Under US Pressure, PayPal Stops Working With Mega

New submitter seoras sends news that PayPal is now refusing to handle payments for Mega, Kim Dotcom's cloud storage service. A report (PDF) issued in September of last year claimed Mega and other "cyberlocker" sites made a great deal of illicit money off piracy. Mega disputes this, of course, and says the report caused U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy to pressure credit card companies to stop working with Mega. Those companies then pressured PayPal to stop as well. The hosting company claims, "MEGA provided extensive statistics and other evidence showing that MEGA’s business is legitimate and legally compliant. After discussions that appeared to satisfy PayPal’s queries, MEGA authorised PayPal to share that material with Visa and MasterCard. Eventually PayPal made a non-negotiable decision to immediately terminate services to MEGA."

Comments

Bitcoin

[Anonymous Coward]

MEGA should start to use bitcoin, it could use a bit of fresh publicity.

this is one more reason

[ganjadude]

that the banks are not to big to fail, and should have been allowed to. There is no reason what so ever that any government should get involved in peoples personal financial decisions. while kim dotcom might not be the best person in the world, there is no reason for this continued harassment

Re:this is one more reason

[TheGratefulNet]

why do banks get to pick and choose who to do business with?

sounds like we need to SCRAP the banking system and start all over, if this is truly the case. too much depends on the ability to move money around, in this world, and banks can basically kill you (pretty much literally, over time, of course) if they want to.

this is NOT RIGHT. its unamerican, its anti-freedom, its unacceptable.

keep fueling the revolution, boys. sooner or later, y'all will be up against the wall.

Re:this is one more reason

[TheGratefulNet]

guilty until proven innocent.

oh, and we don't care if you try to defend yourself, we've already made up our mind.

the US lawmakers are a bunch of spoiled children....

Re:this is one more reason

[ganjadude]

banks should not be free to decide who they can do business with. If a baker cant decide they dont want to do business with a couple they disagree with, a bank should not be able to do so either.

Re:this is one more reason

[TechyImmigrant]

There is no reason what so ever that any government should get involved in peoples personal financial decisions

Last I heard, mega was a business. The banks terminated their business dealings with mega.

Banks do business with their customers who do things like tell the bank to give X dollars to business Y. The bank's aren't doing business with MEGA, they are doing business with their customers.

Re: this is one more reason

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not directly the banks. Its political. See the article at torrentfreak for more information. Paypal acknowledged their business is legit but booted them anyway. Why America does this to scare away foreign business is insane. I know i would not host any services in the US and would avoid US payment services as best I can. This just paves the way for foreign businesses to collect a cut. So who wants a cut of all the monthly payments flowing through mega? Any EU, RU, CN etc?

http://torrentfreak.com/under-u-s-pressure-paypal-nukes-mega-for-encrypting-files-150227/

Re:this is one more reason

[BarbaraHudson]

Banks and PayPal don't want to do business with the company. Kim Dotcom is NOT the company. So whether Kim Dotcom is guilty or not is a side issue.

Re:this is one more reason

[hjf]

Yes. That's why I refuse service to blacks.

If a black walks into my shop he is very likely to carry a gun and rob me.

It's about avoiding unnecessary risk.

Re:this is one more reason

[Mashiki]

Would that also be like the banks refusing to do business with gun and ammo manufactures because...reasons? Or how about the US feds illegally seizing assets from small and medium businesses because "reasons" as well.

This entire thing comes down to one thing, they're attempting to cut off the financial lifeline to his business because they don't like him/it/whatever. Even though the business he's operating is legal.

Re:this is one more reason

[hawguy]

Nobody is stopping people in the US from doing business with mega. Send an international money order. People do it all the time. And if you trust them so much, you can always send cash.

It's not so much trust in the business on the other end that keeps me from sending cash through the mail, it's all the people in the middle that are handling the cash-filled mail. The business has a huge incentive to not rip off their customers since a customer that doesn't get what he paid for will soon be an ex-customer.

http://www.masslive.com/news/i...
http://www.nydailynews.com/new...
http://www.wickedlocal.com/art...

If postal workers knew that every envelope addressed to Mega had cash in it, they'd be a huge theft target.

Re:this is one more reason

[sycodon]

OK, you are a fucking moron.

Anyone could do business with mega...Just show up with cash, or gold coins, or a couple of fucking sheep. Is that your position?

So what's on the list of "disapproved" businesses now?

Sex
Weapons
Ammunition
Whatever the fuck Mega does

Who's next?
Publications that won't print the party line?
Manufacturers who won't hire illegals?

With your stupid, cavalier attitude of "just use cash" (Have I called you a fucking moron yet?) you are enabling the Feds to pick and choose business to kill by merely whispering into the ear of financial services.

What presure?

[Anonymous Coward]

What pressure? Mega is doing nothing wrong, by PayPal's admission.
Their excuse is "Well, they use encryption." What, and Paypal *doesn't* use encryption? If it didn't, that would be one hell of a reason to drop PayPal immediately.

Fuck off with that shit. Admit it, your CEOs were paid off or otherwise coerced by certain government agencies, and has absolutely nothing to do with law or morals.

A new judicial system?

[jmd]

This type of activity is quickly becoming a judicial system of sorts. If you do not play by our rules we will destroy you.

Re:A new judicial system?

[TheGratefulNet]

interesting point.

banks are not voted on, not representative, no checks and balances (lol) and they are not answerable to the population on anything they do.

so WHY are we leaving matters of legality to banks? they are not legal institutions and should not have 'boycott' power!!

you know, I wish the joker (in the movie) did slice lehey's throat. its a bad thing to say, but since he's not a very nice person, I don't feel bad about wishing harm on him.

damn. the american system of 'justice' is such a laughing stock. we now seem to be the world's most powerful banana republic...

This is really about their encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

The "because piracy" claim is just a facade, Mega fully encrypts everything and the US doesn't like that.

I think

[Anonymous Coward]

Its time to take a serious look at paypal. Even under US law this is anti competitive on the grounds that they still supply other similar businesses and not Mega.

Of course the law seams to be less important to the US lately so I am not surprised that they would ok this illegal action.

Time to bring legal action against paypal on the international stage, and if they claim there are only held to US law then that's fine let them be held to that set of laws and bar them from any international business as they do not respect the laws in the countries they deal with.

folding like lawn chairs

[Masked Coward]

In light of what has been revealed about the NSA, it is always very suspicious to me when a seemingly powerful person or company caves in to pressure so easily. Powerful people & companies have much to lose and public images to protect, so blackmail would probably be a very effective tactic to use against them.

Our own government makes a mockery of the justice system it was sworn to uphold and yet nothing is ever done. For example the IRS claims to have lost thousands of emails due to server crashes and everyone knows it's bullshit, but still no one is prosecuted or punished in any meaningful way. Judges suddenly make rulings completely contrary to their previous positions. Every US company is so eager to climb into bed with the government.

Fuck it, call me paranoid. I think you've got to be willfully blind not to be somewhat paranoid these days.

Not the banks choosing, Operation Chokepoint

[SuperKendall]

why do banks get to pick and choose who to do business with?

Well first of all, they shouldn't be required to do business with someone who repeatedly commits fraud...

However what is happening here is not the choice of the business. It's the government saying "we can make life very unpleasant for you in terms of audits etc. unless you cease doing business with this list of people". The government has been going after many adult businesses in the same way for a while now, google Operation Chokepoint