4 ms·

The Internet has raised $10k for the Palestinian researcher snubbed by Facebook

33 points by peter123 13y ago

ck2 13y ago
That he will not be able to receive because no-one bothered to check that the service they used cannot pay out to people that live in countries where PayPal doesn't service. Which doesn't include Palestine. PayPal for non-US -> https://gofundme.zendesk.com/entries/22590777-Is-my-country-supported- https://gofundme.zendesk.com/entries/22590777-Is-my-country-... No Palestine -> https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/ https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/ Not for years -> https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Getting-started/Palestinian-Territories/td-p/94355?profile.language=en-gb https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Getting-started/Palestin... I'm surprised that gofundme didn't stop it before they have to reverse all the charges. I guess they like the free publicity. So everything will revert, everyone will forget about him and he is back to square one.
- Zaheer 13y ago
  I'm sure there are other ways to get the money to him through a proxy individual.
  - ck2 13y ago
    Except gofundme will not be able to legally do that. Who would insure a process like that? They will just refund everyone and forget about it, not their problem. They should make a statement one way or the other if they can accomplish this, I am pretty sure they cannot. Many companies are restricted from business in Palestine by Israel, Palestine is not even allowed to send mail internationally.
- tuananh 13y ago
  I don't get how gofundme works. How do gofundme knows which address to send the fund to/verifying the receiver, etc... when the campaign ends? What's the purpose of the campaign creator in here?
- freditup 13y ago
  Probably will be possible to use Western Union to send the money over. Online money exchange is super hard in some countries though (I've experienced it first hand in Haiti.) It's a shame because it really holds the people there back. I sent an inquiry to Paypal once asking them about their plans to expand to more countries (specifically Haiti) and got this canned response: The primary reason is the challenges and complexities associated with the worldwide financial network which becomes even more unique within each country. It is not a reflection of the status or reliability of individuals in these countries. We currently support services in nearly 200 countries across the globe. The global financial marketplace is unique and varies locally between each country. PayPal always seeks to ensure compliance with local and international laws before unveiling any new service. This is why we cannot offer a firm date or timetable for expansion of specific services. Though we can't provide an exact date for coming to your region, we can promise you we're working hard to get there. For more information, just go to the PayPal website and click the "Worldwide" link at the bottom of the page.
  - ck2 13y ago
    Except they don't bother to mention Western Union and WU has a $1500/month limit in Palestine.
redthrowaway 13y ago
Rewarding this guy for demonstrating an exploit against an innocent person is the exact wrong thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good anti-facebook circlejerk as much as the next guy, but nothing this guy did should be applauded. He should be told to go learn professional ethics before doing any more security research. While I think the developer in question has probably learned his lesson, the message this sends to others who may be in a similar position as amateur security researchers is that his actions are okay and facebook is the bad guy. That's just wrong, and it will lead to exploits being used against innocent users instead of people learning how to submit bug reports and how to conduct ethical security research.
obstacle1 13y ago
Business owners the world over are hoping this becomes a trend. Outsourcing your QA to the global market, but better than the current model because it's free. Why pay out when other (completely uninvolved) parties will do it for you? Bizarre that people see this as a positive.
gambogi 13y ago
No one would say "the mail has raised $10k for ... " These are just people using tools. The internet is not a person or subset of people, it's a utility open to anyone.
- speedyapoc 13y ago
  Obviously. However, "The Internet" sounds much better and is much more concise than, say, "The People on the Internet".
  - gambogi 13y ago
    The phrasing would probably be closer to "$10k raised for..." or "individuals raise $10k..." The fact that they did it through the internet doesn't seem hugely novel (aside from the fact they evidently can't get the money to him

33 points by peter123 13y ago

ck2 13y ago

That he will not be able to receive because no-one bothered to check that the service they used cannot pay out to people that live in countries where PayPal doesn't service. Which doesn't include Palestine. PayPal for non-US -> https://gofundme.zendesk.com/entries/22590777-Is-my-country-supported- https://gofundme.zendesk.com/entries/22590777-Is-my-country-... No Palestine -> https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/ https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/ Not for years -> https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Getting-started/Palestinian-Territories/td-p/94355?profile.language=en-gb https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Getting-started/Palestin... I'm surprised that gofundme didn't stop it before they have to reverse all the charges. I guess they like the free publicity. So everything will revert, everyone will forget about him and he is back to square one.

Zaheer 13y ago
I'm sure there are other ways to get the money to him through a proxy individual.
- ck2 13y ago
  Except gofundme will not be able to legally do that. Who would insure a process like that? They will just refund everyone and forget about it, not their problem. They should make a statement one way or the other if they can accomplish this, I am pretty sure they cannot. Many companies are restricted from business in Palestine by Israel, Palestine is not even allowed to send mail internationally.
tuananh 13y ago
I don't get how gofundme works. How do gofundme knows which address to send the fund to/verifying the receiver, etc... when the campaign ends? What's the purpose of the campaign creator in here?
freditup 13y ago
Probably will be possible to use Western Union to send the money over. Online money exchange is super hard in some countries though (I've experienced it first hand in Haiti.) It's a shame because it really holds the people there back. I sent an inquiry to Paypal once asking them about their plans to expand to more countries (specifically Haiti) and got this canned response: The primary reason is the challenges and complexities associated with the worldwide financial network which becomes even more unique within each country. It is not a reflection of the status or reliability of individuals in these countries. We currently support services in nearly 200 countries across the globe. The global financial marketplace is unique and varies locally between each country. PayPal always seeks to ensure compliance with local and international laws before unveiling any new service. This is why we cannot offer a firm date or timetable for expansion of specific services. Though we can't provide an exact date for coming to your region, we can promise you we're working hard to get there. For more information, just go to the PayPal website and click the "Worldwide" link at the bottom of the page.
- ck2 13y ago
  Except they don't bother to mention Western Union and WU has a $1500/month limit in Palestine.

redthrowaway 13y ago

Rewarding this guy for demonstrating an exploit against an innocent person is the exact wrong thing to do. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good anti-facebook circlejerk as much as the next guy, but nothing this guy did should be applauded. He should be told to go learn professional ethics before doing any more security research. While I think the developer in question has probably learned his lesson, the message this sends to others who may be in a similar position as amateur security researchers is that his actions are okay and facebook is the bad guy. That's just wrong, and it will lead to exploits being used against innocent users instead of people learning how to submit bug reports and how to conduct ethical security research.

obstacle1 13y ago

Business owners the world over are hoping this becomes a trend. Outsourcing your QA to the global market, but better than the current model because it's free. Why pay out when other (completely uninvolved) parties will do it for you? Bizarre that people see this as a positive.

gambogi 13y ago

No one would say "the mail has raised $10k for ... " These are just people using tools. The internet is not a person or subset of people, it's a utility open to anyone.

speedyapoc 13y ago
Obviously. However, "The Internet" sounds much better and is much more concise than, say, "The People on the Internet".
- gambogi 13y ago
  The phrasing would probably be closer to "$10k raised for..." or "individuals raise $10k..." The fact that they did it through the internet doesn't seem hugely novel (aside from the fact they evidently can't get the money to him