Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 115 posts

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#81

Post by skjoldr »

Anon659 wrote: post #54
goldenchrome wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Russian citizens not deserve to make an honest living?

The money from the sale will eventually go to Russia. This post means nothing. They publicly call the war in Ukraine a "special military operation" - like Russian propagandists. And they continue their activities in Russia, answering questions very rudely https://dou.ua/forums/topic/39415/

As a Ukrainian, I don't care if they sell in Russia. This is a boutique product for a very small community. It's not a huge corporation. Let them make a living. The complete absence of common sense in these discussions worries me.

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#82

Post by COMMENT___ »

ergocoder wrote: post #33
James_Kirk wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what's your point then? Everything made by a Russian is bad or what? :)

It's a US sanction. Yes, it would be bad for the employee who makes the decision that this account isn't within the sanction's scope. If US government disagrees, the employee will likely go to jail. It's expected for companies to overdo the sanction considering that under-doing could get employees a long jail time. Plus, Paypal employees get paid the same whether or not Flipper Zero is within the sanction's scope.

Are there any official sanctions that affect non-Russian companies with Russian-born founders and employees?

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#83

Post by bloggie »

intrasight wrote: post #42

Why on earth would anyone do business with PayPal after all the shady dealings that have been reported over the last ten years?

It has been almost 20 years since I first heard that PayPal probably isn’t looking out for their clients! https://www.somethingawful.com/news/paypal-fiasco-summary/

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#84

Post by felurx »

N19PEDL2 wrote: post #80

In the last few weeks I read several stories here on HN with the same pattern: "company X blocked my/our account and refuses to give any explanation". Just a few examples of X: Google, Oracle, Citibank, and now PayPal. What's going on with big companies? Did they just decide to give up with their reputation?

I think it's probably just cheaper not to care. Customer support costs money, lots of money if you have lots of customers. Also, if people depend on your product enough, or rather, if the perceived cost of moving away is higher than the perceived cost of staying, they won't leave. At some point it's cheaper to hire a few lawyers so it's hard to hold you accountable, and to just suck up the few users who actually go through with leaving you over your shitty behaviour.

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#86

Post by neoromantique »

elzbardico wrote: post #70
throw_m239339 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do Russian citizens not deserve to make an honest living? Do Ukrainian citizens not deserve a life free of a war of aggression caused by Russia's invasion? Sanctions are mild inconvenience for Russian citizens compared to what Russia's government is imposing to the Ukrainian citizens. Not that I would defend Paypal though, they are a shitty company. Russian citizens can earn an honest living after Russia leaves Ukr…

What about Donbas residents continuously harassed and killed by Kyiv for over 8 years?

Russia will pay for this too, as Russian aggression did begin in 2014, and not just now.

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#87

Post by margiani »

millzlane wrote: post #13
James_Kirk wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have been US company long before the war. You are just saying they are affiliated with Russia just because they have many Russian employees? That's right?

Wasn't the company started by a Native Russian? I remember the kickstarter. https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhovner

Nope, Pavel is Ukrainian from Odessa region. He's Odessa National Polytechnic University alumnus, you can see it in his LinkedIn Profile.

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#88

Post by csh0 »

Anon659 wrote: post #54
goldenchrome wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Russian citizens not deserve to make an honest living?

The money from the sale will eventually go to Russia. This post means nothing. They publicly call the war in Ukraine a "special military operation" - like Russian propagandists. And they continue their activities in Russia, answering questions very rudely https://dou.ua/forums/topic/39415/

“We are radically against the ongoing "special military operation" and none of our team members support it. All sensible Russian-speaking professionals in the IT industry adhere to the same opinion.”[0]

Notice the quotes and asterisk around the phrase special military operation.

From a follow-up tweet in that thread: “ We refer to these events using the "officially approved" wording in order to comply with the new law, violation of which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.”

[0]https://twitter.com/flipper_zero/status/1503384492731510792?...

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#89

Post by from »

rchaud wrote: post #40
geoffeg wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what's the resolution in that situation? Does Flipper Zero just throw their hands up and lose the money?

They can go public, which is what they've done here and on Twitter. After that, they have to consider legal action, and it won't be cheap.

Except financial companies are given civil immunity for this kind of thing if they file a SAR. It's effectively a license to steal. And I suspect it has less to do with any actual crime and more to do with the fact that some of the team is Russian.

Re: PayPal blocked Flipper Zero account with $1.3M

#90

Post by from »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #61
goldenchrome wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do Russian citizens not deserve to make an honest living?

> Do Russian citizens not deserve to make an honest living? Do Ukrainian citizens not deserve a life free of a war of aggression caused by Russia's invasion? Sanctions are mild inconvenience for Russian citizens compared to what Russia's government is imposing to the Ukrainian citizens. Not that I would defend Paypal though, they are a shitty company. Russian citizens can earn an honest living after Russia leaves Ukr…

This kind of thinking is called collective punishment and ordinarily is discussed as a human rights violation.
Post reply on HN