Cashless society that could bankrupt you

TOBY YOUNG, a notable campaigner for free speech, has been locked out of his PayPal account. So has the Free Speech Union which Toby founded, and the publication he edited, The Daily Sceptic, which has stood up for several unpopular but important causes.

I asked PayPal to explain. They sent me a large blob of drivel. It said: ‘Due to our legal and data protection obligations, we cannot comment on an individual PayPal customer’s account.

PayPal regularly assesses activity against our long-standing Acceptable Use Policy and will discontinue our relationship with account holders who are found to violate our policies.

‘Achieving the balance between protecting the ideals of tolerance, diversity and respect for people of all backgrounds and upholding the values of free expression and open dialogue can be difficult, but we do our best to achieve it.’

What was most striking was the total absence of shame or embarrassment. The Left-wing magazine The New Statesman, which memorably launched a nasty witch-hunt against the conservative philosopher

Roger Scruton, is relaxed. One of its writers blogged nastily that ‘the ban may be more justified than people think’. Then again, it may not.

But the event also illustrates the dangers of the cashless society we are quickly becoming. If accounts can be blocked in this way, anybody can be more or less bankrupted by some Silicon Valley monster, or by the State, without trial or justification.

We need to protect the use of cash, something the State can’t control. The sensible French have never trusted banks or the state. Their penal code bans traders from refusing cash, as so many do here. People think our law does the same, but it doesn’t. If this Government is as keen on freedom as it claims, it will enact such a law here, and soon.