26 February 2007, 23:51
Visa & Mastercard Go Into Politics
So, after much posturing in the US media, we in the West can no longer pay for music here with Visa and (in most countries) Mastercard.
Somebody help me out here. Why?
I have one of each card. In my terms and conditions with each, there is nothing that specifically says that I cannot spend my money how I like. Apart, of course, on anything illegal or criminal. And there's the rub. Allofmp3.com has not been proved to be either. Sure, the RIAA in the US say they're going to sue AOM3 for a trillion bucks but where's the lawsuit? The BPI in the UK say they're going to sue too. So, where's their lawsuit?
What happened to the international premise of justice: innocent until proven guilty? If there was such a strong legal case, why hasn't it materialised? All we've had so far is much huffing and puffing threatening to blow this house down but nothing else. Instead, what we've had (reportedly) is the US Government saying to the Russian Government that unless allofmp3 is closed down, Russia won't be allowed to to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The US Government says that allofmp3 is illegal. If that's the case, why not let a court decide rather than a government? Since when do governments get to dicate world law? No need to answer that - we all know the answer. But that doesn't make it right, does it?
So - still no lawsuit has materialised. The RIAA have stirred up George Bush & Co. into picking up a sledgehammer instead. And, whilst they're at it, they've convinced Visa and Mastercard to stop accepting credit card payments for the site. But, on what basis? The RIAA say ... and now the US Government say ... that the site is illegal. Again, let's test it in the courts. It's possible that some of the things on Allofmp3 cross legal boundaries or that there needs to be a more established royalty route back to the US but that doesn't apply to every single music track on the site.
Let's give the RIAA and BPI the benefit of the doubt here for a moment. Let's say that they've got a legal case.
What about artists from other countries? This is a Russian site. I personally like all types of music including out-of-copyright classical music. Before the credit card companies cut me off from here, I was over-the-moon to be able to find access to high-quality (not iTunes quality) Russian recordings of my favourite composers. Yes, that's right. Russian recordings by Russian artists.
Yet Visa and MC say that it's illegal for me to pay for Russian music on a Russian website. They would of course argue that I can still buy US/UK music here so they had to ban it all. But surely that's not an issue for a credit card company to take up? My point is this: whether there is a case for the US/UK or not, you cannot say that allofmp3.com is universally illegal. Which is what - if you remember - all these guys are saying.
And who are Visa/MC to dictate WHERE we spend our money, basing their decisions on global politics? The long-term implications for that are quite worrying - what if I wanted to buy shoes directly from China but Western companies said "No, No, we want to do that and charge a mark-up on those shoes back home". Will Visa/MC channel the business for them by banning the use of our cards to obtain goods from cheaper sources?
If they do (and they do) and when the western world's consumers discover this, expect to see the Visa/MC near-duopoly shaken-up. Whilst corporations may dominate the world's trading space, it's the little people like us who dictate trends and the success of brands and services. It only takes one cock-up for people to desert something. And it only takes one good start-up for everyone to join in. Imagine a credit card company that allowed us to spend our own money without charging us a fortune to do so and without restricting where we spend it and what we spend it on.
I thought that the point of the WTO was to ensure a freedom to trade across the world (or, at least its member countries). Oh, sorry, but it's not now because actually it's about ensuring that some people can have some things from some countries. It's not about everybody having access to everything. So what actually is the point of the World Trade Organisation? Yes, that's right - it's to make sure that certain goods are universally restricted.
So, the bottom line comes down to this. With my Visa and Mastercard I cannot buy music from Russia. Not even Russian Music by Russian Artists. It's illegal, didn't you know? Even though there hasn't been a court case yet and even though, to my knowledge, there is no case law.
Hey, but do you know what I can do with my Visa and Mastercard? This is great. I can buy hardcore pornography from the United States of America and get it sent to anywhere in the world. Visa/MC love this - it's really big bucks. There's one problem though. In the UK (for example), there are strict laws banning the importation of hardcore porn into the country. Not that Visa and Mastercard are going to do anything about that. Even though it IS illegal.
