(no subject)

[kradeelav]

this is probably the singular post where i hope most to be wrong.

I hope I'm called alarmist, paranoid, and proven wrong - but privately, i am deeply concerned about pixiv's latest ToS change regarding kink work banned in the US/UK.

It's not *specifically* about pixiv or this *specific* TOS change. This is not about how easy it is to change region-lock or use a VPN. (There's always going to be higher-friction ways around.)

It's a strong bellwether for how jittery international companies feel about legal (if theoretically tasteless*) visual art in the US. Particularly kink work.

Personally?

I fully expect itch.io to have to ditch NSFW or fold within two years. I fully expect depiction of certian taboo kink art to be semi-illegal (whether in select states or de-facto illegal within five years; lolisho being the first one on the line as always).

I fully expect most major internet hosting services to start running similar kink detection software to tumblr, to deter the workaround of an indvidual site as hosting it. Much like the wild west internet where you used to find extremely graphic content, I am seeing kink art slowly being neutered from the "mainstream" sites to formerly "safe" sites to the infrastructure of the internet itself.

There's some changes to my site and shop I'm making some increased haste with in hopes of hardening and beating this like I did with the social media implosion a few years ago. If you haven't already mass-saved kink work from your favorite creatives, or ordered that r18 doujin, I would suggest you do it soonest.

This is the kind of post I'd post on my private journal, not here, because I'm flatly uninterested in getting into semantics debates. The sole reason I'm posting this here is as another gentle but insistent nudge to set up your own backup infrastructure, if you are a kink creative too.

I hope I'm proven wrong.

But personally I am treating this as a very critical canary in the coal mine.


* I use the word tasteless deliberately to remove the "moral" (and legal) aspect of the intent and to hammer home the subjective quality of judging and creating visual art. What could be tasteful to one person is tasteless to another is tasteful again (and perhaps both at the same time) and that's one of the many beauties of humanity.

Comments

[amado1]

Agreed. I'm always a bit of an alarmist with stuff like this; I can't help but think of Genesis P. Orridge and the obscenity trial.

[kradeelav]

That was an absolutely fascinating wikipedia read - had no idea P-Orridge was part of Throbbing Gristle! Goes to show you the artists that buck the times really end up the timeless ones.

[armaina]

Part of me desperately hopes that Itch will go the extra mile to get a payment processor that is more stable with adult work than Stripe or Payoneer. But it will depend on how much they actually care about preserving their 18+ library vs the effort to set that up.

I know people keep talking about creditcard companies being the problem, but the truth of it is, this issue will persist for as long as certain forms of sex work are criminalized. I appreciate the ACLU going after master card, but I really hope to see more pushes for decriminalization of prostitution in the US for there to be any lasting change. (but I haven't the faintest idea on where to start with local bills on the subject)

[kradeelav]

there's a few payment processors out there that do adult work as you know but yeah, it's the friction of setting it up that's going to be the linchpin.

totally agreed with a big problem being the hyper polarized/moral climate against sex workers. fiction's always at least had the first amendment as a partial shield, but a lot of the teeth in the pushback there come from the irl angle there.