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Comment by sschueller | Hacker News Reader

I think we are running into a real issue where private industry with too much power can effectively make something that is legal illegal. For example Visa refusing to process credit cards for adult websites.

Maybe it is time for government to step in and even though these companies are private, of it becomes a system wide problem they need to force them to host such legal content. Especially companies that want to be considered transparent carriers such as the phone company.

For example requiring all business to accept cash as payment.

What is the point of having laws of industry in the end decides what is legal?

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> I think we are running into a real issue where private industry with too much power can effectively make something that is legal illegal.

This is often because of legal grey areas, and companies would rather ban things than risk any legal or financial liability.

Or companies may ban things that are heavily regulated simply because the cost and difficulty of following the regulations. (This is a common issue for adult services, since there are requirements around human trafficking and child exploitation.)

A lot of crypto is associated with illegal activities (e.g. money laundering, ransomware), and uses a lot of energy.

Anyone who does business internationally may need to satisfy the lowest common denominator of regulations.

Governments or major customers also apply pressure.

Hetzner has what percentage of the hosting market? I find it hard to consider them "private industry with too much power". (Writing as a contented Hetzner customer.)

Hetzner has 17% of the ETH PoS market.

https://twitter.com/maggielove_/status/1562915484659601409

It looks like there are no shortage of alternatives. Monopoly isn't when "better product than dozens of competitors"

FWIW businesses are not required to accept cash. 'Legal tender' status only matters for paying off a debt; if the company doesn't extend credit to you then it's free to accept whatever payment methods it wishes.

In Switzerland it is law[1]. You need to accept up to 100 coins and all bank notes. This includes the CHF 1,000 note which is worth around USD 1,034 at the moment.

[1] https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2000/186/en#art_3

They just don't want the wear and tear on their servers. It's just like car rental places saying you can use their cars for business but you can run a taxi business.

The whole cryptocurrency ideology is founded on stories of central banks and large companies and the UN and whatever supposedly scheming in various ways against they public interest, and therefore the need for some means of payment (sorry: “store of value”) that exists outside the power structures and cannot be stopped by “the elite”.

Now you’re saying you need the government to step in because some middling IT company doesn’t want to play with you?

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