

Square credit card app forbids purchase of "occult materials" in EULA - decavolt
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=9820#

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olefoo
It sounds to me like that phrase is there specifically to let them out of
liability if someone gets busted under one of the many anti-fortunetelling
statutes. Running a payment processor can open the door to all sorts of
situations where someone could accuse you of profiting from the proceeds of
crime. So they take an understandably proactive stance on making sure that
there is no possibility that someone could mistake them for a deep-pocket for
liability purposes. This way if, someone is caught using Square to charge for
remarkably effective curses, the grieving relatives won't be able to sue
Square for being party to the transaction.

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hugh3
They have a FAQ here which includes a list of items which they won't accept.
It doesn't mention anything at all about occult materials, but it's quite
possible they've recently decided to include it under the heading "Businesses
that present a high risk of charge-back"

[https://support.squareup.com/entries/160793-frequently-
asked...](https://support.squareup.com/entries/160793-frequently-asked-
questions-faq#what-items)

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hugh3
Well, that's weird. It certainly doesn't seem to be boilerplate, since the
first google hit for "credit card occult materials" is this thread right here
(which right now has no comments anyway) and the rest are all offering to sell
you occult materials using your credit card.

It would be interesting to get to the bottom of this. (I used my ouija board
to ask the spirits, and they said BKMEWERARGAOK, which isn't much use.)

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noste
It's doesn't seem to be that common, but not it's not unheard of either. For
example, Amazon Payments prohibits "occult materials"[1], and according to an
old Boing Boing article, Google Checkout used to prohibit "occult goods" as
well[2].

1\. [https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/helpTab/Amazon-
Flexibl...](https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/helpTab/Amazon-Flexible-
Payments-Service/Creating-Managing-Your-Account/Prohibited-Categories)

2\. [http://www.boingboing.net/2006/06/29/google-launches-
pred.ht...](http://www.boingboing.net/2006/06/29/google-launches-pred.html)

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westbywest
I like how a commenter points out this precludes the sale of one's soul via
smartphone.

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oz
Jamaica forbids the importation of occult materials:

[http://www.jacustoms.gov.jm/home_template.php?page=prohibite...](http://www.jacustoms.gov.jm/home_template.php?page=prohibited&group_id=1)

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jamesbressi
I guess you can't pay your Freemason dues with Square...

*Bonus points if you get the quasi-humor/irony in that sentence.

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tjmaxal
Basically it's legal speak for anything hidden. you have to remember the
literal definition of "occult"

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pjscott
Do you know this, or is it a plausible-sounding theory you came up with just
now?

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joshfinnie
The only definition found in the Black's Law Dictionary is for occult
marriage, which is when only the two parties of the wedding know. I think the
legal definition of occult could very well be within the bounds of hidden
(which makes sense in the context) versus magical (which really doesn't makes
sense in the context).

Not sure why the original comment is getting downvoted, I am tending to agree
with him...

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mkramlich
Darn, they won't be able to buy my game Dead By Zombie.

