[e-gold-list] Re: Standard Reserve and Privacy

[Eric Gaither, Gaithman's E-Gold Exchange]

George,

    Please let me be one of the first SR Agents and e-gold Market Makers to
publicly thank you for your efforts:

>Ours is not an anonymous service, never has been,
> and was never touted as such.   Rather, we actually verify that
> the applicant is who they say they are.   We owe that to our
> agents who take the risk.

>We need to verify that you are who
>you say you are.  On this list there have been many reports of
>fraud, rip offs, etc.  Ask any of the market makers about the
>issues with fraud.  We are trying to avoid that.

    I am quite sure I will not be the last.  What many individuals who are
concerned about privacy do not understand is that the current e-gold system
is ripe with abuse.  (Sniff..sniff...can't you smell that?)  Anonymous
services are great and have many wonderful uses, but open up those of us who
act as portals into the system to the targeting eyes of thieves, scoundrels
and counterfeiters.

    I do not think it is anyone's business HOW someone spends his or her
money.  However, as an SR agent and e-gold Market Maker, it IS my business
if the payment someone is sending to me to obtain these currencies is
legitimate.  We have seen a dramatic increase in the use of stolen credit
cards, counterfeit checks, bogus money orders, so on and so on!  The only
way for our company to accept these forms of payment and fund accounts is to
know that the person sending the payment is the person they claim to be.

    John makes several good arguments about BB and the use of SS #'s.  I
personally am VERY skeptical about giving mine over the Internet no matter
WHO is asking and HOW secure they claim to be.  I prefer to mail it by snail
mail.  Is there a chance that a drivers license and/or SS card can be
photocopied and notarized as proof of identity?  This may ease some of the
privacy buffs concerns about hackers hitting the SR on-line databases.

     To those of you out there that do not want ANYONE to know who you are
or HOW you spend you money, I ask you what faith does someone in my line of
work have in accepting a payment from you?  You have to obtain your e-gold
and SR-AUG and SR-USD somewhere with fiat currency.  Unless you send cash
via mail (which is NOT recommended) certain trust must be demonstrated.
Proving to me you are who you claim to be is the basic foundation of any
client/service relationship I see as mutually beneficial. This is done by
being verified by  Standard Reserve's system.

    Lastly, if you STILL desire to remain 100% anonymous, might I suggest my
secret "Invisible Man Formula"?  Guaranteed to turn you invisible!  No one
will know who you are, where you are from, or how you spend your finances.
Just send me, oh, $25 K in an unmarked envelope with no information inside
in small USD, non-sequential bills.  It will work...trust me....:0)

     As always, these are just my opinions and not meant to become part of
any routine medical treatment, diet and exercise plan, or for children under
the age of 21 years of age.  Some assembly required.  Batteries not
included.  Gaithman's Invisible Products:  www.nosuchplaceonearth.com


     Happy New Year!
     Eric



----- Original Message -----
From: George Matyjewicz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: e-gold Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 1:59 PM
Subject: [e-gold-list] Re: Standard Reserve and Privacy


> At 01:06 PM 12/29/2000 -0600, Destiny Worldwide wrote:
> >
> >I have noted several things about Standard Reserve, all of which
> >I do not like.  We were going to use Standeard Reserve and even
> >introduce clients to it, but it is obvious that Standard reserve
> >intends to play by the rules of Big Brother, something that we abhor:
> >
> >1.  SR is not really opening up to international clients, and
> >you can tell this from their application form.  I checked that I
> >was from Costa Rica and therefore did not fill in an SSN as per
> >directions,b ut their system bounced the application for that
> >reason, so I typed in 999-99-9999.  That worked.  Standard
> >rEserve needs to learn that it is ILLEGAL to demand a SSN frm
> >soneone, and that the provision of an SSN is 100% voluntary, and
> >they need to make provision for this.  By acting like the BB
> >banks, they are showing that they are not part of the freedom
> >movement, but a part of the system most egold users are trying
> >to get themselves out of.  Also, SR says that they are doing
> >this to apeal to a larger market.  Well, in actuality, the
> >future is AWAY form BB.  As the internet grows in power and net
> >currencies based offshore, along with offshore services such as
> >ours, WE will someday become the mainstream, not the other way
> >around.  Locating themselves onshore and spending a ton of money
> >to comply with ridiculous US government regulations that force
> >them to SPY on their customers liek the banks is surely the
> >wrong thing to do.  It woudl have been better if they had gone
> >in the direction of Goldmoney and located themselves safely
> >OFFSHORE.  Even egold eventually woke up to this necessity and
> >has now located at least part of their operation offshore.  They
> >should have realized that the government is their ENEMY, not
> >their friend.  We will not cooperate with any entity that is so
> >complicit to BB.
>
> That obviously is an error which we have to fix. Thank you for alerting
us.
>
> SS#  or some form of identification is needed so we can verify
> accounts.  If you are not a US citizen, then we need some other
> form of  ID.  Ours is not an anonymous service, never has been,
> and was never touted as such.   Rather, we actually verify that
> the applicant is who they say they are.   We owe that to our
> agents who take the risk.  We are not interested in Big Brother,
> nor are we interested in anything other than verifying that you
> are who you say you are (we are using a verification service).
>

