given that the point in representative democracy has NOTHING to do with either of the words in it's name and everything to do with avoiding revolts and assassinations and maintaining stability with the same groups in power all the time...
secrecy seems right up it's ally, actually.
it's a large part of what makes the system work (for those running it, at least.)
far more common is objecting about the fact that, thanks to American military crate labeling, the rest of the world can't seem to grasp the fact that a 'kiwi' is a BIRD. not a fruit. (the fruit is called a 'kiwifruit' and was, prior to NZ becoming a major grower, known as a 'chinese gooseberry', God only knows why. the fruit is named for the people are named for the bird.)
amusingly, that sounds like it actually gives you one MORE choice than we have in NZ.
fortunately, in NZ the telecommunications industry is... heavily... regulated. this is mostly as a consequence of the process of privatizing the originally government owned telephone monopoly some years back. (it was originally part of the, then government run, post office. ... as was one of the banks (also since privatized then bought up by and merged with an Australian bank). amusingly, the post office is, if memory serves, now a State Owned Enterprise, and a new, government owned, national bank, while still a separate entity to the best of my knowledge, generally shares premises with it, at least at a 'customer interaction' level.)
that aside, the cell phone companies (or at least two of them) still overcharge quite badly for some things, data usually being one of them.
but yeah, they charge enough for some services that they periodically get investigated over their prices (that aforementioned regulation, you see), but problem wise that's pretty much it.
i never did figure out why the hell that thing refused to install. some of my friends were raving about it, but when absolutely nothing will convince the game to actually install in the first place, it's not like there's anything you can do about it.
clearly enough people did NOT have that problem for it to be all good for the company anyway :)
at that point legality and sanity become completely divorced from each other, reality ignores the former and carries on as normal, the company and courts ignore the latter, and you get screwed by the result :P
actually, no. at least according to the TOS last i read it.
technically, what you did with YOUR money was buy paypal credits.
you're now using paypal credits (your allocated use of what is now Their money...) to buy stuff.
in their TOS they were under no obligation to do ANYTHING beyond sell you those paypal credits save that if they screw over too many people too often too close together they lose customers.
which is why after READING the TOS i stayed the hell away from paypal.
note they MIGHT have changed this since then. it's been a while. worth looking into, at least.
if i understand it, dodgy behavior by customers makes such sales higher risk for the credit card companies, so they impose an extra fee on vendors of such to compensate.
paypal doesn't want to pay the extra fee, so to avoid it forbids it's clients from selling such at all.
each step is quite reasonable. the problem is poor definitions combined with paypal's general dominance of the payment processing market.
i'm continuously baffled that ANYONE uses paypal after reading their TOS.
it explicitly states (or did last i read) that you are buying paypal credits from them. that is the transaction. they then have no obligation to do ANYTHING, including refund your money if you decide to cash out. the transaction is Done.
their contracts with the vendors may make this a bit less insane, but from a consumer stand point that is Nuts.
they're not just processing a transaction for you. they are taking your money and then you are Trusting Them to spend it on the stuff you ask for. their only obligation to do so is that if they screw over enough customers people stop giving them money anymore.
... ... ...
i'm not sure how they got any customers in the first place with that set up
paypal has been known to censor sales of the bible due to the seller not being registered as exactly the right type of religious institution and the thank you note on the receipt for the customer including the word 'jesus' before.
(specifically, they froze the account of the non-profit organization which was distributing bibles for a thank you message sent to people who gave them donations For This Purpose. it took MONTHS to sort out, froze up their entire operating budget, at a time when they were, from memory, having problems with the government in the area they were in. it was begining to cause problems with their food supply by the time paypal stopped being dicks and acknowledged that the simple solution was to correct the records. again, this is from memory and it WAS a while ago. (a Better solution would have been for paypal to not be arseholes about it in the first place, but still.))
most of which are NOT available for the vast majority of online transactions.
in fact, the use of Cash for international transactions would require spending thousands of dollars extra to actually Travel to pick up the $20 dollar item, or violating the postal system's rules. (seriously, sending cash is one of several things that will immediately cause them to disclaim all liability for the contents of the package.)
almost NO ONE (and certainly no business with a fixed premises) takes cheques anymore: debit cards have replaced them. (to the point where we can now get debit cards here which are compatable with the online credit card processing system, essentially merging the two systems). bank drafts and money orders entail insane fees for international transactions due to currency exchange. ... i've barely even Heard of western union and would have a clue how to go about arranging a wire transfer (though i suspect i could just go down to the bank and Ask about that last one.)
simple fact is: most of those are impractical to impossible for international transactions, and NONE of them are viable when dealing with unknown parties due to the likelihood of non-payment/failure to deliver.
the credit card companies DO serve a useful purpose here (buffer against scams + third party transaction records)
(i'll note that using a Debit card through there system has different terms and such. you've got to respond to things a lot faster to get your money back, for example, and, of course, being tied directly to your bank account rather than 'credit' your money leaves the moment you pay for things so you Are out the cash for the duration. on the up side: meaninglessly small yearly fee and no interest payments.)
