PayPal Joins London Police Effort

derGoldstein writes this excerpt from Ars Technica: "PayPal has joined a music copyright association and the City of London police department's bid to financially starve websites deemed 'illegal.' When presented with sufficient evidence of unlicensed downloading from a site, the United Kingdom's PayPal branch 'will require the retailer to submit proof of licensing for the music offered by the retailer,' said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's latest press release." The press release can be found here.

Re:I don't get it

[myurr]

Without having read TFA I would imagine that this is aimed more at people who pirate music and sell it as genuine. Their customers think they're buying from a legitimate source.

So in a way this is a good thing, but is likely to be the thin end of a wedge where once people accept PayPal policing their users in this way then you'll start to see people having their PayPal accounts disabled for unrelated activities that someone or other doesn't approve of.

Re:Large transaction volume

[sakdoctor]

When dealing with a vendor I don't trust, I'd rather use the one with a real merchant account. My bank offers a bullet proof dispute resolution system compared to paypal.

Presented with the choice, I'll go with the site which has proper card processing setup. Paypal is just ghetto.

Re:I don't get it

[datapharmer]

Seriously forget "illegal" websites. I could go on for an hour rant about how paypal has given my customers (legitimate registered 501c3 not for profit groups) the runaround freezing their legally earned money seemingly at random with the explanation of "maintaining compliance". They have required fax and email after letter and voided check to "verify" the account because the not-for-profit was not comfortable tying paypal to their bank account (with good reason it seems). In the end they had to tie it to a bank account, and are uncomfortable with the arrangement to this day. Paypal needs independent oversight, not arrangements with MAFIAA and police.