PayPal To Fine For Porn, Gambling
from the going-on-the-offensive dept
Billy Budd writes in to point out that PayPal is now going to start fining people $500 if they use PayPal in association with porn, gambling or buying unauthorized prescription drugs over the internet. That's certainly quite a big step beyond just banning those types of transactions. Obviously, they know that plenty of people are still using PayPal for these purposes -- and this is their attempt to scare them off. Seems a bit extreme, of course, and only means that other services are likely to spring up to fill the gap.
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What?
Are you going to trust your bank account info to an online transaction service that specializes in porn and illegal prescription drugs?
I trust PayPal. I've got *lots* of friends who use PayPal. I read stories all the time of people who claim they got screwed by PayPal, but neither I nor any of my friends actually know anyone who ever got screwed by PayPal. Could be because we mostly deal with reputable websites and ebay sellers with high feedback numbers, but I'll trust PayPal long before I trust a company that specializes in things that are illegal or almost illegal.
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No Subject Given
This is prima facie evidence that they're crooks.
When is the appropriate body of law going to be applied to what is, by any reasonable definintion, a financial institution?
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Potential for abuse
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lol PayPal is becoming Visa Mastercard
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Only legal bodies can issue fines
They may isse a "penalty fee", but if you don't have the cash in the account, how they heck to they expect to collect it?
I don't believe they have a legal right to do this. If you don't pay the "fine" will they double it and triple it? Will you be pulled over by big brother and have your computer impounded due to unbaid "fines"?
Rediculous!
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Re: Only legal bodies can issue fines
I'm very worried about a financial institution (non-regulated, mind you) that's setting itself up as a cultural watchdog with the strong influence of monetary resources at its disposal.
From thier perspective, I can understand the desire to *not* be a middle-man in transactions of dubious nature (a *lot* of online pharmacies are operating illegally, and credit card fraud among pr0n companies is INSANE). To adopt some kind of blanket policy (aren't SOME pharmacies legal? Can I use PayPal with Walgreens??) seems quite short sighted, but as stated before, will probably open up opportunities for other businesses.
Incidentally, I've witnessed PayPal theft secondhand, when a friend of mine had $1,300 seized by PayPal after a woman he'd done an eBay transaction with had her account compromised. There were almost a dozen people she'd done business with that also had their accounts seized (by PayPal, not the hax0rs), totalling a little over $10,000. The woman had never done anything wrong (sans letting her password get loose), but the net effect was startling. To this day, no one has recovered their money.
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By whos authority?
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Re: By whos authority?
Usary laws are an easy example of this.
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Re: By whos authority?
Also, it occures to me to mention that penalties specified in a contract that exceed any damages caused are routinely thrown out by the US courts.
You can't just specify some arbitrary penalty in a contract. It has to be equivalent to the damage caused by the breach of contract.
So you can't just use a contract as an excuse to do something ridiculously unjust.
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The door is open
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Re: The door is open
What I've done to protect myself is open up another secondary account with the min. balance and associate my paypal to that. They can try to fine me all day long if I decide to buy a Playboy subscription online... Fuck 'em.
I've also suggested they have another line of defense which sends you an email with a confirmation ID _prior_ to transfering the funds. You would copy this ID and paste it int the window to confirm the transaction. Users a bit more concerned with security could use this as another line of defense.
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Re: By whos authority?
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Re: What?
“It might be used for something illegal”
Frankly, what business is it of PayPal’s what I spend my money on?
Can I still pay for the porno I buy on Ebay with my PayPal account?
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Re: What?
paypal is so hipocrit,
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