Citibank Cancels Bank Account of Objectionable Blogger 265
Keith found this story about Citibank blocking a website's bank account after deciding that the site's blog contained questionable content. I guess it's up to a bank to decide whom to do business with, but this is pretty crazy.
Is it? (Score:1, Informative)
I guess it's up to a bank to decide who to do business with, but this is pretty crazy.
OK, I suppose they could not let somebody open an account or force their account closed. But no I don't think they legally get to lock the person's access to their own money.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Informative)
First, the bank ALREADY HAS HIS INFORMATION because of his bank account. You think he somehow signed up for a checking account without filling out contact information? Citibank doesn't hand out accounts on street corners.
Second, the startup apparently has backing [paidcontent.org] from "The Washington Post Company, Mayfield Fund’s Allen Morgan, Xing founder Lars Hinrichs, and Burson-Marsteller’s Don Baer." E.g. people with money and connections. Hardly a mysterious, unknown person.
Third, they didn't say this was a compliance failure. They said it was because of "objectionable content."
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Informative)
Explain real world contact info. Jason Goldberg links two news articles that contain a lot of data on who founded and invested in this company. If you take a sec to google him there is plenty of data on him here: Jason Goldberg on Crunchbase [crunchbase.com]. What? Because his contact info on the site is info@fabulis.com? That's pretty standard actually. Just because he doesn't list his home phone number and personal email address doesn't make him anonymous. He doesn't seem to have anything to hide, quite the contrary actually given the nature of the site. Just because he doesn't list his personal contact info for you to contact doesn't mean Citibank doesn't have it.
My guess is that this is a good old fashion case of homophobia. Especially after reading this: Update on story [fabulis.com].
Re:Shut up (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Shut up (Score:5, Informative)
NCUA : credit unions :: FDIC : banks
not a good reason
Re:How Is This Nerd News??!! (Score:2, Informative)
The "obscure blog" is a gay blog with lots of funding, and major backers.
Also, a recent survey of high school students found that more than 10% identified themselves as one form or another of "transgendered" - not fitting into the conventional binary model. BTW - the incidence is higher in the tech field, so it is definitely "news for nerds".
Banks don't have a right to discriminate because a web site caters to a minority group that is acting completely within the law. What next? Not allow legally-married same-sex couples to get a mortgage? Or freeze anyone's funds because they made a post to a forum while doing some research on gender issues?
Citibank isn't too big to fail - it's already failed. That's why it has to be bailed out.
Blacklisted (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah good luck with that. If a bank dumps you for what they decide to be 'questionable conduct', they usually communicate that with other banks. I would doubt he could get an account with anything other than a small community bank now...not that that's a bad thing.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:4, Informative)
Hmmm, again, info@fabulis.com does not appear to be good enough for you. How about this [linkedin.com] then or this [crunchbase.com]. Any google search for Jason Goldberg + Fabulis turns up a ton of news articles, information about the site, it's investors and his past endeavors, like xing. It all looks pretty lame to me, but I think that about Facebook and Twitter too. Other then looking like another useless social media site I don't see anything wrong with it and it doesn't feel scammy to me unless you also think twitter and facebook (and Buzz!) are scammy.
Re:Blacklisted (Score:3, Informative)
Having said that, I do not believe that banks should have any latitude to deny service to anyone who is not causing a direct problem for the bank. (i.e. breaking laws that involve the bank, refusing info required to meet regulation, abusive to the staff, etc.) Most businesses operate this way - it's only when you get self-righteous employees involved that start to treat the business like they own the whole thing that you get nonsense like this. It is not the bank's place to discipline a business for conduct that is neither illegal nor causes problems for the bank.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Informative)
The company I work for has an online site and we don't post any of our direct contact info. You have to fill out a contact us form. Of course we sell boring shit so there is nothing a bank might find objectionable. The bank obviously has his contact info and made no attempt to explain to him before closing his account that he might need to add some detail to his site out of concern for his customers. They shut it down without notice and then said his content was questionable. Not his business practices, not his site design and not a lack of data. His *content* was in question, pure and simple.
Did you even read the blog? Did you try to do any verification on who Jason Goldberg is before you wrote your post? Banks fund some of the most dubious shit you could imagine and as long as they are getting paid they don't generally give a hit about what you are doing unless it is so obviously illegal that they feel they might get caught up in it and therefore the risk outweighs the gain. It's obvious that Citibank as a company doesn't feel thsi way, they apologized and reinstated his account. But I still think this started as some homophobic conservative getting up in arms over what he percieved as just another Un-American attempt to further the gay/lesbian/communist/liberal/neo-liberal-monarchist agenda.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:3, Informative)
Click help, click the bright yellow button labeled "contact us" on the right side, then click the button simply labeled "phone". There you find the following: 1-866-216-1072 - Domestic, 1-206-266-2992 international
It is on their main website, and it took me under a minute to find it. From that page, you can scroll down and click on "Investor Relations", and find the "Officers and Directors" link. Jeffrey P. Bezos is the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
If you're going to make a comment, actually try to use real data, not stuff you made up because you're too lazy to try.
Re:Shut up (Score:3, Informative)