FC: Anti-abortion activist complains Paypal seized his account

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Mar 05 2003 - 22:57:18 PST

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    [We've come across Neal Horsley a few times before: 
    http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=horsley --Declan]
    
    ---
    
    From: Neal Horsley <nhorsleyat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: PayPal Seizes Contents of My Online Bank Account
    Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 08:32:33 -0500
    
    Paypal, Inc. on Feb 18, 2002, seized the PayPal bank account of me, Neal 
    Horsley, publisher of The Christian Gallery News Service and the founder of 
    The Creator's Rights Party.  According to PayPal Account Representatives, 
    the account was impounded and the funds in that account are not to be made 
    available for at least 180 days (six months) from the date they were seized 
    because I ran, "an ultra violent anti-abortion web site that advocated the 
    murder of abortion doctors."  The following links take you to an excerpt of 
    that conversation with the PayPal Customer Service Representative.
    
    Real Audio: http://www.christiansunited.net/PayPalShutDownEdited.ram  or
    Flash: http://www.resistanceradio.net/PayPalShutDownEdited.html
    
    I have never advocated the murder or the killing of "abortion 
    doctors."  The evidence proving that statement is available in the words 
    written and published by me over the last fifteen years and can be 
    validated by anyone taking the time to read those 
    words.  http://www.christiangallery.com/catalog.htm proves that I have 
    written three full length non-fiction books and hundreds of non-fiction 
    articles and never has a sentence been written that advocated the killing 
    of abortion doctors.  In short, PayPal seized the bank account and froze 
    the funds on the basis of a false accusation.
    
    Common sense would understand that any person who advocated the murder of 
    abortion doctors would be liable for arrest and prosecution for any number 
    of felony warrants.  Obviously the PayPal employees who ordered the seizure 
    of my bank account knew the accusations were false because there was no 
    mention that I was under indictment or under arrest for the things PayPal 
    was accusing me of.
    
    But PayPal did not have to rely on common sense.  PayPal can freeze any 
    account and make that money unavailable for 180 days anytime and for any 
    reason.   As PayPal officials smugly stated, "…the PayPal User Agreement 
    states that PayPal, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to close an 
    account at any time for any reason."
    
    To amplify this policy, I asked the PayPal customer service representative 
    whether PayPal could seize a customer's bank account simply because a 
    customer was "anti-abortion."  The customer service representative said, 
    "PayPal can hold a customer's funds for 180 days for any reason whatsoever."
    
    How do you avoid PayPal seizing (PayPal calls the action "limiting") your 
    online bank account for 180 days?  PayPal's Web site provides this answer: 
    "You can help avoid limited account access by adhering to the User 
    Agreement and only using your PayPal account to engage in lawful activity."
    
    Clearly this answer implies that if a user engages in "lawful activity" 
    they have every reason to expect their account will not be seized and their 
    funds impounded for six months.  As my case proves, PayPal will impound an 
    account if the activity is lawful but "anti-abortion."
    
    In this incident, as in the situation where I was fired from my job because 
    Planned Parenthood representatives threatened to cost the company millions 
    of dollars in sales, I am being financially pilloried as a cautionary tale 
    designed to deter others from becoming abortion abolitionists.  Even though 
    I have been indicted for no crime, false accusations against me are 
    designed to make it impossible for me to do business, find employment or 
    the other things that are required to make a living in the United States of 
    America.  Don't be an abortion abolitionist like Neal Horsley, PayPal is 
    saying, or you might wake up and find that all your money has been 
    frozen--frozen like an Arab terrorist gets his money frozen--and you won't 
    have access to it for 180 days, if ever.
    
    As many of you know, we are in the process of putting out the first issue 
    of a new magazine called "The Abortion Abolitionist."  Anyone who does not 
    understand how disconcerting it would be to have funds frozen at the very 
    moment those funds were needed to launch a national magazine has never done 
    business or tried to complete an important project.  The PayPal attack 
    could not have come at a worst time.
    
    Examine this story closely and you will see how Christians in the United 
    States of America are being conditioned to collaborate with people 
    determined to butcher God's children.  They might have their bank accounts 
    seized if they don't.  Such an action opens up truly fearsome consequences 
    in a nation where we all are dependent for our room and board upon services 
    provided by others--like bankers and bureaucrats of other varieties.
    
    Why do I persist in the face of such dangerous actions taken against me?  I 
    know many people will scoff at my answer but the fact is I was told to see 
    such actions against me as things I should rejoice about: Luke 6:22 (KJV)
    22Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you 
    from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, 
    for the Son of man's sake.
    23Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is 
    great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
    
    I confess I am having a very difficult time rejoicing about these things 
    that are happening to me.  But I persist because in spite of every fear 
    that my flesh, the world, and the devil conjures up, I know that God knows 
    I've made all these enemies simply because I am telling the hard truth 
    about what it means to live in a nation that has legalized the slaughter of 
    the least of God's children, the ones that the Lord Jesus Christ identified 
    with.
    
    "As you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me," he 
    said.  Today, like yesterday, and the day before, and like tomorrow, too, 
    we the people will rip the Lord Jesus Christ apart here in the United 
    States of America, all with the blessings of the federal government and 
    with the collaboration of every one of us not presently incarcerated for 
    resisting such unspeakable evil.  May God grant me the grace to keep 
    speaking that truth as long as life remains in my flesh.
    
    Obviously I need your help.
    
    Selah.
    
    Neal Horsley
    PO Box 1081
    Carrollton, Ga 30112
    
    
    
    
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