Paypal closes accounts for DVD backup softwares !

[DVDToolbox]

Today I got the following email from paypal:



Dear User,

We regret to inform you that your PayPal account has been limited for
the following reason:

Engaging in activity expressly prohibited under the Acceptable Use
Policy, specifically: Selling software to create back up copies of DVDs
while using PayPal as a payment option.

You may not use PayPal to sell unauthorized copies (pirated,
duplicated, backup, bootleg and so forth) of software programs, video
games, music albums, movies, television programs, or photographs.

Examples
The following items may not be sold using PayPal:
Pirated copies of video games

"Backup" or "archival" copies of software programs

35mm and 70mm movie prints (reels)

Pirated copies of music

"Bootleg" recordings of live music performances

"Home video" versions of a movie still in theaters
Sites offering unauthorized copies of software, games, music, or video
may be removed from PayPal Shops. Violations of PayPal's unauthorized
copy policy could result in the suspension of your account.

In order to reinstate your account, please reply to this email and
state that you have read and understand the Acceptable Use Policy, and
that you understand that additional violations will result in the
permanent lock of your PayPal account. You will need to remove PayPal
as a payment option on your web site. Please note that disagreement
with the Acceptable Use Policy is not an appeal.

Please understand that enforcement of our policies is not reflective
of
seller status or volume of sales. This action has been taken only
after careful consideration of the severity of the violation, or your
account s history of previous offenses for this violation. We have
reviewed each offense to verify that the correct action was taken by
PayPal at the time.


Paypal and DVD software; not longer !!!

[Doom9]

remind me to clear out my paypal account more regularly. If you do a google search on paypal, you'll see that there are many disgruntled paypal members out there.

[mpucoder]

They can't even interpret their own policies correctly!

This (http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/use/index_frame-outside&ed=unauthor_copies) is their policy, which they quoted in your email. Nowhere does it prohibit "selling software to create back up copies of DVDs". It does prohibit selling pirated DVDs, and pirated software, but not software that may be used by a pirate.

If someone has added DVD backup software to the list, then we, the PayPal merchants, need to get an amended policy and time to sign off on it. We just went through that awhile ago, and DVD Backup software was not on the list.

Can anyone suggest an alternative to PayPal, I feel like closing my account if they cannot correctly interpret their own policies.

[mrbass]

wow...paypal gets worse the older it gets.

[mpucoder]

It really went downhill when eBay acquired it. For 2 months straight it was "unavailable due to system maintenance" every weeknight for 3 hours or more.

I also have no doubt that this new "interpretation" is the result of pressure from the MPAA. Jack Valenti has been ranting for three years now about "copying a DVD is theft". Hey, Jack, did you ever read the copyright act? It makes mention of something called "fair use". I guess to Hollywood fair use means any personal copy provided it is degraded from the original, as all analog copies are.

People who buy DVD Backup software are no more using it for piracy than people buying hammers are commiting murder. It's one possible use, but not the intended or primary use. (which is necessary to prove in order to have a device made illegal)

[wmansir]

Have you tried emailing them? I would be interested in their response.

[Toti]

Paypal was awesome back when it started. However, now they think they are god and can do what ever they want. You guys should read on www.nopaypal.com

Try using C2it it is just like paypal but it comes from Citibank.

check it out on www.c2it.com

Take care guys.

[cypher_soundz]

Allot of people use nochex.com (uk only?) there is also bidpay.com , but thats not really the same :D i would appeal against this though as it does not say any were about software programed by yourself that you are selling/(asking for a donation) for legitimate reasons.:rolleyes: Has doom9's account been frozen?

Regards
cyph

[JJWSTAR]

thanks to freaking EBAY for the buyout....try not to use paypal
use C2IT.com....

