PayPal Eases Curb on 'Obscene' E-Books

EBay's PayPal unit moved to soften a controversial policy that would have restricted the use of its payment-processing services by digital-book merchants that sell material that could be considered obscene.

PayPal, the leading electronic-payments company, said in a March 8 blog post that it wouldn't allow its service "to be used to purchase material focused on rape, incest or bestiality." The company said that such content sometimes blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction, both of which "are problematic from a legal and risk perspective." The announcement drew protests from publishers, authors and anticensorship groups. PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayar said in a new blog post that the company wanted to clarify how it will implement its policy "after talking with some of our affected merchants and other interested parties."