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PayPal Freezes the Assets of Wikileaks.org
matsh sends word that PayPal has frozen the assets of wikileaks.org. From their Web site: "Paypal has as of 23rd of January 2010 frozen WikiLeaks assets. This is the second time that this happens. The last time we struggled for more than half a year to resolve this issue. By working with the respected and recognized German foundation Wau Holland Stiftung we tried to avoid this from happening again — apparently without avail." The submitter adds: "Hopefully we can pressure PayPal to resolve this quickly, since this seems like a dangerous political decision."
Why is PayPal freezing the account? What happened the first time, and what agreement was reached to thaw the account?
--- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
Paypal's behavious is unacceptable in many ways and it happens to many people.
The most annoying thing is when you couple it to ebay, and anoying buyers file a not-received or not-as-described claim when it's clear they couldn't have received it yet, or you told them it was delayed because you were, say ill. As has happened with me.
The bad thing is that this partly or wholly freezes your business section that depends on that. Unacceptable.
Paypal and Ebay were once pretty good, the former because payments via bank transfer for small amounts internatioanlly were so expensive, but all that is gone now and the fees for large sums are also far too high...
I suggest everyone use bank tranfers in EURO countries. IBAN/BIC payments are free if done with shared-cost.
Paypal has a long history of doing this sort of thing to people.
In addition to that, they have a history of requiring personal information from people (due in large part to US law)
I believe it's time for an alternate, non-US based payment processor to take the place of paypal, the problem is there are so many to choose from. I like pecunix for their security (and the fact they aren't US based.. and use a market-maker approach, which helps to create competition in the exchange rates)
But what about others? how come we're held hostage to paypal when other systems exist?
It seems that there is a image from "alainfishing" on wikileaks main page. Read this interesting article about this:
https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/ssl/wikileak/2010/01/paypal-suspends-donations-to-wikileaksorg-who-then-web-bug-their-own-website.html
Interestingly this is only a problem in US and western countries. Russia and Eastern Bloc almost fully uses WebMoney. There is no problems with locking accounts, transactions fees are really low and you can pay your phone, internet or tv bill with it (along with countless of other services). Cards to put money in to account are sold in every kiosk. Security is better too, if you require they send you one-time auth sms or you can have keyfiles to login.
Paypal is shit.
This isn't a left or a right thing. Both "sides" seem perfectly comfortable with it.
"We don't need to give any more voice to the powerful interests that already drown out the voices of everyday Americans."
-- Obama on recent SCOTUS Ruling
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
In Europe, at least, Ebay is a Swiss AG, headquartered in Bern, Switzerland
Helvetiastrasse 15, CH-3005 Bern, Switzerland, Telephone 00 41 31 359 06 59
and they are, of course, the Beneficial owners of PayPal.
both of which, used to be a Luxembourg SARL, Luxembourg allows bearer shares.
Under the Swiss-EU accords, judgements obtained under EU law, in member countries,
are enforcible in Switzerland and thus in Kanton Bern. You can assume they speak
EN DE FR IT, but if you want to give legal notice do it in one of the Swiss official
languages ie DE FR IT
Thus I suggest you write to the Geshaftsleiter (Ebay|PayPal) at the above address.
Here's a thought for everyone: Corporations were demanding the same rights as individuals, right? How about we demand they have the same *repsonsibilities* as individuals, like being jailed for your crimes. I mean if the corps really want to move in that direction then let's give them enough rope to hang themselves. We've had to live with their laws so perhaps they're asking for this as well.
0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Who the fuck do you think hates wikileaks the most? The fucking government. People, quit relying on your goddamn governments to save the world and realize they are run by men, not angels.