H. Caldwell Tanner (LOLDWELL) joins Rosscott, Alex Heberling, and Eric Kimble for this edition of the Webcomic Beacon Newscast! There is much to discuss and cover, including, Photoshop Touch, TokyoPop closing down its America offices, Dave Kellet giving away his book, and more!

We also have an original story setup and researched by our own Eric Kimble. Apparently VISA, the credit card giant, is discriminating against certain adult websites. Essentially, their definition of “adult” includes simple nudity. Additionally, they have been purging websites that don’t contain beings that aren’t 100% human. This includes furries, elves, mermaids, and catgirls.

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Read more on the all of the stories mentioned on this show, and their links,
after the jump:

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News

Photoshop for Tablets Released
(Source: GiGaOM)
From the article “Photoshop Touch will first be implemented in three official Adobe apps scheduled for May release, called Eazel, Color Lava and Nav. Each app essentially transforms your iPad into an additional control device or surface for your desktop-based installation of Adobe Photoshop.”

Proposed Hulu-Like Service for E-books
(Source: GiGaOM)
From article “What does Hulu for e-books mean? Book publishers themselves should get together like NBCU, Fox and Disney did and begin to offer their content — or at least some of their content — in both ad-supported and subscription offerings.

OK, you ask, why should they do that and not just let, say, Google or Amazon do it instead? Unless I’m wrong, publishers are the only ones with big enough rights libraries of both new and catalog titles to package up in a variety of ways to make this idea interesting. And in an agency-model world, booksellers like Amazon can’t adjust pricing as they see fit, only the publisher can (which is why I have my doubts about startups like 24Symbols).”

Amazon is Now Selling More Ebooks Than Paper Books
(Source: Business Insider – via The Daily Cartoonist)

Tokyo Pop Closing Down Its USA Offices.
(Source: The Daily Cartoonist)

Webcomic Beacon Original –
Visa Purging “Furry” Sites From Their Client Base.
(by Eric Kimble)
This is a story that I have been working on myself. The Webcomic beacon is in a sense the one breaking this story.  The short of this story is over the last year Visa has been rejecting any site that is both adult (featuring nudity) and has non-human character (mermaids, catgirls, werewolfs etc).  This rule has been specifically enforce for any site that has Furries in adult situation.

The Fact that I have been able to ascertain are as follows:
Something happened in 2003.  In 2003 Paypal changed it user agreement to ban adult content.  And at almost the same time Visa began and anti pornography program along with the other credit card companies.  Something put the fear of god into these companies.

Upon further investigation it seem the thing that scared the credit card industry was the the Child Protection Act 2257.  In name it was an act to prevent child pornography but the Bush administration pursued it with fervor dedicating a good deal of money to prosecuting business that did not keep the correct records.

Visa campaign was the most extensive.  Nominally a campaign to stop child pornography Visa began reviewing every adult site that used their card and imposed a $750 setup $500 fee to charge regardless of the nature of the adult site’s content for these reviews.  Violator according to Visa standards were drop from the system with out appeal and a percentage of violators were reported to the government for prosecution. Visa campaign went far beyond what the other payment system were doing.

In 2010 Visa began using their review process to drop any site that were classified at adult and had images of non-human character.  This fact has been confirm by a number of site owner and worker at an adult payment gateway system that uses Visa.

Visa refuses to release the factors they use to evaluate sites.  This information is not even given to affiliate payment gateway companies. This fact has been confirmed by a worker at an adult payment gateway. Officially Visa does not allow Child Porn, Rape, and Bestiality from an article in the 2003 CSM.  It appears that Furry porn is being classified as bestiality.

The visa restriction include restrictions on mystical creatures such as mermaid.  (Source: Eric Kimble)

Visa controls about 40% of the credit card market and 60% of the debit card market in 2008.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Visa review process both the fee and the review of site for content only apply to the United State and Canada.  It is not applied in the European Union and a number of site have Incorporated in the EU to avoid the restriction.

Additional Sources Used:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0224/p01s01-ussc.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002257—-000-.html
Direct contact via employees at CCBill and Epoc
Michael Prokop and Jeremy Bernal
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Discussion

Hetalia: Axis Powers
Japanese Webcomic goes to print and then to animated series.  All about “Boy Love” with the boys representations of countries during WWII.  Went from Webcomic to fully funded animated series in 2 years. Though this may not really news to fans.
(Sources: Toon Zone – Wikipedia – Hetalia Indexes – FUNimation Official Site)

Dave Kellet Gives Away His Book for the Chance to Win an Eisner
(Source: Sheldon – The Comics Reporter)

Village Voice Retroactively Pays Artist After Scandal
(Source: The Village Voice – via Comics Alliance plus additional information)

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Tidbits

Axe Cop Cameo In Powergirl Comic?
I don’t know what the heck is going on here but there is a dinosaur on the cover of powergirl that looks awfully familiar.
(Source: DC Comics Website vs Topatoco store entry)

Academic Survey Being Conducted about Webcomic Habits.
(via ComixTalk)

Infinite Canvas Explored
Choose your own path comic posted by Shira-chan.  An interesting way to make comics. This is not an original idea, as it has been explored like this before, but is another example of it.
(Source: Shira-Chan – via Scott McCloud)

How to make an interactive Video
Quick and weird tutorial on how to make an interactive video on youtube.
(Source: ChatMatt&Rob)

Periodic Table of Storytelling
(Source: Computer Sherpa – via Twittering)

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