Authorize.net Refuses Business to Gun Sellers

Authorize.net Refuses Business to Gun Sellers
by Alina C.

Authorize.net/CyberSource, which is a subsidiary of Visa, cited “the sale of firearms or any similar product” as the reason for ceasing its business relationship with Hyatt Gun Shop of North Carolina.

Hyatt Gun Shop is the nation’s largest gun seller. However, when they signed a service agreement with Authorize.net FOUR years ago, the folks over at Authorize.net had some sort of brain malfunction, causing them to not realize the name and type of business they were entering into a contract with.

Until now.

Authorize.net sent the following:

Dear Hyatt Gun Shop Inc,

Authorize.Net LLC (“Authorize.Net”) has determined that the nature of your business constitutes a violation of Section 2.xiv of the Authorize.Net Acceptable Use Guidelines and Sections 3.3 and 11.3 of the Authorize.Net Service Agreement (the “Agreement”). These sections include, but are not limited to, the sale of firearms or any similar product. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4 of the Acceptable Use Guidelines, your ability to access and use the Authorize.Net Services will be terminated on September 30, 2013.

Seeing as how this is in their “acceptable use” policy, one can conclude that this is across the board for all gun sellers.

I’m not one to call for boycotts. Everyone has the option of doing business with places that use Authorize.net, so that’s for you, the individual, to decide.

I’m a capitalist, so I like when good people make a profit. I’m all about BUYcotts. If you’re in the NC area (or even if you’re not, as they have a “shop online” link), visit http://www.hyattgunstore.com. They’ve since switched to a gun-friendly service provider that offers all the same security features expected when doing card transactions.

As far as Authorize.net/VISA go, I just have this to say:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Molon. Labe.

NSA Prefers iPhone for Unconstitutional Spying

CNET.com reported yesterday that, based on classified documents retrieved by German news outlet, Spiegel, the NSA has “created platform-specific working groups to tap the contact lists, SMS traffic, and user location information on the Apple iOS, Google Android and BlackBerry mobile operating systems.”

However, today CNET reveals that Apple’s iPhone is actually the NSA’s favorite for stalking Americans, warrant-free.

Why? Well, the NSA has programs called “scripts”, which can spy on over 30 features of the phone’s operating system. This includes everything from voicemail, to photos, to social media applications- like Facebook.

Agents have tapped into photos taken by the iPhone, according to the documents obtained by Spiegel. As one example, a photo taken in January 2012 shows a former senior government official of a foreign country relaxing on his couch in front of his TV. He’s taking pictures of himself…with his iPhone. The man’s name and other details were apparently revealed in the documents, but Spiegel chose not to print them.

That’s right, folks. The NSA can see your “selfies”.

Scared yet? There’s more.

The NSA also uses the iPhone’s backup files as another infiltration tool, according to Spiegel. These files contains [sic] such tidbits as contact lists, call logs, and drafts of text messages. And to grab this data, agents don’t even need to hit the iPhone itself — they can simply access the PC used to synchronize with the phone.

Now, just think of the hundreds of thousands of applications the iPhone has. Think of the information revealed in my earlier post on The Fed Up Conservative, about the Obama administration reversing restrictions in 2011, giving the NSA carte blanche to not only deliberately search for information from Americans’ communications in its databases, but keep the intercepted domestic communications for six years or more.

Having something to hide or not be damned. The fact that this agency has this much access to everyone’s private lives, and they don’t even need to obtain a warrant for it, should outrage every single American. Where is Congress in all this? We obviously know about the 217 people who voted for the NSA to continue trampling on the rights of Americans, but the outrage upon seeing the results of the voting that day quickly fizzled. More information continues to be revealed, and none of it indicates that the NSA has any intention of doing small-scale monitoring of potential terrorists. On the contrary. We’ve learned that NSA agents actually stalk their love interests.

Maybe I think of these things because I’m a mother. Maybe I think them because I just don’t have it in me to trust most people, much less anyone in this government. But has anyone ever thought of the possibility of an NSA agent being some sick pervert? How many parents take pictures of their kids on their smartphones nowadays? Do you see where I’m going with this, or should I connect the dots here?

Having “nothing to hide” is irrelevant. Having the power to protect your own privacy and that of your family is the issue at hand, and while everyone is distracted and dancing around a red line, debating whether or not to get into a war that has ZERO to do with us, our own country and everything it stands for is being run to the ground.

Priorities, people. Protect OUR home. Stop the NSA.