:mad:

[Doom9]

I've never had any problems with my paypal account (except for the $200 refund for a payment that was somehow bogus - they never told me what exactly went wrong there)
And I checked out c2it - it's not really the same. You can use your paypal account to pay in thousands if not tens of thousands of stores online. This spares you the hassle of credit card verification schemes where you have to fax them a copy of your monthly statement, etc. Furthermore, you don't need a bank account nor credit card.. you can have somebody else fund your account, then use it for payment. c2it charges a fee of $10 for any transfer, paypal is cheaper, even when you transfer money to a bank account (plus, you don't have to make a transfer each time you get money.. simply do it once every two months and you only have to pay for one bank transaction, rather than one per incoming transfer). It sounds almost like a PR brochure, doesn't it, but the sad thing is: I'm not aware of any other organization offering the same range of services. The idea behind Paypal is great, their way of dealing with their customers is, mildly put, less than stellar.

[mpucoder]

I agree, it's not the same. But the $10 fee is for international transfers, being an American company, that means between USA and Europe. For credit card payments they charge 2% or $.30, whichever is greater, but I don't know how that works with European card holders.

It also is not like PayPal in that (before joining, at least) it's not clear how it works for online donations/purchases. They allude to "using their logo for payments", but nothing else is said. They go to great lengths talking about depositing and withdrawing from your account, and transfers from/to other accounts. That would imply that anyone wanting to donate or purchase would have to become a member (which is not the case with PayPal, if you follow the payment form correctly - it is intentionally misleading to get you to join)

The 3 big reservations I have about c2it are:
1) It's CitiBank. That's supposed to be a plus, a big bank, but they scammed me in the past. They were the issuing bank for Radio Shack credit cards, the ones you got instantly for making a purchase of $300 or more. What they did was delay billing so that you always owed them interest. I know, illegal, but they did it.
2) They are new to this game, do they know what they're doing?
3) The clause in the terms of use that states they may close/freeze your account for, among other things, "excessive use". What's excessive? To a banker that usually means more than one transaction per account per day, lousy for online donations/purchases.

[auenf]

and to think i was considering opening a paypal account so i could use a creditcard payment to get a DVB-t card...

Enf...

[dvd2svcd]

I guess I just have to sit back and wait for the closure of my account :(

"How to have a good thing running and then ruining it completely" <-- The Paypal story!

[gerti67]

Hi there,

yesterday there was a message on a well known German IT news newsticker that reported some case of fraud with PayPal - seems some guy(s) are sending mails telling you that they want to close incative PayPal accounts and you have to fill in the form in order to keep it alive - giving away all your mail address, password and credit card number. Geeez!

Perhaps this is just another type of bogus some guys playing on DVD software creators? The form was trying to send back the data to a script at this address h**p://www.paypal.com@w*w.alexnames.net/paypal/pp.php which is not related to PayPal - so be aware what you reply to your mails and check them properly if they're really related to PayPal

Here's the link - it's in German but the picture of the faked PayPal mail is in English:

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/ju-10.07.03-000/

Greetz,
Gerti

[r6d2]

If technology is used to commit a crime, it makes little sense to try avoiding technology to spread. As Dr. Hammond says in Jurassic Park: "Nature finds its way".

Applying the same concept of restricting free commerce of the tools, you should be not able to pay for a gun with a credit card.

I used to run an ISP and we were often asked by the copyright holders to stop peer-to-peer services and ban users "caught in the act". Not complying was followed by a threat of civil action.

I used to reply that we were a packet router and delivery service, we did not opened the packages to see what they had, and thus we were not allowed to drop packets whose nature we did not know.

And even if we knew the package was infringing a law, our role was not to hold it, but to give the authorities all the info we had if somebody wanted to stablish legal action against a pirate.

Of course a lawsuit to every particular user infringing a law would not be profitable. So they did not do it. But people must be responsible for what they do online, and I think they just do it because they think the can get away with it.

If there were some well-media-covered cases where a copyright holder may acually prove the theft and get a conviction, I think pirates would think it twice. They might be next.

BTW, I got ripped off by Latinamerica's competition of Paypal, Latinpago. They shut down their offices and just forgot to give their customers their money.

And I was just selling my own authored books, no piracy was possible.