My concern is that most people who use PayPal don't care whether it wants to maintain central authority and control. Most people--even educated people--just want the convenience PayPal provides. If I'm trying to sell Uncle Louie's dinosaur suit on ebay and I don't use PayPal, I'm making it more difficult for a buyer to pay for the suit. The majority of PayPal users are not deep thinkers and would never entertain an argument about decentralized power. And if you asked them, quite a few of them would probably even side with those in authority. As you say "What we are likely to see is...even greater abuses of power." I'm afraid PayPal is going to win this one.