FreeBSD Foundation accepting donations via Pay Pal

mbadolato writes: "From an email which was sent out to the freebsd announcements list: The FreeBSD Foundation is pleased to announce that it is now accepting credit card donations via PayPal. Donations can be made via the Foundation's home page or direct from PayPal. The Foundation's account with PayPal is donations@freebsdfoundation.org. This is a great way to help support a great OS initiative. Funds we donate could be used to help offset the legal fees incurred whilst negotiating the inclusion of Java (as reported on /. recently)"

Comments

Re:Paypal is criminal

[cperciva]

You're blaming the wrong people here, unfortunately. I very much doubt that Paypal wanted to do this -- they really don't gain much as far as stopping fraud goes.

The people you should be complaining about are the various US law enforcement agencies. They've said many times that they want to shut down terrorist financing, and that they want to be able to find out how and when every dollar changes hands around the world in order to do so.

Unverified accounts on Paypal, where people move funds in and out without ever providing any more identification than an IP address, are exactly the sort of "money laundering" target the FBI are going to shut down.

In any case, I fail to understand why you don't want to link a bank account. If you change banks later, it won't matter... as long as you've linked a bank account once (and thereby proved your identity) they'll be happy.

Don't forget your tinfoil hat.

[duffbeer703]

The problem here isn't Paypal, banks, credit card companies, or the government.

It's you.

If you read your credit card statement carefully, you would have noticed that the "Credit Protection Service" is an option that you have to sign or initial for. You could have easily not signed and/or initialed and you would not have had to pay the fee.

It also sounds like you don't have a bank account so that you can avoid being "ripped off" by the banking industry. I suppose it is easier and cheaper to pay someone a fee to cash your paycheck and buy money orders to pay your bills.

I can understand your complaints about various fees levied by paypal against it's users. Complaining about PayPal's desire to know who it is doing business with, on the other hand, is sheer lunacy.

How can you operate a money-transfer operation without knowing whom you are transferring money to? The sheer paranoia you display by refusing such a sensical and basic request is pretty frightening. Feel free to contact me via email where I can refer you to a mental health provider.

Re:Get real.

[duffbeer703]

There is no reason why someone with a real job should have a bank account. If you find it too onerous to have one becuase of fees, then you probaly have a screw or two loose.

Organizations that handle monetary transfers do have a need to establish the basic identity of their clients. They face stiff fines when their clients turn out to be drug dealers, money launderers and other criminal types.