© 2007 The copyright of the author has been asserted in all territories of the world and the author reserves the right to prosecute any person or organisation who reprints any of this without permission. Particularly in the US where - let's face it - I'm not going to be paid a royalty everytime someone accesses or reads it.
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Comments 47
1. by Mr WordPress, 26 February 2007, 23:51
Hi, this is a comment. To delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts' comments, there you will have the option or delete them.
2. by artcurus2, 27 February 2007, 08:31
AMEN!
3. by Some dude in the USA, 27 February 2007, 12:35
Wow. Top blog entry. That really sums the whole thing up in a nutshell!
4. by Terry, 28 February 2007, 06:11
You're preaching to the choir around here. The short answer is that Visa/MC don't want to be indirectly liable if a lawsuit should come to fruition, and technically if a lawsuit were actually filed, Visa/MC could be named in the suit for being the third party to illegal transactions. They're just covering their asses like anyone would. That doesn't leave us with many options, however...
5. by hq, 28 February 2007, 14:58
Thanks Terry, I realise that the audience here are already receptive to my original thoughts :)
Interesting legal point about Visa/MC. I'm not entirely sure whether you're right on that point and I'm going to do a bit of further research ....
6. by artcurus2, 28 February 2007, 18:04
HQ,
You know that I think I read in a blog somewhere that AllofMp3 had asked to join Itunes, et all, for US sales, and were rejected.
7. by hq, 28 February 2007, 19:41
That vaguely rings a bell for me too. Of course iTunes are not going to partner with anyone let alone any company that offers higher quality downloads without DRM protection. On the other hand, if this whole row stems from the Russia's entry to the WTO then a partnership between AllofMp3 and iTunes would make for global co-operation that would surely be exactly in the spirit of the .. er .. WTO.
Maybe that's not really how World Trade works, he said being deliberately naïve :)
If iTunes were able to drop DRM, it's probably that less people would seek out alternatives. Steve Jobs suggested this recently but too many labels turned the idea down.
I don't think that I'd object to iTunes prices so much if the downloads were available at a better quality and if I was allowed to have the music on both my laptop at home and desktop in the office which I can't (officially).
8. by Muckyfrog, 1 March 2007, 05:57
*Sigh!* In the meantime I shall have to live with $0.04 on on my account and dream of downloading!
M/C and Visa hypocritical b******s!
9. by Andrew Phillips, 4 March 2007, 13:02
maybe we should all send e-mails to the credit card companies to express our disgust at the treatment of us and the fact that we want to spend money and keep them in business!
I think that the best thing we as individuals can do is to not use their cards for a day and let them see how much we can affect what they do and how much money they make.
10. by nos235, 5 March 2007, 08:25
people with no allofmp3 credit can purchase gift vouchers on ebay. they are slightly over priced but that's because of all the tranasction fees (especially paypal) - search for PHANTASMAGORIUM
11. by myukaht, 4 February 2009, 05:50
Пока прочитал только эту одну запись, если и все остальное точно также хорошо, то автору респект :)
12. by Евгений, 5 February 2009, 01:38
Да, таких зачетных блогов я еще не видел! Этот блог даст фору многим сайтам ( по содержанию и не только)! Десять баллов!
13. by Виталий, 6 February 2009, 07:57
Первые три комментатора дело говорят :)
14. by Валерий, 8 February 2009, 05:21
Не совсем уловил некоторые моменты, но вообще действительно интересно :)
15. by Ярослав, 27 February 2009, 11:47
Любопытная статья, кстати автору хочу предложить установить от яндекс.денег полезную фишку на сайт "Дай рубль". Я бы дал, так сказать на поддержание. ;)
16. by Федор, 28 February 2009, 02:49
Круто, хотя не мешало бы чуть более развернуто написать, а то есть немножко непонятных моментов :)
17. by Balashka, 9 March 2009, 12:36
Ага! Большое спасибо! Теперь на целый день есть работа! :)
18. by Ростислав, 26 March 2009, 06:47
Текст по настоящему понравился, особенно последний абзац хорош :)
19. by Вячеслав Меньшиков, 29 March 2009, 15:20
Ага, автор блога просто молодец! Пишите еще!
