Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PayPal Dumped Cloud Company After It Refused To Monitor Customers' Files (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the bad-pr-move dept.

German Dropbox rival Seafile claims PayPal dropped it as a customer after it refused to comply with the payment services company's demand to spy on its users' data. In a blog post, the company informed its customers that they can no longer pay for the service using PayPal -- the only payment method that Seafile currently relies on. CEO Silja Jackson told Fortune, "We're looking into alternative payment services, but currently we're running a cloud service and not getting paid." Founded in 2009, Seafile has over 250,000 users, many in universities. The service offers an open-source file-synchronization system that organizations can install on their own servers -- for a fee, if they want enterprise features -- and last October the firm decided to also start offering a paid version that's hosted on Seafile's German servers, for individuals and small businesses.

8 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. So... by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nothing of substance has changed at PayPal since the old days. Check.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:So... by NatasRevol · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://paypalsucks.com/

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    2. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I did not, in all likelihood, read the article.

      Indeed. Seafile is an illegal file sharing site run out of China. They may call themselves a "cloud company", but that is really stretching the definition. Paypal is not asking for any user-specific data, but just anonymized aggregate statistics about file types and traffic. Of course, if Seafile did that, they would 100% match the profile of illegal file sharing (because that is what they are), so they refuse and pretend to be a victim standing up for principles. Paypal was going to cut them off, no matter what, so at least this way they garner some free publicity. Whatever.

      What?

      Seafile is a German company that sells licenses to software that lets you run a Private Cloud (file synching/sharing server).

      It's like DropBox you run yourself.

      Yes, Seafile does offer a hosted version, where you run your private cloud on their servers, but they do not encourage or make easy the sharing of illegal files, any more so than any other file syncing platform (again, the obvious comparison is DropBox).

      Do you think DropBox is an illegal file sharing service?

    3. Re:So... by hackertourist · · Score: 4, Informative

      Paypal is not asking for any user-specific data, but just anonymized aggregate statistics about file types and traffic.

      As if that's an acceptable demand. The information Paypal gathers should not go beyond the transaction itself.

    4. Re:So... by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Seafile is an illegal file sharing site run out of China

      Whoever marked this drivel informative needs their modpoints suspended.

  2. Hawking radiation by epine · · Score: 4, Informative

    Paypal officially fell into a black hole as viewed from my frame of reference a year ago.

    PayPal Will Be Able To Robo-Text/Call Users With No Opt-out Starting July 1

    Most of the changes unexciting, but one provision has consumer rights groups up in arms: PayPal is granting itself the ability to use automated systems to call and text users. These robocalls could happen for something as serious as debt collection or as frivolous as advertisements. What's more, the company grants the same rights to its affiliates. Activists are questioning the legality of these changes.

    All this shit they still do at this point amounts to Hawking radiation.

  3. Old News by jklovanc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Paypal has been doing this for a long time.

  4. Awefuly clickbatey summary by Malenx · · Score: 5, Informative

    I initially thought the summary meant PayPal wanted access to the customer data, but the story told me they just wanted analytics showing the file sharing website was attempting to combat copyright infringement.

    I still side with seafile, but that's not nearly as douchey as I interpreted the summary.