Author talk at the iconic City Lights Books in downtown San Francisco! Buy a book and join for a revelatory conversation with civil liberties activist and author Rainey Reitman
City Lights, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Beacon Press celebrate the publication of
Transaction Denied: Big Finance’s Power to Punish Speech
Transaction Denied exposes how companies like Visa, Chase, PayPal, Bank of America, and Mastercard use their power to silence dissenting voices and hurt democracy through the practice of financial censorship
Civil liberties activist Rainey Reitman introduces readers to the concept of “financial censorship”—a form of privatized censorship where banks and payment intermediaries act as censors in ways the government couldn’t do directly without violating the First Amendment.
Weaving together over a decade of research with interviews and narratives from those personally impacted by financial censorship, Reitman reveals how financial exclusion has become a tool to pressure marginalized voices into silence.
Insightful and fresh, Transaction Denied exposes this new and growing form of censorship and offers a path forward by advocating for communities affected by financial exclusion and calling for more transparency of our financial systems.
Rainey Reitman is a writer and a civil liberties activist working on the frontlines of some of our generation’s most crucial Internet rights battles. She has led viral campaigns; appeared frequently in radio, print, and television; given speeches around the world on civil liberties; and written on the intersection of technology and human rights. Reitman cofounded and currently serves as president of the Board of Directors of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit defending journalism.
Cyrus Farivar is an award-winning author, editor, and investigative tech journalist with 20+ years of experience. He is also the author of multiple books, including “Habeas Data” (2018) and “The Internet of Elsewhere” (2011). Cyrus has written for Forbes, NBC News, Ars Technica, NPR, The Economist, Wired, and many others. He received his B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is based in Oakland, California.
This event has been made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation
