4 ms·

> Further, if something's illegal in a different jurisdiction than you are in, you aren't usually exposed to any liability, as any tourist to Amsterdam will tel

by aianus 7y ago

> Further, if something's illegal in a different jurisdiction than you are in, you aren't usually exposed to any liability, as any tourist to Amsterdam will tell you. You may not be exposed to liability back in the US, but that doesn't mean your Visa/Mastercard will necessarily work if you're doing something illegal in the US: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/square-canada-1.5303143 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/square-canada-1.53031...

arcticbull 7y ago
Definitely, but that wasn't the question. For instance, I wouldn't expect UnionPay to allow me to fund pro-democracy organizations. I similarly wouldn't expect Visa and MasterCard to allow me to buy drugs legal in Canada or Portugal. These are again, very much, social and not technological problems that require cryptocurrency. In Canada for instance, you can easily get a merchant account with Moneris (a Canadian payment processor) and take card transactions over Interac (the Canadian debit network). Yeah, Square's bound by their US banks, because they're a US company with an overwhelmingly US product being sold internationally.
- aianus 7y ago
  > I similarly wouldn't expect Visa and MasterCard to allow me to buy drugs legal in Canada Ironically the government here in Ontario will sell you marijuana by mail and they accept Visa and Mastercard! The rules must be very vague and inconsistent.
hinkley 7y ago
Many years ago I was going to be traveling to Europe, and I thought to self, "Self, Cuban cigars are not illegal there. Maybe you could see what the big deal is." My mental model was like yours, and like friends in college who fantasized about road trips to another state or Canada to find a bar that would serve 19 year olds. Not all laws are about the location of the act. Countries can and occasionally do bar their citizens from doing things anywhere, as was the case of Cuban goods. There's also some weird extradition stuff that's been floating around lately that I can't make heads or tails of. There's definitely some fearmongering going on around it but I don't know if that means I should be concerned or dismissive. And then there's one little idea. This may be crazy, but if the citizens of your country generally agreed that something was dirtbag behavior, you going somewhere where there is no law against it still makes you a dirtbag. Just a law-fearing dirtbag.
- bluGill 7y ago
  In the case of Cuba, Canada has laws to the effect that they must help someone from the US violate US sanctions on Cuba. International trade gets very hard when your company has offices in more than one country. I can't export things to my counterpart in Canada if it is going to Cuba, but if I ask is the product going to Cuba my counterpart is legally required to lie to me. (fortunately I don't deal in international shipping so I don't have to figure out how to deal with that)
bluGill 7y ago
That depends. For drugs you can generally get away with breaking laws back home while abroad. However the US (and most other countries) will prosecute you for human trafficking even if you only do it in countries where it is legal. Assuming they catch you of course.
- arcticbull 7y ago
  To be fair I'm very okay with that.

by aianus 7y ago

arcticbull 7y ago

Definitely, but that wasn't the question. For instance, I wouldn't expect UnionPay to allow me to fund pro-democracy organizations. I similarly wouldn't expect Visa and MasterCard to allow me to buy drugs legal in Canada or Portugal. These are again, very much, social and not technological problems that require cryptocurrency. In Canada for instance, you can easily get a merchant account with Moneris (a Canadian payment processor) and take card transactions over Interac (the Canadian debit network). Yeah, Square's bound by their US banks, because they're a US company with an overwhelmingly US product being sold internationally.

aianus 7y ago
> I similarly wouldn't expect Visa and MasterCard to allow me to buy drugs legal in Canada Ironically the government here in Ontario will sell you marijuana by mail and they accept Visa and Mastercard! The rules must be very vague and inconsistent.

hinkley 7y ago

Many years ago I was going to be traveling to Europe, and I thought to self, "Self, Cuban cigars are not illegal there. Maybe you could see what the big deal is." My mental model was like yours, and like friends in college who fantasized about road trips to another state or Canada to find a bar that would serve 19 year olds. Not all laws are about the location of the act. Countries can and occasionally do bar their citizens from doing things anywhere, as was the case of Cuban goods. There's also some weird extradition stuff that's been floating around lately that I can't make heads or tails of. There's definitely some fearmongering going on around it but I don't know if that means I should be concerned or dismissive. And then there's one little idea. This may be crazy, but if the citizens of your country generally agreed that something was dirtbag behavior, you going somewhere where there is no law against it still makes you a dirtbag. Just a law-fearing dirtbag.

bluGill 7y ago
In the case of Cuba, Canada has laws to the effect that they must help someone from the US violate US sanctions on Cuba. International trade gets very hard when your company has offices in more than one country. I can't export things to my counterpart in Canada if it is going to Cuba, but if I ask is the product going to Cuba my counterpart is legally required to lie to me. (fortunately I don't deal in international shipping so I don't have to figure out how to deal with that)

bluGill 7y ago

That depends. For drugs you can generally get away with breaking laws back home while abroad. However the US (and most other countries) will prosecute you for human trafficking even if you only do it in countries where it is legal. Assuming they catch you of course.

arcticbull 7y ago
To be fair I'm very okay with that.