Hi Potlatch,

Is that an Exit relay ? The tineframe is really odd ... --

Sincerely yours / M.f.G. / Sincères salutations

Sebastian Urbach

Am 11. März 2021 08:59:24 schrieb potlatch potlatch@protonmail.com:

Today I received a message from PayPal that paying for Tor relay server leases was a direct violation of my usage agreement. I have been paying off-shore VPS hosts for my Tor server leases with PayPal for at least ten years. Very interesting that they act now.

They specifically state the ban was for: Providing file sharing services or access to newsgroups; or selling alcoholic beverages, non-cigarette tobacco products, e-cigarettes or prescription drugs/devices. They further state that the ban is permanent and not reversible.

I liked using PayPal because it was a safe way to pay and didn't expose my credit card information. Before PayPal I used a prepaid card which I will probably go back too. --Potlatch

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tor-relays mailing list tor-relays@lists.torproject.org https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-relays

Oh.

That seems to be something new…

Does something with “TOR Server” show up in the bill or receipt? Perhaps this could be a reason.

I have three VPS running at Keyweb, Exone and VPSMalaysia – and they are all payed with paypal.

Best regards,

volker 😊

Von: tor-relays tor-relays-bounces@lists.torproject.org Im Auftrag von potlatch Gesendet: Donnerstag, 11. März 2021 00:42 An: tor-relays@lists.torproject.org Betreff: [tor-relays] I was banned from PayPal

Today I received a message from PayPal that paying for Tor relay server leases was a direct violation of my usage agreement. I have been paying off-shore VPS hosts for my Tor server leases with PayPal for at least ten years. Very interesting that they act now.

They specifically state the ban was for:

Providing file sharing services or access to newsgroups; or selling alcoholic beverages, non-cigarette tobacco products, e-cigarettes or prescription drugs/devices.

They further state that the ban is permanent and not reversible.

I liked using PayPal because it was a safe way to pay and didn't expose my credit card information. Before PayPal I used a prepaid card which I will probably go back too.

--Potlatch

Sent with ProtonMail https://protonmail.com Secure Email.

On-topic:

That is the most ridiculous bullshit I've heard this entire year, why does PayPal even care what you host on your servers, especially when you are just re-routing traffic? I'm wondering if this is even legal, sure they have the right to refuse service to anyone, but banning someone paying for something that COULD be abused in the future as a precautionary move?

Sounds like a personal agenda against you or something like that, I've never heard of this happening before and reading the ToS, nothing like that can be found anywhere.

Off-topic:

I'd find a new host that accepts cryptocurrencies, I'm currently using Wedos.cz and have been for 8 years, no trouble running tor guards / middles / bridges, they sometimes do ban for exits though, depends on how fast you handle abuses. Their AS also only hosts around 10 nodes so far, so if you can live with the partially translated site and support, it's a good option.

(I am no WEDOS.cz official or representative, and the text above is just meant to guide people in a direction, the host is also listed in the GoodBadISPs doc.)

- William

2021-03-10 23:42 GMT, potlatch potlatch@protonmail.com:

Today I received a message from PayPal that paying for Tor relay server leases was a direct violation of my usage agreement. I have been paying off-shore VPS hosts for my Tor server leases with PayPal for at least ten years. Very interesting that they act now.

They specifically state the ban was for: Providing file sharing services or access to newsgroups; or selling alcoholic beverages, non-cigarette tobacco products, e-cigarettes or prescription drugs/devices. They further state that the ban is permanent and not reversible.

I liked using PayPal because it was a safe way to pay and didn't expose my credit card information. Before PayPal I used a prepaid card which I will probably go back too. --Potlatch

Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.

potlatch writes:

Today I received a message from PayPal that paying for Tor relay server leases was a direct violation of my usage agreement. I have been paying off-shore VPS hosts for my Tor server leases with PayPal for at least ten years. Very interesting that they act now.

That's very interesting. I wonder how they knew that you were hosting a Tor relay.

Did you ever enter anything in the notes field of a PayPal transfer? I learned the hard way that if you enter certain keywords (gun, bomb, drugs, etc.) into the notes/reference field of a PayPal transfer they will quickly suspend your account.

Thanks, Matthew.