[asterisk-biz] Payment bureau

[Dean Collins]

Simple, host it in an offshore location where suing (and all the legal
ramifications around data protection) aren't an issue.

 

I suggest starting with what environments make it improbably to sue
(Seychelles etc is a good start). The data loads you will be
'transmitting' is negligible so response times aren't really an issue.

 

Think globally guys.

 

 

 

Regards,

Dean Collins
Cognation Inc
dean at cognation.net
<mailto:dean at cognation.net> +1-212-203-4357   New York
+61-2-9016-5642   (Sydney in-dial).
+44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).

________________________________

From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Lenz
Emilitri
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 9:21 AM
To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Payment bureau

 

I think this is an interesting idea, but in order to do it you should
first check with a lawyer - imagine someone thinks that their reputation
is damaged by your ratings and decides to sue :-)

l.

 

 

2009/11/19 Alex Balashov <abalashov at evaristesys.com>

Greetings,

I would like to get everyone's thoughts on the creation of something
like a "credit bureau" specific to our industry.  I don't think we
currently have anything like that in the VoIP cottage industry, unless
I am mistaken.

Simply put, we should have a way of anonymously rating customers'
payment history and noting any especially egregious disputes.  Access
should be restricted only to verified companies legitimately engaged
in VoIP-related trade.

My interest in this is from a consulting and professional services
angle, since that's what Evariste Systems does.  However, I do not see
why this could not also accommodate payment information from the ITSP
and small carrier world.

There are lots of potential problems, of course:

1) Some customers would consider disclosure of any transactional
information a violation of standing NDAs;

2) The possibility of clutter from small/irrelevant transactions, like
$5 prepayments for O/T or calling cards;

3) Some need for moderation and standards enforcement;  there is a
very real possibility of abuse by members by leveraging such a tool in
frivolous business disputes, or business disputes in which their hands
are not clean any more than the customer's;  example:  I could fail to
deliver to a customer what I promised, and then report his refusal to
pay as a financial misdeed;

4) Large deals and transactions often already go through credit checks
with real credit bureaus and various ratings firms.

Nevertheless, I think there would be a lot of value as well.  And
while there is the possibility that the existence of such a tool could
be used to intimidate/threaten customers in business disputes, the
value of catching fraudsters who go around from VoIP company to VoIP
company ripping each one off and disappearing into a hole might
outweigh that.

My father does, among other things, some freelance translation.  In
that industry, there's a web site called:

   http://www.paymentpractices.net/

It is upon seeing this that I wondered why we do not have something
like that in our world.

Eager to hear your thoughts,

-- Alex

--
Alex Balashov - Principal
Evariste Systems
Web     : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel     : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct  : (+1) (678) 954-0671

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