their business and choice. Censorship has to do with government actions, not the decisions of private businesses.

Today "Porn"

[nurb432]

Tomorrow dissident materials, then anything that anyone doesn't like. And don't forget they know who bought these e-books, that might be grounds for a search warrant.

Now, it is their right as a business not to carry anything they don't personally approve of, but it is a bad path we are heading down.

Re:Hmmm

[gmuslera]

I wonder at which temperature digital books gets banned. The article suggest that what they are banning have hot content, but that means that it will applied to any hot topic like surveillance, corporate greed and government abuses?

Re:Tired of this nonsense

[interkin3tic]

I think a semi-rational argument, more than "sex bad violence good", is that kids are more likely to see sex and want to have sex than they are to see violence and want to be violent.

I agree with that much: where I disagree is that society as a whole needs to neuter itself to make absolutely sure they don't encounter anything which might turn them into perverts.

It's an important distinction: you need to understand the mindset of people you disagree with in order to convince them. Saying to them "Hey, prudes, violence is worse than sex" will at best make then include violence in with their censorship. The point you disagree with them on is that society should bend over backwards to accommodate children rather than leaving it up to parents to explain adult things to their kids. If kids don't have decent parents, they have bigger problems than seeing tits. It's probably still unlikely that you'll convince many people with that argument unfortunately, but I think it has a better shot of getting them to reconsider.

Re:As I warned about previously

[nurb432]

I don't buy my books from the people who made my device. WiFi is turned off on my dedicated e-reader, so no, they cant remove any content that i have placed there. ( and my tablet, they have zero access to in the first place )

Furthermore, all of my books come without DRM, or are stripped when i get them. If i cant strip it or buy it without, then i don't want it and wont buy it. Copies also get backed up in case the reader should die or be stolen, as even the most honest of vendors might go out of business..

I do not trust any of the 'service providers', and plan accordingly.

Re:As I warned about previously

[mcgrew]

Hang on to them [aber.ac.uk] (Link is to the text of the Asimov short story "The Fun They Had").

Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17, 2157, she wrote, "Today, Tommy found a real book!"

It was a very old book. Margie's grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper.

They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to--on a screen, you know. And then, when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time.

Re:Shade of Grey (lol)

[RabidReindeer]

Who decides?

The owner of the store. They don't have to have fair or consistent rules. Deal with it or start/support a new store with like minded people.

These are eBooks. Amazon has demonstrated that not only can they yank books you "bought" back, they will. And not just books with questionable moral value.

It's one of the reasons I don't deal with them anymore.

Re:Shade of Grey (lol)

[MikeLip]

Yeah, right. Pretty much all the booksellers around me have been driven out of business by Amazon or other ebook stores. No one is going to make a living opening an indie store around here. Even B&N is dead, and if they can't make it, who can? So suggesting you start your own store in reaction to the asinine censorship is, well, asinine. If you get so big you drive all competition out, then know what? Maybe you need to come under some form of regulation. That sort of thing applied to the Bell system, and there is no reason why the same thinking should not apply to the very few reasonably accessible outlets for publications.

Re:Dear MINISTRY OF TRUTH

[Splab]

Ezekiel 23:19-20:

(19)Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt (20)and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions.

Or alternative translation:
(19)Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
(20)For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

Re:Romance and Erotica is not the same

[hey!]

This is pretty close to correct, I'd say, but it's a *literary* analysis. Erotica, category romance, and romantic fiction are *marketing* categories.

Category romances are formula driven. More than any other kind of genre fiction, category romance about guaranteeing a *repeatable* reading experience. So category romance publishers have very specific parameters for each of their imprints, such as (real examples here) "features a young heroine who is sexually awakened but inexperienced," or "Strong, gorgeous, medical professional heroes at the top of their game with hearts of gold, and heroines to match." If enjoy one Harlequin® Medical Romance (no joke -- they're serious about meaningful branding), the editors go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that you'll like the next one you'll pick up. If you're the sort of reader who might purchase a Harlequin® Love Inspired (Harlequin's Christian Romance line) novel, you can be certain it doesn't contain any unpleasant surprises.

In the romance publishing business what sets apart "erotica" from category romance with an erotic elements is that all important "happily ever after" ending. Having a romantic story that ends happily isn't enough, it's got to be "happily ever after" which is something different. And the story has got to get there following the particular imprint's formula. I actually respect that. They're not my cup of tea, but category romances retell myths that people want to hear over and over again. That's really no different than endlessly rehashing the hero's journey in fantasy literature. The challenge for any writer of genre fiction is to renew the myth; to bring it to life for the people who want to experience it.

As for the erotica market, I have done book critiques for a friend who writes stuff for that market, even though her stuff makes me want to flush my eyes with bleach. I don't think the market for non-romance erotica is as elaborately segmented as for romance, but I think it will get there. My erotica-writing friend has a lot of fans, enough to put her on the NY Times best seller list, albeit briefly, but that's outstanding for a genre novel. And they clearly like reading about sexual acts in graphic detail: kinky stuff with restraints and pain and multiple simultaneous penetrations. Yet they have nothing but contempt for "50 Shades" which they consider tasteless swill. It's pretty easy to see what their beef is in that case; the heroine of 50 shades is a "bottom" in BDSM-speak, and my friend's heroines are "tops" [wikipedia.org]. But there are other tribal divisions in the erotica fanbase whose explanation completely eludes me.

People try to divide science fiction from fantasy or romance from erotica from pornography, but ultimately the market isn't out literary ontologies; it's about matching up authors with readers who might enjoy their work. Suppose you're an author who's written an urban fantasy novel with erotic scenes and a happy ending. You could offer that very same story to Harlequin (a romance publisher), Exotica (an erotica publisher), or TOR Books (a traditional sci-fi and fantasy imprint of Macmillan). Any one of those publishers might take the book on, but what their editors ask you to do with it before it is published will be radically different.