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Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

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Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#31

Post by SurfScore »

rdl wrote: post #24

I wonder if HN user thinkcomp (i.e. Aaron Greenspan) is willing/able to comment here. It would be interesting to know his motivations for doing this.

Probably legal reasons why he won't. Most companies make it a policy not to comment on ongoing litigation. Usually nothing good comes of it. Although there are exceptions...

Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#32

Post by danielkan »

igravious wrote: post #22
Jd wrote: post #2

Even though I'm not a huge Greenspan fan (are there any?), I find this money transmitter stuff incredibly fascinating. I haven't reviewed the relevant legal code, but I strongly suspect that Greenspan is right in that: (1) there are lots of little annoying laws related to money transmitters that makes it very difficult to get new payment stuff off the ground (2) If you have deep pockets and good lawyers you can prett…

Ahh, is this why all these tech giants use a non-money credit system for their stores and networks: Sony, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon(?), ... there must be many more.

I think most larger companies use non-money credit systems because it gets more lock-in and is slightly harder for many people to parse how much they are truly spending.

Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#35

Post by obviouslygreen »

EarthLaunch wrote: post #12

Since title changes are being done anyway, this one should be changed to "Aaron Greenspan". There's only one famous Greenspan, and it's not this one.

Wow, yeah, I was very confused until I read this comment. Guess that's what I get for paying too much attention to the comments before reading the article.

Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#36

Post by buro9 »

EarthLaunch wrote: post #12

Since title changes are being done anyway, this one should be changed to "Aaron Greenspan". There's only one famous Greenspan, and it's not this one.

My first thought was why Alan Greenspan would do this and what his incentive would be.

Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#37

Post by neurotech1 »

Jd wrote: post #2

Even though I'm not a huge Greenspan fan (are there any?), I find this money transmitter stuff incredibly fascinating. I haven't reviewed the relevant legal code, but I strongly suspect that Greenspan is right in that: (1) there are lots of little annoying laws related to money transmitters that makes it very difficult to get new payment stuff off the ground (2) If you have deep pockets and good lawyers you can prett…

IANAL.. but at the very least, I'd say its poor strategy because the people he's suing (esp. VC funds) are well connected in Silicon Valley.

It looks like he's equating "pass through" transactions with being a (unlicensed) Money Transfer Agent.

Hypothetically, If I was going to start a PayPal alternative, I would figure out a way to stay somewhat compliant.

If that fails, seek a declarative judgement against XYZ agency to get legal clarification, without dragging all the VCs, Angels and unrelated companies into the case.

Re: Aaron Greenspan sues Facebook, Sequoia, Andreesen, YC, others

#38

Post by georgeecollins »

igravious wrote: post #22
Jd wrote: post #2

Even though I'm not a huge Greenspan fan (are there any?), I find this money transmitter stuff incredibly fascinating. I haven't reviewed the relevant legal code, but I strongly suspect that Greenspan is right in that: (1) there are lots of little annoying laws related to money transmitters that makes it very difficult to get new payment stuff off the ground (2) If you have deep pockets and good lawyers you can prett…

Ahh, is this why all these tech giants use a non-money credit system for their stores and networks: Sony, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon(?), ... there must be many more.

The reason why companies use points instead of $ is: 1) Easy to keep the price consistent world wide 2) There is a casino chip theory that you spend more money when it is abstracted. People spend more when they use their credit cards as opposed to cash, etc. 3) You can sell point cards at retailers to the unbanked. In the Xbox case this is important because a lot of your audience is kids.
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