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.
How Is This Nerd News??!! (Score:5, Insightful)
You post one side of some obscure blog's events, and this is front page news?!! Of course there must be more details to this, but we wouldn't get it from this lame submission.
I can't even see how this issue is really relevant to nerds here. There's no tech connection, no connection to anything really.
Shut up (Score:0, Insightful)
We get it, you want to be the "light of insight" that shows us how corrupt these companies are.. but for christs sake, at this point its like running a story about how the nazi's weren't polite to jews. WE FUCKING KNOW
Non-story (Score:3, Insightful)
Did this really happen or is it just marketing? (Score:4, Insightful)
It could as well be a marketing ploy to get more eyeballs to the website. Did this really (I mean really???) happen. Can someone independent confirm this?
Not that it is a tech story anyways.
Re:Shut up (Score:5, Insightful)
I really don't understand why anyone would bank with a big corporate bank instead of a credit union.
Re:Shut up (Score:5, Insightful)
Surely there's a balance to be struck between flooding the Internet with minor ragefilter mishaps and real misconduct--organizations, especially large ones, are imperfect and make mistakes. A good place to draw a line would be whether or not more than one person is affected, and a bit of editorial judgment on whether it's a single incident or a corporate policy.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Insightful)
He said they said that. Would it be a story if he said, "I forgot to put my contact info on my site, and the bank shut down my account for 24 hours while I settled things?" I'm not saying the guy is definitely lying, but there is a strong motive for him to do so.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not exactly.
He SAID they told him it was objectionable content.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:3, Insightful)
Its not about the bank having his contact info, its about customers having a way to find it.
Either way, everything in this 'story' is conjecture at this point.
we have to keep up a regular drumbeat (Score:3, Insightful)
because "we" DON'T know, for values of "we" outside the slashdot club
this is wide-open website, not a club with established agreements. as a media mouthpiece, slashdot has influence beyond the gated community of committed readers. this story is now amplified and continues to spread. that's a good thing
so these kinds of stories will never, and should never stop, as long as human beings are reading here and as long as they feel outraged at injustice, no matter how slight
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not saying this was the case, or the bank was right even if it was the case, I'm just saying, this may just be an amateurish attempt to turn a personal fuck-up into some site promotion.
Or he might have been hosting kiddy porn on his site. Not saying this was the case, but that bank was right if it was the case. This may just be an amateurish attempt to promote a kiddy porn site.
There. See how easy it is to make stuff up?
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:3, Insightful)
Or the three managers who supposedly contacted him may all be homophobes. Which is the more likely explanation? Or the three managers who supposedly contacted him may all be homophobes. Which is the more likely explanation?
Uh, the latter? Sorry, maybe I'm stereotyping here but it is not hard for me to believe that there are three stuffy, conservative PHBs at a bank (especially Citibank) that are homophobes and would use their power to try and bully or censor this guy. And after the latest update - they apologized and said the reasons given should never have been said - I'm even more convinced. Had this just been some little dude in his basement I have no doubt that he would have had his account closed. My guess is once they figured out who he was, his past business experience and who his backers are they are now scrambling to save their ass. Apparently news articles were good enough for Citibank when they decided to apologize.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:2, Insightful)
Look, I'm just explaining how banks work. If you have an online business, you need a real world address and telephone number on your site. Not 'info@.' Not links from other sites. Not google. The bank needs to know that your customers will have a way to contact you in the real world to resolve disputes, otherwise the bank fears it will have to eat the costs of said disputes.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Insightful)
While you may be right, the end result of all of this is a very large amount of publicity for this site. Call me cynical, but anytime I see some website whining about some supposed injustice done to them, I think 'shameless self promotion.'
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:4, Insightful)
You must be new around these parts. Here on Slashdot we have a pretty low standard of evidence - when somebody is 'wronged' by big business or the government, their claims are assumed to be gospel truth. Actual evidence need not apply.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:2, Insightful)
Ahhh, no. That is not the action of a closeted gay. That would be the action of someone who has just come out, and sees injustice and homophobia everywhere. A closeted gay would agree with me. Someone who has been out for a while and is comfortable with their identity no longer sees homophobes hiding in every shadow. So, newly out queer with a chip on the shoulder is my guess.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, having a chip on your shoulder is perfectly justified, gay people really do get a raw deal. It's just not that mature...
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Insightful)
What if you have an offline business?
