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ONLINE PAYMENT service PayPal has frozen the account of a group that had been raising funds in support of Bradley Manning, the US Army private suspected of passing on confidential US war documents and diplomatic messages to WikiLeaks.
Courage to Resist, a group founded to collect support funds for Manning’s legal defence, said yesterday PayPal had frozen its account, which was one of the main ways that international residents could make donations to support Manning.
A spokesperson for the Bradley Manning Support Network, which had been partnering with Courage to Resist, said the group had been “in discussions with PayPal for weeks, and by their own admission there’s no legal obligation for them to close down our account.”
Another claimed that PayPal was not willing to remove the restrictions placed on the account unless it was given the authorisation to withdraw some of the funds by default.
“Our accounting does not allow for this type of direct access by a third party,” the spokesman added, “nor do I trust PayPal as a business entity with this responsibility given their punitive actions against WikiLeaks”.
The action taken against WikiLeaks had been unwarranted, he continued, because the whistleblowing website had “not charged with any crime by any government on Earth.”
The PayPal account had been set up in 2006 but there were “no issues with this account,” Courage to Resist said, until supporters were specifically asked to provide donations for Manning’s defence.
Maning is widely considered the source of both the Afghan and Iraqi ‘war logs’ posted to WikiLeaks last year, as well as a possible source of the US diplomatic cables currently being published by the site.
He has been in solitary confinement at a military unit in Virginia since June 2010, and is not likely to face trial until autumn of this year. He is only allowed out of his cell for an hour a day, and is denied any exercise or access to the media.
The United Nations is continuing an investigation into his treatment, after suggestions his treatment was tantamount to torture.
WikiLeaks itself has seen PayPal block its fundraising accounts in the wake of the latter publication, while a number of banks worldwide had also frozen accounts set up to provide legal support for its founder, Julian Assange.
PayPal and the websites of a number of credit card companies were attacked by the hacktivist collective Anonymous in the wake of the moves.
The decision to freeze the account came hours before Assange lost his fight in a London court against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted on rape charges. Assange is set to appeal that decision.
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I don’t get the sign “my home is not a hotel”…ok…so don’t rent it out…?
I think they are residents of an apartment block, where they see the unsocial behaviour of some air bnb guests in their lobby, etc. So they dont necessarily rent out their place but have some knock on effects from their neighbours doing so.
Thanks Neil. I was also confused by the protesters.
you have no control when your landlord turns the building you’ve been living in for 25+ years into a hotel .. that’s what it means!
I have had nothing but good experiences as an Air B&B guest! Every stay has lended much more character than staying in a hotel.
AirBnb is great. Stay in a Manhattan apartment for a fraction of the price of a small hotel room.
Have stayed in airbnb accommodation twice. Very pleased with our hosts and accommodation, however for our first trip I had booked accommodation and had money debited from my Visa account and next day Aer Lingus changed their flight schedule, despite numerous efforts to contact airbnb we never heard back from them and ended up paying for 4 nights and due to flight changes could only stay for 3. The next time I tried booking all went well until they wanted a copy of either my passport or my drivers licence ‘for verification ‘ purposes. That took 2 days and numerous phone calls to sort out, this was despite the fact that they had my email address, my mobile number, my Visa account and a very good testimonial from my previous host.
I have found them to be impossible to communicate with as they never respond to emails. However in both of my experiences the accommodation was as described and the hosts were excellent
Spot on just another “rent seeking” operation like Uber.
Would a hotel refund you one night if your flights change? Each room on Airbnb has a cancellation policy chosen by the owner or host. Surely the airline should be responsible for that loss?
There is no excuse for poor customer service with the fees that they charge however.
btw if you dont like airbnb service charges homeaway is a better alternative
Can you get a legal document drafted and have all liability transferred to the guest for duration of their stay?
You could …but if potential guests see red tape,they could go elsewhere
Obviously this would take place after they’ve already paid in full and arrived at your property. They’d have nothing to worry about if they didn’t intend to cause damage etc.
“One Dublin homeowner, who asked not to be identified…
I don’t see it as a business as such, it’s just a few extra people coming to stay with me”
Yeah, you can drop the children of the world act. You’re dodging tax.
“One Dublin homeowner, who asked not to be identified…
I don’t see it as a business as such, it’s just a few extra people coming to stay with me”
Yeah, you can drop the children of the world act. You’re dodging tax. .
have your say