20. by Всеволод Павленко, 10 April 2009, 01:03
Я тоже такого мнения был, пока не прочитал пару подобных статей по этой же теме.
21. by Марк, 3 May 2009, 19:15
Очень занятные мысли, хорошо рассказано, все разложено по полкам :)
22. by Никита Рыбин, 30 May 2009, 15:24
Достаточно спорно, но как вариант имеет право на жизнь
23. by Гамлет, 12 June 2009, 01:14
Тема старая конечно же, но прочитал с удовольствием :)
24. by Денис Лебедев, 23 June 2009, 13:46
Интересная статья, да и сам сайт я смотрю очень даже не плох. Попал сюда по поиску из Гугла, занес в букмарки :)
25. by Феликс Сычев, 26 July 2009, 10:02
Занятно пишете, жизненно. Все-таки, для того, чтобы делать по-настоящему интересный блог, нужно не только просто рассказывать о чем-то, но и делать это в интересной форме:)
26. by Balashka, 18 August 2009, 14:15
Благодарю! Буду теперь заходить на ваш блог каждый день! :)
27. by tapakah, 20 August 2009, 11:40
В вашем сообщении конечно много чего упрощено, в отличии от реальной жизни... :)
28. by БAKИHEЦ, 26 August 2009, 21:28
Даа... Ну у вас или талант писать, или это скопировано откуда-то! :)
29. by Алексей, 26 September 2009, 15:26
Конечно, я с этим тоже сталкивался :)
30. by Bлacть, 19 October 2009, 06:29
Нехорошее употребление материальных благ часто является вернейшим путем к величайшим невзгодам.
31. by нeжнaянoчь, 31 October 2009, 15:26
Радует, что блог постоянно развивается. Такие посты только прибавляют вам популярности.
32. by мaкap, 5 November 2009, 21:55
В нашем офисе так нудно было, хорошо что нашел ваш сайт. Читаю с огромным интересом:)
33. by Петр, 17 December 2009, 06:07
Большое спасибо за то что просветили, выводы сответственные обязательно сделаем. ;)
34. by Роберт, 22 December 2009, 19:21
Очень занятные мысли, хорошо рассказано, все разложено по полкам :)
35. by Ярослав, 1 January 2010, 14:27
Интересно. Иногда такое бывает, что хоть стой хоть падай.
36. by бaкинeц, 16 March 2010, 21:51
Спасибочки за занимательную точку зрения. Я с ней не совсем согласен, но она имеет право быть.
37. by Николай Конев, 6 April 2010, 18:30
Это действительно в точку!!! По другому и не скажешь! :)
38. by Бaбник, 9 April 2010, 19:54
Радует, что блог постоянно развивается. Такие посты только прибавляют популярности.
39. by Родион Меньшиков, 11 April 2010, 18:16
В офисе так нудно было, хорошо что нашел ваш сайт. Читаю с интересом:)
40. by Всеволод Рыбин, 24 April 2010, 12:27
Да уж... Жизнь - как вождение велосипеда. Чтобы сохранить равновесие, ты должен двигаться.
41. by Артем Евсеев, 2 May 2010, 18:06
Благодарю за такую хорошую возможность оставлять комментарии на этой странице!
42. by Игорь, 5 May 2010, 03:46
Не совсем уловил некоторые моменты, но в целом познавательно :)
43. by Ярослав, 6 June 2010, 16:12
Давно искал такую инфу, Большое спасибо за Вашу работу.
44. by CЛACTEHA, 8 June 2010, 02:09
Действительно, как говорится - Без пользы жить - безвременная смерть.
45. by Ленин, 16 June 2010, 21:14
Благодарю, пост действительно толково написан и по делу, есть что почерпнуть.
46. by Экономика, 20 June 2010, 19:10
Провокационный пост. Поэтому такие и комментарии :)
47. by Игорь, 26 July 2010, 02:36
Ну конечно, как все говорят, любопытное рядом! :)