The dodge from PayPal's perspective is that when people buy services from a cyberlocker through that cyberlocker's PayPal account, that consumer isn't buying content, or even buying access to content; he is merely buying the "cloud storage services" offered by the cyberlocker.
Don't get me wrong -- we all know that's a load of willfully blind bullshit. I'm just saying that "workaround," along with asserting the legal position that all of the illegal activity taking place on the cyberlockers is the sole responsibility of the individual users and not the cyberlocker operators themselves, is how PayPal rationalizes allowing cyberlockers to bill through them.
Yes, it's cynical as hell, and nowhere near in keeping with the spirit of the DMCA's safe harbor provisions.... but until or unless PayPal is successfully dragged into one of these fights as a defendant, or the law itself changes, I suspect PayPal will continue to maintain the same policies concerning cyberlockers.
The funny thing is, we operate a
legitimate porn-specific file locker in
PVLocker.com (all the content sold there is either ours or duly licensed from the rights-holder, users cannot share any content they upload, only store it and view it themselves through their own account, etc.) but I'm sure PayPal would not process for it, simply because it's porn-specific.
So, ironically, we can't sell our own content through our own cyberlocker by way of PayPal.... but a pirate can rip our videos, upload them to some sketchy, DMCA non-compliant cyberlocker, and sell access to it through PayPal all day long.
Go figure.