Questions to ask
Politics:
- History of explicit support of activists using their service? If not, are they neutral or hostile?
- Is payment for sexual content/pornography/sex work against their terms of use (this is common and may prevent some activists and many open content web sites using them)?
- What are the politics of their founders/investors?
Features:
- Payments accepted from donors/customers around the world y/n?
- Payments made to recipients around the world y/n?
- One-off payments supported y/n?
- Recurring payments supported y/n?
- What's their minimum transaction?
- What are their fees for small transactions?
- Do they require/encourage incorporation?
- Do they limit donations (no concrete goods or services in return) to registered non-profits or charities?
- Do they have a history of freezing accounts?
- How can people make payments? (Credit card, bank transfer, cash)?
Payment providers
Paypal
Politics:
- History of explicit support of activists using their service? If not, are they neutral or hostile?
- Traditionally Paypal have been extremely hostile to activist groups and readily respond to FBI and big bank requests to block accounts. See PayPal 14, The Prosecution of Free Speech
- Is payment for sexual content/pornography/sex work against their terms of use (this is common and may prevent some activists and many open content web sites using them)?
- Yes, PayPal actively discriminates against sex workers. See How PayPal discriminates against Sex Workers, PayPal blocks the accounts of porn professionals
- What are the politics of their founders/investors?
- Peter Theil is seen as Libertarian, supports Ron Paul, is also a founder of Palantir, a group that spied on Wikileaks, and is a member of the highly secretive Bilderberg Group.
- Elon Musk is a technilogical progressive (SpaceX, Telsa Motors, Mars missions)
- Reid Hoffman appears to be progressive, investing in a number of projects around education and immigration reform, and serves on the board of organisations like Kiva. Editorial note: he is an investor in Wikia.
Features:
- Payments accepted from donors/customers around the world y/n?
- Payments made to recipients around the world y/n?
- One-off payments supported y/n?
- Recurring payments supported y/n?
- What's their minimum transaction?
- What are their fees for small transactions?
- Do they require/encourage incorporation?
- Do they limit donations (no concrete goods or services in return) to registered non-profits or charities?
- Do they have a history of freezing accounts?
- How can people make payments? (Credit card, bank transfer, cash)?