"The donation button has been removed ...", foobar2000.org Options

[Squeller]

Happy new year! Oh, suffering from a headache. Was back home at 5am

The donation button has been removed due to PayPal being thieves.

-v please

This post has been edited by Squeller: Jan 1 2010, 12:55

[Robertina]

I am paying tribute to Peter for having the courage to call a spade a spade ("PayPal being thieves").

It does happen that this company blocks your money if you do not agree to send them copies of your incoming invoices for articles you sold using their service - which would mean to inform a company, which has nothing to do with your business besides the mode of payment, about your trading partners, the intensity of your partnership with them, your gross yield and so on.

PayPal acts as a kind of bank but could anybody imagine another bank behaving this way? What do they think who they are?

Unfortunately this situation I am knowing from since years kept me from donating money in many cases.

[foosion]

PayPal acts as a kind of bank but could anybody imagine another bank behaving this way? What do they think who they are?

PayPal legally is a bank in Europe since 2007 when they obtained a bank license in Luxembourg. I have no idea how much their behaviour is influenced by legal regulations (regarding prevention of tax evation or money laundering) and how much is just part of their way of doing business (though I do know someone I could ask regarding regulations).

[Robertina]

PayPal legally is a bank in Europe since 2007 when they obtained a bank license in Luxembourg. I have no idea how much their behaviour is influenced by legal regulations (regarding prevention of tax evation or money laundering) and how much is just part of their way of doing business.

In spite of Peter's final remark I would like to answer:

As a bank PayPal surely has to fulfill certain legal regulations but exactly that is the crucial point in my eyes: no European bank is allowed to freeze your account off its own bat, based only on its own speculation. No bank is allowed to keep your money. If this condition is a part of its general terms and conditions it is a gagging contract.

If a bank suspects one of its customers to be a criminal it has to inform the police and if the police's investigation confirms that suspicion a prosecutor or judges may block that account. But even so it is not the bank which gets your money. PayPal give a damn about the independency of executive, legislative and judicial powers: first they speculate, then they investigate by requesting sensitive documents (read what Yirkha said above), then they pronounce a judgement. That way they ruined a lot of eBay sellers.

I see in your member's profile that you are a German. So I venture to bring to your attention episode 29 of the German Computer Club 2 Podcast.

The passage in question in the mp3 file starts at 22'40 min.