MasterCard willing to cut off pirate sites

[MaDalton]

MasterCard, is willing to stop processing transactions from sites trafficking in pirated music, movies, games, and other digital copyrighted content.

Lobbyists working for MasterCard have told trade groups from the entertainment sector that the credit card company is supportive of The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, an antipiracy bill introduced into the Senate last September, sources with knowledge of the talks tell CNET....

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20...contentBody;1n

interesting...

[BFT3K]

Sounds good. Where's Visa on this?

[Laur1s]

if its true, big respect to Mastercard!

Hope Visa have similar plans

[Si]

good news!

this is one of them steps that will actually make some difference

Cutting off funds and payments is a step in the right direction

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by BFT3K

Sounds good. Where's Visa on this?

and Paypal - most of the sites process with them

this and cutting off Wikileaks says a lot about Paypal, doesn't it? ;)

[Klen]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

and Paypal - most of the sites process with them

this and cutting off Wikileaks says a lot about Paypal, doesn't it? ;)

Yes how they suck

[bluemoney]

Good move, I also hope Visa will follow.

[Nautilus]

Great step, but what sites process through MC directly?

So far I've seen them mostly using paypal or liberty reserve or something similar to accept payments (which they call "donations").

[Agent 488]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

Great step, but what sites process through MC directly?

So far I've seen them mostly using paypal or liberty reserve or something similar to accept payments (which they call "donations").

not one. so who gives a fuck?

[DWB]

One more blow.

Keep them coming.

[pornguy]

Funny. their site has no way to contact them and let them know what someone is infringing and proudly flying the MC symbol on the bottom of the page.

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

not one. so who gives a fuck?

i don't think it matters much either, but it can be taken as a sign to others

[Agent 488]

this is no blow. as said, no one uses mc to process directly.

get paypal on board and you are getting somewhere.

although some russian or chinese payment processor will take up the slack.

[Serge Litehead]

if MC could influence banks, processors and PP to stop processing for advertisers on pirate sites in addition to stopping processing for pirate sites themselves it would be a great step forward, and if Visa would follow too

[Agent 488]

if if if if ...

[Serge Litehead]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

if if if if ...

we will have to wait and see how their initiative plays out

[signupdamnit]

Backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and committee member Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), the bill would authorize the Department of Justice to shut down domain names of U.S.-based Web sites judged to be dealing in pirated content and also have the power to order Internet service providers, payment processors, and online ad networks in the United States to cease doing business with overseas pirates sites. Opponents of the law say it will give the government sweeping powers to censor U.S. citizens.

Could that be construed to apply to sponsors?

[CamsMaster]

here's an improvement... sounds good...

[seeandsee]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20...contentBody;1n

interesting...

THEY WILL FIND SOMETHING ELSE

[VGeorgie]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

Great step, but what sites process through MC directly?

That's not the way it works. Mastercard provides payment services between the merchant's bank and the customer's card issuing bank. As a merchant you use XYZ bank (or service, like Elavon), which then processes through Mastercard, who debits the charge from the cardholder's bank. If a merchant's account is stripped of being able to process Mastercard they cannot accept payments through it.

Even PayPal moves money through Mastercard and VISA, so they will definitely be affected. They will also be among the first to cut off a merchant's account if they're found to be engaged in piracy (and PP is known to just keep the funds).

[Chosen]

[nikki99]

verrrrrry nice

[Nautilus]

Originally Posted by VGeorgie

That's not the way it works. Mastercard provides payment services between the merchant's bank and the customer's card issuing bank. As a merchant you use XYZ bank (or service, like Elavon), which then processes through Mastercard, who debits the charge from the cardholder's bank. If a merchant's account is stripped of being able to process Mastercard they cannot accept payments through it.

Even PayPal moves money through Mastercard and VISA, so they will definitely be affected. They will also be among the first to cut off a merchant's account if they're found to be engaged in piracy (and PP is known to just keep the funds).

