News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Steams new censorship rules. Parent comment

Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by some_random on Monday July 21, 2025 @12:29PM (#44637110)
I tend to be extremely critical of government regulation, but I think it really could be a tool here. It's important to preserve the ability of payment processors to block fraudulent purchases and they are legally required to block illegal purchases, but surely there is some way to write "you can't block purchases based on perceived reputational risks" into law, right?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by terminalshort on Monday July 21, 2025 @12:54PM (#44637442)
It would be very easy to write a law that banned payment processors from refusing service without showing financial justification (e.g. high chargeback rate). But why would the government do that? They like to have power to lean on companies to hurt people where they can't do it directly due to the constitution.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by some_random on Monday July 21, 2025 @01:34PM (#44637972)
In principle they absolutely could, but are they though? I don't know of any examples of this actually happening.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by hackingonempty on Monday July 21, 2025 @02:02PM (#44638342)
Utilities and common carriers are examples. Porn and Cannabis businesses have no trouble getting electric, water, and telephone services.

In the USA at least, you can even steal electricity and be convicted of the crime and they still have to provide you with service, they just put your meter up on the pole.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by gs17 on Monday July 21, 2025 @02:01PM (#44638327)
> e.g. high chargeback rate

Even this is sort of bullshit. Chargeback fees are paid by merchants and there are already high-risk merchant accounts with higher fees and cash reserve requirements as a solution.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by some_random on Monday July 21, 2025 @02:22PM (#44638581)
It goes beyond this though, at some point you need to go from "this account is high-risk" to "this account is probably running stolen credit cards".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by gs17 on Tuesday July 22, 2025 @10:51AM (#44647671)
But in Steam's case, it feels more likely fraud would be attached to CS weapons or something than random porn games.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Stea... by jazzyjackson on Monday July 21, 2025 @02:26PM (#44638632)
I think a 'purchase' ie a bank transfer like Zelle or even a paypal non-refundable 'gift' isn't likely to be blocked, it's just Visa and Mastercard that don't want to deal with offering fraud protection for vendors that see an extremely high number of chargebacks. So if you want to pay, pay by some method that doesn't offer money back in case of fraud.

I've also been prevented from sending money by e-check because my bank was concerned the form of payment was too suspicious, so I ETF'd money from another account instead. I don't think the law can force a 3rd party to facilitate a purchase.

[ Parent | on HN ]