problem is, the credit card companies are too powerful, too few, and owned by members of the same small group of elites who keep screwing everyone over.
paypal's business practices (hell, just their TOS were bad enough to keep me away as a Customer, nevermind if i were to be a vendor) are bad enough that i fail to see why anyone informed would deal with them, but they're not really the problem in the system, as such. if they go splat, the only down side is the ONLY thing forcing them to actually give people their money is that failing to would lose them the good will required to have other people give them MORE money. legally speaking the 'transaction' is them selling you paypal credits. they can do whatever the hell they want after that and your protections are extreamly limited. (and it should be noted that that need for good will is NOT enough to stop them regularly screwing over vendors and other people who actually depend on their service. just not in an in bulk, take the money and run kind of way)
so, yeah, Paypal is terrible. but they're not the Problem, exactly.
the credit card companies, on the other hand... a useful, meaningful, VIABLE alternative is required.
and that requires getting both banks AND VENDORS to cooperate and use it, among other things. (and given that the people who own the banks, or in some cases the banks themselves, own the credit card companies.... good luck with that.)
actually, there are alternatives, they're just not commonly used (and they're probably more difficult for the vendor to set up, i suppose)
Gamersgate, for example, (online game store) uses Moneybookers.
then there's a number of sites that deal directly with the credit card companies so far as i can tell.
the ones you Cannot bypass, generally speaking, are the credit card companies. (well, unless both you and the vendor are willing to faf around with direct payments and all the issues those bring, or money-orders (or some equivilant) which, in most cases, aren't worth it because the fees are greater than the cost of the thing you're buying. (at least if you're ordering from overseas and thus require currency conversion as well.)
... the stealing of ideas you mention is called plagiarism.
it's a different thing again.
and i started writing that before i finished reading your comment so i thought that was going somewhere else (just finished reading it. i'm half asleep) so i'll just put this out here as is.
basically it's a lot easier to convince the ignorant that 'stealing is bad and this is stealing' than that 'you shouldn't make a copy, at no cost to anyone, of your stuff and give it to your friends so they can see how awesome it is, because that doesn't give us money, and thus is bad'
On the post: TPP Talks Deadlocked; Still No Transparency
Re: Re: Re:
though personally i'd use artillery, if at all possible.
On the post: TPP Talks Deadlocked; Still No Transparency
Re: Re:
secrecy seems right up it's ally, actually.
it's a large part of what makes the system work (for those running it, at least.)
representative democracy...
isn't.
On the post: TPP Talks Deadlocked; Still No Transparency
Re: Re:
On the post: Kiwi Musician Says Public Domain Only Exists So You Can 'Rip Off Dead People's Works'
Re:
we call OURSELVES that all the time...
far more common is objecting about the fact that, thanks to American military crate labeling, the rest of the world can't seem to grasp the fact that a 'kiwi' is a BIRD. not a fruit. (the fruit is called a 'kiwifruit' and was, prior to NZ becoming a major grower, known as a 'chinese gooseberry', God only knows why. the fruit is named for the people are named for the bird.)
On the post: Since The RIAA & MPAA Say That A Copy Is Just As Valuable As The Original, Send Them A Copy Of Money
Re:
On the post: AT&T Threatens To Cut Off Phone Service For Guy Who Beat Them In Small Claims Court Over Throttling
Re: Re: I'm confused
fortunately, in NZ the telecommunications industry is... heavily... regulated. this is mostly as a consequence of the process of privatizing the originally government owned telephone monopoly some years back. (it was originally part of the, then government run, post office. ... as was one of the banks (also since privatized then bought up by and merged with an Australian bank). amusingly, the post office is, if memory serves, now a State Owned Enterprise, and a new, government owned, national bank, while still a separate entity to the best of my knowledge, generally shares premises with it, at least at a 'customer interaction' level.)
that aside, the cell phone companies (or at least two of them) still overcharge quite badly for some things, data usually being one of them.
but yeah, they charge enough for some services that they periodically get investigated over their prices (that aforementioned regulation, you see), but problem wise that's pretty much it.
On the post: Valve's Comprehensive Strategy Shows How To Go From Fee To Free... And Increase Revenue Twelve-fold
Re: Free games that succeed
clearly enough people did NOT have that problem for it to be all good for the company anyway :)
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: It can be.
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re: Re:
technically, what you did with YOUR money was buy paypal credits.
you're now using paypal credits (your allocated use of what is now Their money...) to buy stuff.
in their TOS they were under no obligation to do ANYTHING beyond sell you those paypal credits save that if they screw over too many people too often too close together they lose customers.
which is why after READING the TOS i stayed the hell away from paypal.
note they MIGHT have changed this since then. it's been a while. worth looking into, at least.
