Bookstores sell kids books and adult material just fine. The adult stuff might be behind the counter or in a certain area, same as stores like Steam where you have to actively seek it out.

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BobaFloutist 7 days ago | parent | next [-]

Also grocery stores sell alcohol, and I'm personally more fine with children getting access to porn than to liquor.

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slashdev 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Depends what country you're in. In most of Canada grocery stores do not sell liquor.

But at any rate, they're going to ask for ID when you buy it. Children can't access it.

	▲	zbentley 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		It’s a lot easier to ID-gate food based on whether it contains some amount of a substance (alcohol) than it is to ID-gate media. For extremely explicit stuff, sure, the adults-only line might be clear for a lot of folks. But other stuff is not as clear cut: if media describes sex at all, is it adult? Even Supreme Court justices have trouble defining in this area. …and all of that is ignoring the elephants in the room: whether or not explicit media even should be restricted for non-adults, the fact that there are highly variable and localized levels of people’s preparedness for adult media (even more variable and subjective than developmental cutoffs for alcohol sale), and the abundant historical evidence that attempts to draw an acceptability/adults-only line in subjective areas like this are inevitably extended to provide cover for political agendas (e.g. homophobia).

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MrGilbert 7 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I would not agree on this one. Both is detrimental on children’s health.

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BobaFloutist 7 days ago | parent [-]

One is more likely to directly cause a child's death than the other.

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MrGilbert 6 days ago | parent [-]

I‘m not arguing against that, but I'd like to point out that „death“ as a baseline is a pretty krass statement. Just my two cents.

	▲	rowanG077 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think it's a bad idea to say the thing that can (and does) kill children is the worse thing.

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lupusreal 7 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Video rental stores, when those were still a thing, were the same way. They'd have a room in the back with a curtain to section it off.

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AraceliHarker 6 days ago | parent [-]

First, it's highly concerning that some companies have gained immense power through monopolization, a point also made by former FTC Chair Lina Khan. Separately, in physical stores, there's an incentive to comply with laws because police would intervene if pornography were sold alongside regular goods. However, online, there's hardly any punishment for distributing pornography. This has led to a proliferation of people trying to sell porn on mainstream platforms to maximize profits and gain attention. Online, pornography is consumed far too casually. While it doesn't need to be completely eliminated, I believe there needs to be a clearer separation. Also, it seems many of those currently criticizing Visa/Mastercard are Trump supporters, and I'm curious about the FTC's stance on mergers and acquisitions between large corporations.

	▲	lupusreal 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think any of that really has anything to do with my comment. I was commenting on the cultural normality of a business dealing in both adult and family friendly content simultaneously.

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gitt67887yt7bg 7 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Dedicated porn sites are also being forced by the card companies to pull down porn. Also Steam/itch aren't where this started, they're in the third wave of companies getting held hostage over this. Digital tip jars and direct-payment creator services were hit weeks ago.

But the problem isn't porn. That's the low hanging fruit for a massive power grab The problem is that card companies can/will/did blackmail multiple companies into changing, and in some small cases shut-down their entire businesses.

In a post-cash world, this is completely unacceptable, and a blatant power grab. If the payment processors are allowed to set this precedent, then there will be nothing to stop these for-profit companies from blocking anybody, anywhere from buying anything - for any or no reason.

People are blaming a specific protest group. Personally I believe they are being scapegoated. And honestly if a tiny group from a tiny economy are so easily able to control international macroeconomics, then the root cause is still that the card services are vulnerable to such an attack.

The only appropriate response is swift and severe regulation of these critically necessary card and banking services, up to and including the dissolution of both Visa and MasterCard - and in the US strict caps on card fees, as well as an amendment to the Constitution ensure that our right to own property permanently includes the right to buy property.

Are the payment providers going to weaponize their de facto control over all purchases to target guns next? Churches? Birth control? Inner-City hospitals? Which apps or social music companies do you think they'll allow to live, or die? Will they blackmail the Internet service providers? Political parties? Entire countries? Which side of which wars do you think Visa will force us to support? Is a company called "MasterCard" for or against letting people with your skin color buy food? You don't know. Nobody knows. Nobody should have to know.

It doesn't matter where you land politically, the point is that these companies cannot be allowed to wield this kind of control. Our society really does depend on it. ...Because we can't go back to cash anymore, and they very much know it.

	▲	RajT88 7 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> But the problem isn't porn. That's the low hanging fruit for a massive power grab I mostly agree with this. There are legitimate issues with even the biggest and most respected porn sites being very lax with taking down underage and nonconsensual content. The card companies AFAICT aren't being pressured to reform because of this kind of content, but more the LGBT content which is harming nobody.
	▲	dcow 7 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Maybe this will end the crypto winter.
	▲	omarspira 7 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I do like bringing up the potential for dissolution. I would add just the general ways in which they profit off distorting the economy for massive private gains, often to the ruin of many individuals. Credit has become ubiquitous, in a manner that belies its supposed purpose, at least as was originally practiced before consumers were offered and employed credit for absolutely everything. Then again, governments and "regulated" entities are also capable of blackmail. I'm not sure these private companies would ever have an incentive to care about what you spend their money on unless governments gave them a reason to - which is why this is happening. At the end of the day you run into the same perpetual problem - you want x, some mob wants y. Good luck.

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aprilthird2021 7 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not the same as an online store. There is a way for people to know kids are in a place they shouldn't be or to deny them access to adult content in real life. In Steam, there isn't

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esseph 7 days ago | parent | next [-]

Adult content on steam is marked as such very clearly.

Under Community Content Preferences, you'll see an option for Mature Content and Adult-Only Sexual Content.

You'll also be preventing from accessing mature content depending on the filters in your account settings, and in the Family Management section of steam, for Family Shared Libraries.

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rustystump 7 days ago | parent | next [-]

Next you’ll tell us that all facebook users are over the age of 16 just like marky mark promises us.

	▲	BlueTemplar 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		It's not clear to me what kind of age controls Steam has, but I suspect that they require certain forms of payment before accessing the "super adult" portion. (For instance you cannot see the "super adult" store pages at all if you are not logged in.)

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aprilthird2021 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

So what? A kid can still go get adult content without anyone else knowing or seeing. Most parents aren't able to set the family settings on Steam or even know their kid knows what Steam is.

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plaguuuuuu 7 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If kids are on steam they're also on... ya know... the internet.

It's not complicated to realise that this achieves none of the stated objectives

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aprilthird2021 6 days ago | parent [-]

Yes that's my point. The Internet does not have the kind of separation or age-checking that real life has, and maybe that hasn't been good for kids or adults

	▲	GoblinSlayer 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Steam isn't internet, you have to buy things there, which is a strong authentication than requires all your personal data (KYC).