PayPal to fine people for legal purchases.

[halimede]

Reuters reports that Paypal will soon fine people up to $500 for uses related to adult content.

'The new policy, which takes effect Sept. 24 and applies to both buyers and sellers, marks the first time PayPal has imposed fines for violations of its use policy, spokeswoman Amanda Pires said

Comments

[hafren]

Can people who aren't governments or law courts fine anyone?

[halimede]

I pay the library a fine if I return books late, so I'd say yes. I'm wondering if a company is allowed to dictate use like this, though. I'm inclined to think not, but the legalities are probably hazy. I can think of examples in both directions. The other thing is that books being late is a fairly well-described state. Porn? Not so much. If they really wanted to do this they'd have to check every vendor out there and give them a certificate of aproval for it to be fair. Otherwise, how do you know if that second hand copy of Lady Chatterley's lover does or doesn't fit their definition?

Methinks international payment methods need more diversity.

[hafren]

Yeah, but the library (at least over here) is a department of local government, which can set fines same as they can for parking. This is just a bunch of guys...

[halimede]

Nope, I pay fines to private, non-government related libraries too. As far as I can tell the IIAV gets subsidized but is *not* a branch of local government (any more than a drama club that gets subsidy would be). I have 'just a bunch of guys' qualms too, but not quite about that. It's ridiculous though, that they're in a position that they can do this and not worry about going out of business. If I forget to return a library book I'm not looking at an amount that could seriously fuck up my life. Five hundred dollars is a huge amount of money to most people, and the definition of porn --sorry, uses related to adult content (emphasis mine)-- is vague enough that I don't think it's overly paranoid to worry about random fining for reasonable purchases.

[halimede]

for a payment processing company to voluntarily give up a cut of that just seems kinda stupid from where I sit.

It's not just you:

Pires said the changes were not in response to any sort of pressure from regulators.

Eric Jackson, a former PayPal executive and author of the new book "The PayPal Wars," had a different view.

He called the new policy "draconian" and said it was likely a two-fold strategy to discourage certain behavior while heading off regulators.

"I can only surmise that PayPal is coming under increasing regulatory pressure and has no choice at this point but to take an aggressive posture," Jackson said.

What worries me is how perfectly legal pursuits are criminalized, and how even the shadier things (noncertified drug sellers) aren't being dealt with by the law, but by a private company. Ick.

[snowgrouse]

Wankers.

[halimede]

Succinct yet eloquent. ;)

[raggedrose]

I got off paypal and ebay last year because of their privacy policy. If they receive a request of any kind from a law enforcement agency--even just a fax on letterhead--asking for your information, they'll provide same, without even asking questions. Seemed to me that this was not a set of people I wanted to do business with. This just confirms the decision for me. Thanks for keeping me posted.

[dragovianknight]

What boggles me is, eBay owns PayPal, but now you can't use PayPal to pay for the porn you buy on eBay. ::is boggled::