Paypal is Getting Very Yucky
Every month, Paypal’s policies become nastier and nastier. I’ve read many stories at NoPaypal and a couple other sites. Now I’m starting to believe them. Freenet just reported that Paypal cut them off because they didn’t like them.
17th May, 2004 : Paypal suspends Freenet donations account
Paypal has frozen the account we use to accept donations over the web, they refuse to give any reason other than “use of an anonymous proxy”, which suggests that someone at Paypal took a dislike to the goals of our project, since I have never used an anonymous proxy to access Paypal (this being the activity I assume they sought to prevent). It is fortunate that Johann Gutenberg did not rely on Paypal to fund his work on the printing press, which also allowed anonymous publication of information, since his account would probably have been frozen too.If you are concerned about whether your account might be at risk due to your political opinions you may wish to speak to their PR contact Hani Durzy at (408) 376 7458. If you are an investor and you would like to see what other political opinions Paypal doesn’t like, you may want to speak to their Investor contact Tracey Ford at (408) 376 7205.
They have said that they will refund our outstanding balance ($550) by check, but all of the projects subscriptions have been canceled which is a significant setback. Other means of accepting donations, including E-Gold, are still active. Anyone wishing to make a donation by check should email me directly. Unfortunately neither of these methods are as convenient as Paypal, but we will do our best to find an alternative ASAP.
E-Gold and the somewhat related digital monies are starting to look pretty darn good. E-Gold fees are about 1% of the transaction while Paypal is about 3%…. a 66% discount.