Plenty of posts so far have gone back and forth between "he said she said" and "compliance yadda yadda yadda". But it seems no one has actually pointed out how this relates to the "real" world.
I can go down to my bank tomorrow and get a small business checking account with zero "compliance" checks involved (other than proof that I really exist). I can, at the same time (for a monthly plus various per-use fees), sign up to have my bank act as a payment processor so I can accept credit cards from my hypothetical customers.
I conspicuously don't need a website to do any of that. I don't need to put up a sign in front of my business with contact info; I don't need to prove that I have a listing in the phone book; I don't need to demonstrate that I have an advertising budget to make the world aware of me. They simply don't care. I have an account, they hold my money for me. Simple as that.
The bank needs to know that your customers will have a way to contact you in the real world to resolve disputes, otherwise the bank fears it will have to eat the costs of said disputes.
In what universe do banks ever eat the cost of disputes? Okay, they may have some overhead for dealing with disputes (and even that usually gets passed on to their direct customer), but in the end they pick who owes what and call it good. "Eating it" never even enters their consideration.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Insightful)
To open the account as a business account, sure. But after that, unless you're suspected of fraud, they don't ( and probably shouldn't) give a fuck.
Having opened 3 small business accounts in the last 15 years, I can tell you that if anyone called my bank to complain that they couldn't get in touch with me to "resolve a dispute" they would promptly be told "Please seek legal counsel, and is there anything else I can help you with? No, then my name is Ingrid, and thank you for calling Heartless Bank and have a wonderful day".
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:4, Insightful)
Your outrage is misplaced. I'm an out bisexual. There was no ad hominem about your presumed sexuality. It is my personal experience, having as many gay friends as I do, that when someone first comes out, they identify as gay and take GLBT issues very seriously. After someone has been out for a while, being gay is just one aspect of their personality and they no longer get so incensed over every imagined slight.
But please, if you still feel I'm some sort of homophobe, explain why you think so. Go on, reread what I said and show why you think it is in any way homophobic, keeping in mind that I know what cock tastes like.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:2, Insightful)
Look, I'm just explaining how banks work. If you have an online business, you need a real world address and telephone number on your site.
That is why this is news and on this site however.
It would be the first time in history an American bank ever required such a thing, and if they plan to start that now (As in today) it is news because hundreds of thousands of legit businesses operating exactly that way can now have their bank accounts closed out for operating fully within the law.
If it really is true that it is now a new banking policy to require a business to provide contact details past those used for payment collections, then this is the first person of many who has to deal with rules being up and changed on them.
Also, you could word your statement a little less offensively (Just a suggestion, if that was your intend then never mind)
If the law was just changed today, then you can't possibly expect any of us to know that.
But "Look, I'm just explaining how banks work" reads more like you expect people to know that, as of today, that is how banks work. Before today your statement was 100% false, as no bank in this country worked that way.
Personally I think it is not true, and this is one person misrepresenting what actually happened.
If the laws were changed so that this really is how banks were to work now, it would be on a lot more news sites, such as CNN and wallstreet journal.
Re:Because it's a gay site? Or is it because... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, its also harder to scam people in real life than it is on a website. Its harder to cut and run when you actually do have a storefront that people come into and see your face. Where the landlord knows you. Or where people come see your hotdog cart and buy hotdogs from you in front of the hardware store. Banks are far easier when someone walks in and askes about getting a CC reader because in most cases some guy is going to bring it to your store and 'install' it for you so they've established you've invested some effort at a minimum and people are going to have seen you and can describe you.
Physical interaction with the person you're ripping off is a lot harder than scamming them on a website while you're in the Ukraine. A website requires nothing more than a well placed adword to rip someone off. All they'll have is a number to track the scam with, and once that number crosses enough lines on maps and network borders, its impossible to make heads or tails of.
Having a phone number also makes you a little easier to track, it means you've established a presence and left more traces with someone else. Something that even if faked will still make it easier to track you down in every case but the CIA trying to rip you off.
You're correct, a website storefront is entirely different than a brick and mortor store front, and they are treated differently.
Are you suggesting that these two entirely different mediums be treated the identically in every way? Do you want sales tax on online purchases charged the same way as sales tax on purchases in brick and mortor stores?
Offline businesses are treated differently than online businesses. Its well known, its intentional and its intelligent, suggesting they be treated the are the same or should be treated the same shows pure ignorance of the subject at hand.