>
> >
> >2.  Another SR problem is that they are charging a ludicrous
> >$200.00 fee for a merchant account.  Why should anyone pay this
> >fee, when you can get a Visa/Mastercard merchant account for
> >much less with much more capabilities, or an egold acocunt for
> >free that you can set up a shopping cart for for FREE through
> >Mal's ecommerce.  If you want Buy Me buttons for your egold
> >account, don't pay SR $200.00 for the privilege, get them for FREE at
Mal's!
>
> Very interesting.  Can you tell me where you can get a
> Visa/Mastercard merchant account complete with shopping cart
> interface, for free?  I am asking because the 2,100 merchants
> that I deal with on my E-Tailer's Digest are constantly looking
> for such a deal.  In a recent poll, nobody had any good, reliable
> resources.   And we would like to list it as a retail
> resource.  Most that we found charge a fee for opening, plus a
> very high fee for the shopping cart interface (like $40 a month
> for 48 months which is what a few retailers reported).
>
> Also, SR transaction fees are 1 3/4% vs 2 1/2% to 5% for Visa/MC
> depending on your history, type of account and volume of
> business.   And, if your chargebacks exceed the predetermined
> critical percentage (1.9% for most) your account will be
> cancelled.  One of our retailers had one chargeback that was
> subsequently resolved by them and the customer.  The bank still
> cancelled and blacklisted the account.  Now they have to pay
> exorbitant (6-7%) fees if they want to get another account.
>
> >
> >3.  We are updating our website over the next week to have a new
> >egold and transaction exchange page.  The tools are out there
> >for people t use, it's just that no one has put them together in
> >one place before, and we will attempt to do this for all.  Once
> >agian, if you want shopping cart capabilities for your egold
> >account for free, check out Mal's [I don't have the url handy,
> >but it will be on our new page].
>
> We have added a lot more to the shopping cart interface and you
> may want to check it out before dismissing it.  For example, you
> can have a one-button solution.  And, you can carry the detail of
> the sale to your receipt sent to the customer.
>
> >
> >I am sorry to dump on SR's parade.  My intentions were to
> >integrate their services with ours.  But really, they have
> >proven themselvs to be incompatible with the offshore world and
> >privacy provisions.  If you want an onshore debit card, you can
> >get one from Citibank a lot cheaper.  If you want something that
> >will enhance your privacy and freedom, SR ISN'T IT!
>
> We are not anonymous and never claimed to be.  But we are
> global.  Our debit cards can be used anywhere, and are not
> limited by country boundaries.  For example, ask some of our
> Aussie friends who decided to travel or work in other
> countries.  When they tried using their bank-issued debit card,
> it was declined after a number of uses.
>
>
> >
> >And one final thing, I have asked several times of the
> >principles these privacy questions and concerns, and the dynamic
> >SR duo has not answered those questions.  It simply is an issue
> >with whjich they do not want to deal, and in my opinion, they
> >should have dealt with it before they opened their doors because
> >this is going to hit them over and over again.  No mainstream
> >merchant will pay the hefty fees they charge, and the privacy
> >advocates that form the heart of the egold community won't use
> >them either.  It would have been better to open up in Panama
> >City than in Atlanta, and I think someday they will understand this.
>
> What has not been addressed?   We need to verify that you are who
> you say you are.  On this list there have been many reports of
> fraud, rip offs, etc.  Ask any of the market makers about the
> issues with fraud.  We are trying to avoid that.
>
> If I haven't answered you question on the privacy issue, please let me
know.
>
> George
>
>
> ______________________________________
> George Matyjewicz,  Chief Executive Officer
> Standard Reserve Corp. -- Atlanta, GA
> Acct# 120018      Tel: 770-300-3070 Ext 2818
> World Wide Currency for the World Wide Web
> http://www.standardreserve.com
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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