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Comment by exDM69 | Hacker News Reader

My country has several stupid laws but there's very little I can do to change them (apart from voting).

That doesn't make it OK for someone to run a dodgy "donations/tip/contribution" service, asking for money on my behalf. This could potentially cause problems for lots of people around the world (seems like UK has similar laws too).

Stupid foreign laws don't go away by ignoring them. Running an international service requires you to understand the legislations you operate in.

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What if upvoting your comments was also made illegal in your country? Should we somehow guess that and stop?

Your stupid analogy aside, you can't expect to avoid consequences because you were operating without a knowledge of the law. Stand in front of a judge and ask him if you should have guessed that X was illegal and see how far that gets you.

"you can't expect to avoid consequences because you were operating without a knowledge of the law"

Are you serious? I can't expect to avoid consequences for the crazy laws that get passed in other countries?

I won't stand in front of any judges of your backwards country, I have enough with my own.

Transactions are subject to the laws governing all parties, your convenience is not the issue.

exDM69 has opted into usage of HN voluntarily.

People cannot opt out of the tip4commit service, it automatically opts you in.

Are we really discussing whether someone should be held accountable for the actions of others?

Like, I create an account for you without your knowledge and I send you to jail? Sounds like a useful app, but scary in the wrong hands.

Alright, lets remove tip4commit server from picture. So to put you in jail I just need to find any project you work on, find your name and ask for donations on your behalf? Doesn't this sounds wrong to you?

also, people who downvoting here - make sure to read HN rules about what downvotes are for. They are not to downvote different ideas, but to remove useless posts.

If you set up something to collect donations for exDM69 they might have to explain to the police what was going on.

That takes time, and costs money.

exDM69 can avoid spending that time and money by asking you to stop collecting money for them.

And so now you have a choice: offer to give timy amounts of money to someone who will never accept it; or you could respect that person's wishes by not accepting donations for them. (And that's the honest thing to do for the people giving you the money! If Bob tells you he's never going to accept the money it's dishonest to keep accepting donations for Bob).

> So to put you in jail I just need to find any project you work on, find your name and ask for donations on your behalf?

No, you would not be able to put me in jail. At worst, the penalty would be a fine. But that would not happen in practice.

What would happen is that I receive a letter from the local authorities, demanding me to explain why there are donations being asked for under my name. Responding might need me to get legal advice and perhaps contacting the hosting behind the service to find out who is asking for donations and why.

In other words, that would mean a lengthy paperwork process and perhaps some fees for legal advice. That would be a nuisance.

In other words, it is possible to make life miserable, not jailed. And the only way to be protected against it is to not be know. Security by obscurity. This sounds like an incorrect approach, especially from member of "hacker" community.

> also, people who downvoting here - make sure to read HN rules about what downvotes are for. They are not to downvote different ideas, but to remove useless posts.

Can you show me where it says that in the rules or guidelines or FAQ?

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