PayPal.com and Ebay Inc. still denying access to PayPal services to 5512 Pakistanis!

PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now! Campaign

5,512 Pakistanis have gotten together on in Facebook hosted cause at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266093 or simply at http://www.causes.com/paypal_authorize_pakistan_now_campaign pledging PayPal.com and Ebay Inc. to launch the PayPal.com payment services in Pakistan. Many likeminded Pakistani Knowledge Workers, Freelancers and Webmaster’s have joined the campaign extensively from all across the country and the world.

This campaign was initiated when a considerable pressure built up online by Pakistanis for the need of PayPal.com E-Payment services in Pakistan, despite the Paypal.com/Ebay Inc. ignoring this region on purpose while giving service to India and China, we launched a cause page on Facebook titled the “PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now Campaign”.

The fact remains that Pakistan contributes massively to the global Knowledge Economy through Information Technology as the region has millions of knowledge workers that require PayPal

PayPal authorizes China and India; does it have a grudge against Pakistan? Why can’t Pakistan be authorized even though we have so many Foreign Banks? Companies and Businessmen do not outsource their work to Pakistani Knowledge Workers because we don’t have PayPal Accounts!

Another interesting fact of this campaign is that it seeks an explanation to why PayPal.com's global expansion includes India, China and UAE but not the country Pakistan which is located at the heart of this region. During various communications by members of the campaign with PayPal.com, their reply usually is: PayPal.com's Email Reply:

"We are having a high volume of emails right now. Writer, we sincerely appreciate your interest in becoming a PayPal member. Unfortunately, we are not yet providing services for Pakistan. Establishing our service in each new country or region involves complex changes due to different regulations. We are always looking to expand our availability; however, due to the complexities of global expansion, we cannot provide a specific time frame. We are working hard and look forward to expanding our services to additional countries and regions in the future."

Despite this hypocritic statement, Ebay Inc/PayPal continues to offer PayPal.com services including payments of goods and services as well as funds transfer to India, China and UAE. We as Pakistani knowledge workers must continue our campaign to convince Ebay Inc and PayPal.com to lauch their services for Pakistani citizens that are today connected to an international banking network and have all the requirements for banking regulation and telecom/technology infrastructure to support PayPal.com services in Pakistan.

Once again, I request all Pakistani knowledge workers to Write an email with the title: "PayPal.com Authorize Pakistan Now!" to the following email address of the Owner and CEO of Ebay.com and PayPal.com:
jdonahoe@ebay.com
john.donahoe@ebay.com
sthompson@paypal.com

Again, if over 5,487 members blog about this - spread the word – on your blogs and websites – the more activists and lobbyist effort we can garner! This is about us, this is for Pakistan! Help Pakistan, Help Blog and Email out this message to PayPal.com!!!!

Facebook PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now! Campaign link to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266093 or simply http://www.causes.com/paypal_authorize_pakistan_now_campaign!

Example of Corporate Internet Authoritarianism - Amazon does not allow Pakistan to download Kindle Software for PC's

*Access Denied to Pakistan by Amazon.com!
I would like to share an example of how Corporate Internet Authoritarianism may affect us from the developing world that I recently encountered. The case presented is that Amazon.com's Kindle, an e-book reader device available for - Amazon does not allow Pakistan to download Kindle Software for PC's. The IGF in Sharam El-Sheikh was a very fascinating event. Apart from the many issues and arguments that arose this year, the participants displayed use of some fascinating devices for recording or following through the proceedings that many of us developing world people have neither seen nor have access to. The major fascination for me was from small FLIP HD Camcorders and various types of E-book Readers. During the IGF or while flying over to the event, I saw many kinds of wireless e-book readers like Amazon.com's Kindle and some other European models in the hands of people from the developed world. Upon asking them the price of their devices they were all US$300 and above. Click here for the link to Amazon.com's Kindle.
Bringing my fascination of Wireless E-Book Readers back to Pakistan, I have been trying to figure out how do various e-books and reports appear on an e-book reader and whether some special format is required to view books on such readers. I attempted to access the report "Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age (Kindle Edition) by The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy" through Amazon.com Kindle version.  
In order to read such a report on a Kindle device without a Kindle, one has to have the Kindle E-Book Reader software installed on their PCs. The following is the message that was displayed on the link given below in a test attempt to download the Kindle Software for my PC in order to read the Kindle version of the report "Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age (Kindle Edition) by The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy":  

1. For the Kindle Software Link, click here.  
2. For Knight Commission's Report Link, click here.  
3. Kindle Software Denial Link, click here.  

Resulting Message on Amazon.com Kindle Software Download Page: 
"We're sorry. Kindle for PC is not currently available in Pakistan. 
Are you traveling outside your country? 
Sign in to see if Kindle for PC is available for download in your country. 
›Continue shopping the Kindle store"
The print screen of this message is given below. Would this mean that if I actually had a Kindle, I would not get support for it or would not be allowed to have a PC version of the Kindle software program? Interestingly Amazon.com allows you to continue shopping but doesn't allow Pakistani's to download the Kindle Software. Isn't that a wonderfully incredible approach from the one of the world's e-commerce giants that continue to contribute to increasing the digital divide over software offerings that they give in the developed world for free but we from the developing world cannot access it!