4 ms·

That answers my question, which is how the Russian Flipper Zero company was even getting money from Amazon.

by sp332 4y ago

lolinder 4y ago
Flipper Devices, Inc. is a Delaware Corp: https://www.flipperdevices.com/ https://www.flipperdevices.com/
- jrexilius 4y ago
  The actual source of Flipper is a Russian company. Forming a shell company in the US doesn't change that. Sadly the Flipper team is a casualty of Putins ambitions, because they seem a good team of hackers that did a good job with their product. But the platform and software updates they provide may be susceptible to Russian gov coercion, which is I suspect the risk that many are concerned about. [edit-to-add] that issue is orthogonal to Amazon yanking it for being a tool that could be used for potentially criminal activity. but maybe added to their decision..
  - lolinder 4y ago
    It's also orthogonal to the question of how they get the money. The US entity can get paid, the question is whether the US entity is able to pay Flipper employees.
    - jrexilius 4y ago
      I suspect sanctions and international finance laws are a bit more complex than that. It could be that a US legal entity that is fronting for a sanctioned country can indeed be blocked from receiving money, but you'd have to get a quorum of international finance lawyers to hammer out an agreement on that to have any chance of drawing a conclussion...
  - arbitrage 4y ago
    > that issue is orthogonal to Amazon [...] but maybe added to their decision. So, not orthogonal?
qbasic_forever 4y ago
Ah yes the Flipper zero, a device with a _Texas Instruments_ wireless chip, open source firmware (https://github.com/flipperdevices/flipperzero-firmware https://github.com/flipperdevices/flipperzero-firmware ), and funding through Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper-zero-tamagochi-for-hackers https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper... ) is all just a Russian op. Yep makes perfect sense. You cracked the case! We are all so much better to have people like you on the hunt for this stuff. Please indulge us with where you see other Russian conspiracies elsewhere, I'm sure it will help us all!
- sp332 4y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32739950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32739950
  - valrix 4y ago
    Paypal steals people's money all the time, this isn't a valid argument.
  - pixelbath 4y ago
    From the link you posted: > our French lawyers (for a French company, and a French account) > PayPal Luxembourg is now claiming that the CSSF has no jurisdiction over them, because the accounts are French / HK / Australia How are they Russian?

That answers my question, which is how the Russian Flipper Zero company was even getting money from Amazon.

by sp332 4y ago

That answers my question, which is how the Russian Flipper Zero company was even getting money from Amazon.

lolinder 4y ago

Flipper Devices, Inc. is a Delaware Corp: https://www.flipperdevices.com/ https://www.flipperdevices.com/

jrexilius 4y ago
The actual source of Flipper is a Russian company. Forming a shell company in the US doesn't change that. Sadly the Flipper team is a casualty of Putins ambitions, because they seem a good team of hackers that did a good job with their product. But the platform and software updates they provide may be susceptible to Russian gov coercion, which is I suspect the risk that many are concerned about. [edit-to-add] that issue is orthogonal to Amazon yanking it for being a tool that could be used for potentially criminal activity. but maybe added to their decision..
- lolinder 4y ago
  It's also orthogonal to the question of how they get the money. The US entity can get paid, the question is whether the US entity is able to pay Flipper employees.
  - jrexilius 4y ago
    I suspect sanctions and international finance laws are a bit more complex than that. It could be that a US legal entity that is fronting for a sanctioned country can indeed be blocked from receiving money, but you'd have to get a quorum of international finance lawyers to hammer out an agreement on that to have any chance of drawing a conclussion...
- arbitrage 4y ago
  > that issue is orthogonal to Amazon [...] but maybe added to their decision. So, not orthogonal?

qbasic_forever 4y ago

Ah yes the Flipper zero, a device with a _Texas Instruments_ wireless chip, open source firmware (https://github.com/flipperdevices/flipperzero-firmware https://github.com/flipperdevices/flipperzero-firmware ), and funding through Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper-zero-tamagochi-for-hackers https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper... ) is all just a Russian op. Yep makes perfect sense. You cracked the case! We are all so much better to have people like you on the hunt for this stuff. Please indulge us with where you see other Russian conspiracies elsewhere, I'm sure it will help us all!

sp332 4y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32739950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32739950
- valrix 4y ago
  Paypal steals people's money all the time, this isn't a valid argument.
- pixelbath 4y ago
  From the link you posted: > our French lawyers (for a French company, and a French account) > PayPal Luxembourg is now claiming that the CSSF has no jurisdiction over them, because the accounts are French / HK / Australia How are they Russian?