Quote:
Originally Posted by SilentKnight
Who do you think is puttin' the screws to the credit card companies?
Government is still among the biggest threats to the industry. CC companies are their lackies.
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I'm not saying governments are not a threat to our industry. Only that cc processing is a bigger threat.
Take the US government for example. One way to harm our industry is for someone to propose a bill (like COPA or COPA II). Then that bill has to pass both house and senate. Then the bill has to be signed by the president. Then it will likely go to the Supreme Court as a free speech issue; quite possibly backed by the ACLU, their money and attorneys. COPA II us a perfect example of how difficult it is to make it through all the hoops. Another way could be obscenity prosecution but despite a very conservative government the past 8 years and John Ashcroft as attorney general they didn't put a dent in anything. it sure does suck if you are one of the few singled out but overall life has gone on for nearly every one of us. 2257 has caused a lot of fear the past few years. Many thought the US government was going to use 2257 in a conspiratorial manner; wholesale arrests for bookkeeping errors. Now 2257 has been deemed unconstitutional by the 6th Circuit Court. I'm not saying that is the end of 2257 but by and large the system and climate are working more and more in our favor as time goes on. Things are a whole lot today than they were in the late 80s with the Meese Commission. Not saying we can't come under fire by governments. I would expect we will continue to be. Just that compared to how quickly and efficiently processors can harm us, well I'm not nearly as concerned.
Consider those processors. AMEX stopped taking adult transactions in 2000. That was it. Just a policy decision of a company and it was gone overnight.
Visa and Mastercard control the permissable chargeback ratios. They can tighten that up at any time. They can make it extremely difficult on adult sites if they want or they can just ban us altogether.
The biggest threat to nearly everyone of us in business is our competitors. Michael Porter's books are an interesting read by the way; for anyone interested.