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re:
paypal doesn't want to pay the extra fee, so to avoid it forbids it's clients from selling such at all.
each step is quite reasonable. the problem is poor definitions combined with paypal's general dominance of the payment processing market.
still a dick move overall though.
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re: Old news... ;)
just have guards checking everyone coming in the city gates, and in the market places, and such.
'course, it only worked in the areas they could actually directly control by force of arms.
nothing like as Absolute as is now possible, but still.
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re:
it explicitly states (or did last i read) that you are buying paypal credits from them. that is the transaction. they then have no obligation to do ANYTHING, including refund your money if you decide to cash out. the transaction is Done.
their contracts with the vendors may make this a bit less insane, but from a consumer stand point that is Nuts.
they're not just processing a transaction for you. they are taking your money and then you are Trusting Them to spend it on the stuff you ask for. their only obligation to do so is that if they screw over enough customers people stop giving them money anymore.
... ... ...
i'm not sure how they got any customers in the first place with that set up
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re: Re: Intriguing
(specifically, they froze the account of the non-profit organization which was distributing bibles for a thank you message sent to people who gave them donations For This Purpose. it took MONTHS to sort out, froze up their entire operating budget, at a time when they were, from memory, having problems with the government in the area they were in. it was begining to cause problems with their food supply by the time paypal stopped being dicks and acknowledged that the simple solution was to correct the records. again, this is from memory and it WAS a while ago. (a Better solution would have been for paypal to not be arseholes about it in the first place, but still.))
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Intriguing
in fact, the use of Cash for international transactions would require spending thousands of dollars extra to actually Travel to pick up the $20 dollar item, or violating the postal system's rules. (seriously, sending cash is one of several things that will immediately cause them to disclaim all liability for the contents of the package.)
almost NO ONE (and certainly no business with a fixed premises) takes cheques anymore: debit cards have replaced them. (to the point where we can now get debit cards here which are compatable with the online credit card processing system, essentially merging the two systems). bank drafts and money orders entail insane fees for international transactions due to currency exchange. ... i've barely even Heard of western union and would have a clue how to go about arranging a wire transfer (though i suspect i could just go down to the bank and Ask about that last one.)
simple fact is: most of those are impractical to impossible for international transactions, and NONE of them are viable when dealing with unknown parties due to the likelihood of non-payment/failure to deliver.
the credit card companies DO serve a useful purpose here (buffer against scams + third party transaction records)
(i'll note that using a Debit card through there system has different terms and such. you've got to respond to things a lot faster to get your money back, for example, and, of course, being tied directly to your bank account rather than 'credit' your money leaves the moment you pay for things so you Are out the cash for the duration. on the up side: meaninglessly small yearly fee and no interest payments.)
problem is, the credit card companies are too powerful, too few, and owned by members of the same small group of elites who keep screwing everyone over.
paypal's business practices (hell, just their TOS were bad enough to keep me away as a Customer, nevermind if i were to be a vendor) are bad enough that i fail to see why anyone informed would deal with them, but they're not really the problem in the system, as such. if they go splat, the only down side is the ONLY thing forcing them to actually give people their money is that failing to would lose them the good will required to have other people give them MORE money. legally speaking the 'transaction' is them selling you paypal credits. they can do whatever the hell they want after that and your protections are extreamly limited. (and it should be noted that that need for good will is NOT enough to stop them regularly screwing over vendors and other people who actually depend on their service. just not in an in bulk, take the money and run kind of way)
so, yeah, Paypal is terrible. but they're not the Problem, exactly.
the credit card companies, on the other hand... a useful, meaningful, VIABLE alternative is required.
and that requires getting both banks AND VENDORS to cooperate and use it, among other things. (and given that the people who own the banks, or in some cases the banks themselves, own the credit card companies.... good luck with that.)
On the post: Tell Paypal To Stop Playing Morality Cop With Booksellers
Re:
Gamersgate, for example, (online game store) uses Moneybookers.
then there's a number of sites that deal directly with the credit card companies so far as i can tell.
the ones you Cannot bypass, generally speaking, are the credit card companies. (well, unless both you and the vendor are willing to faf around with direct payments and all the issues those bring, or money-orders (or some equivilant) which, in most cases, aren't worth it because the fees are greater than the cost of the thing you're buying. (at least if you're ordering from overseas and thus require currency conversion as well.)
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Here is a suggestion
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Re: Who's "Stealing" your stuff?
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Re: It can be.
it's a different thing again.
and i started writing that before i finished reading your comment so i thought that was going somewhere else (just finished reading it. i'm half asleep) so i'll just put this out here as is.
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Re: Re: It can be.
emotive hyperbole.
basically it's a lot easier to convince the ignorant that 'stealing is bad and this is stealing' than that 'you shouldn't make a copy, at no cost to anyone, of your stuff and give it to your friends so they can see how awesome it is, because that doesn't give us money, and thus is bad'
On the post: Guess What? Copying Still Isn't Stealing
Re: Re: Re: Re: It can be.
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