Thanks for clarifications.

What type of piracy sites do you think will be affected? Will they cut off filesonic and hotfile?

[seeric]

not sure why anyone thinks this is a big deal, or will have any affect on anything at all concerning the adult biz.

[bolsex]

good news!!!

[Davy]

Yada yada yada. Why don't they just shut them off? Oh right - there's money to be made!

[VGeorgie]

Originally Posted by Nautilus

Thanks for clarifications.

What type of piracy sites do you think will be affected? Will they cut off filesonic and hotfile?

I'm guessing it's mostly for Megaupload (they were singled out) and the mainstream file sharing services. There are a ton of e-book sharing sites now out. They popped up over the last 2-3 months. According to Google's blog, they are in the process of removing links to these types of sites. (Is it a coincidence that Google is now trying to make money with electronic books? No. Google is the biggest pirate on the planet, until there's money for them in stopping it.)

Oron, Hotfile, all those aren't following DMCA anyway, which says to enjoy the safe harbor provisions they can't directly benefit financially from the infringement. All of them try to get you to give them money if you want faster downloads, and at least Oron puts up roadblocks (not allowed in the DMCA) when you give them valid takedown notices. They'll be out of business once the card associations and PayPal cut off their funding streams, but I'm sure others with different business models will be there to pick up the slack.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by seeric

not sure why anyone thinks this is a big deal, or will have any affect on anything at all concerning the adult biz.

Someone always posts something like this everytime something good is posted in the battle against piracy.

I see it for what it is. Another step towards ending this shit. But the way some people think...there is no hope and everyone should just roll over and die. lol

I'd bet that if all pirate sites were closed tomorrow and any site pirating were IP blocked from every major country...Someone on GFY would still post: "not sure why anyone thinks this is a big deal, or will have any affect on anything at all concerning the adult biz"

Everything has an effect. I've already seen sales starting to rise up again from my affiliate work over the last two months...right as a ton of publicity about downloaders getting letters from lawyers and news stories of torrent and tube sites handing over ip's and user account info to govt. agencies for prosecution.

Coincidence? My experience says "no". It's all having an effect. And those of us who sell porn for a living can see it happening.

[Nautilus]

Originally Posted by VGeorgie

I'm guessing it's mostly for Megaupload (they were singled out) and the mainstream file sharing services. There are a ton of e-book sharing sites now out. They popped up over the last 2-3 months. According to Google's blog, they are in the process of removing links to these types of sites. (Is it a coincidence that Google is now trying to make money with electronic books? No. Google is the biggest pirate on the planet, until there's money for them in stopping it.)

Oron, Hotfile, all those aren't following DMCA anyway, which says to enjoy the safe harbor provisions they can't directly benefit financially from the infringement. All of them try to get you to give them money if you want faster downloads, and at least Oron puts up roadblocks (not allowed in the DMCA) when you give them valid takedown notices. They'll be out of business once the card associations and PayPal cut off their funding streams, but I'm sure others with different business models will be there to pick up the slack.

That's a wealth of useful info, thanks for sharing.

Why do you think that Megaupload was singled out? I've seen it reported anywhere them being #1 on the hit list. Any links?

Also, why do you believe that Hotfile and Oron do not enjoy safe harbor provision? I agree that they shouldn't because they benefit directly from infingement, but it was confirmed several times in courts in Rapidshare lawsuits that they do. Well, Rapidshare does, but their business model isn't any different from Rapidshare's one, so the same precedents should apply. And if their business model is confirmed to be legit, it'll not be easy for MC or paypal or whoever to cut them off without risking one hell of a lawsuit.

The only difference I can think of is that Rapidshare and Megaupload do not pay uploaders anymore, while Hotfile and Oron do. But will that be enough to cut them off? I'm not so sure, because it hasn't been tested in courts yet.

[NETbilling]

We don't support any of these sites and will not help them obtain merchant accounts either


Mitch