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He really operates out of Florida? That seems kinda nuts. The guys in Cryptonomicon did it better- at least it was in a jurisdiction where enough money buys a
by paulbaumgart 17y ago
He really operates out of Florida? That seems kinda nuts.
The guys in Cryptonomicon did it better- at least it was in a jurisdiction where enough money buys a lot of immunity.
- nazgulnarsil 17y agoThis story is a good example of naively believing that law is about justice. It doesn't matter whether or not you're technically breaking the law. If the powers that be take a dim view of your outfit something will be drummed up.
- dantheman 17y agoI think the worst part is that he was cooperating with them, and trying to do the right thing, but instead of them helping him to obey the law they were carrying out an investigation.
- michael_dorfman 17y agoReally? I think the worst part is that he operated his business without regard to either government regulations or his user's TOS, and seemed to think it would all work out ok for him because he meant well. I'm amazed the word "hubris" didn't come up in every second paragraph.
- dantheman 17y agoAgreed, breaking his TOS was wrong; but without regard to government regulation is how almost all businesses start & with its ever growing size it becomes harder and harder become and maintain compliance. I believe early paypal was also operating without regard to government regulations for quite a long time.
- michael_dorfman 17y agoCall me old-fashioned, but operating without regard to government regulation is never a good idea, unless you don't mind ending up in prison. If this guy was taking that as a calculated risk, well, he lost. The fact that PayPal got away with it doesn't change things-- some folks get lucky, but luck is not a viable strategy.
- randallsquared 17y agoCall me old-fashioned, but operating without regard to government regulation is never a good idea You're old-fashioned. Operating in violation of government regulation is often a bad idea, but operating without regard to it is the only way you can start a business at all. No one has the money to do an exhaustive review to ensure their own compliance with all regulations, not least because after they did this, they'd be spending yet more money complying, while all their competitors sailed along in ignorance and made more money. The first startup I was involved with was a competitor to e-gold, and one of the conditions of my relationship with them was that I had to move outside the US while I was involved on a day-to-day basis with their hardware and software, because they saw this coming (this was 2001). Of course, being so careful cost lots of extra money, and that helped sink them before they ever really became a noticeable competitor.
- davidw 17y agoI think a lot of people might skirt or ignore 'the letter of the law' kinds of regulations, but ignoring the spirit of the law is more likely to be a dubious way to start a business, and often a good way to get in real trouble, rather than just harassed by bureaucrats.
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- ivankirigin 17y agoFlorida is pretty much the payments center of the US, especially the major credit card companies.