"Of course, you could also argue that there's nothing preventing the company from sending customers an email asking them to update their credit card info."

Would it begin: "Greetings in Jesus name. I am Dr Mbeke Adeyobe, I work for very large interweb organisation and have sad news about recently deceased relative..." by any chance?

this is a sham they give a credit and hope either you will forget about it or there will be nothing that you want to use it for. THat way they keep the cash

Guess they decide to change their motto.

"get more cash"

How do you think google got their customer's email address in the first place, hmm? Probably not via email.

Funny, this kind of thing does nothing for my faith in DRM products. Every DRM scheme and player seems to die after a few months or years, leaving you with incompatible media. The only type I trust is iTunes, but only because I know I can de-DRM my music if the worst comes to the worst.

Maybe the media industry would get more custom if they had some kind of guarantee for purchased products. Eg. if the DRM on the music or video you have purchased becomes incompatible in the future, they will exchange it free of charge with a more up to date service.

By the way, Register, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease can you use a login cookie so I don't keep having to put my password in on every page.

No... all it needs to say is "Greetings from Google Videos, Can you please logon and update your credit card information so we may refund your purchases?"

Please read the article (and your quoted text) before making sarcastic comments that have no relevence.

Cheers

Shouldn't refunds on what has been put into the Google Video service be eligible for refunds from the credit card companies under their fair trading schemes? It is boomed in the media that it is safer due to buyer protection to use a credit card rather than a debit card to buy online?

I agree. I'm sick of having to enter my entire details everytime I want to make a comment now. It's a complete pain in the arse.

This has class action written all over it. At 99 cents a whack, this would yield what the usual class member gets in a settlement, anyway.

I've used Google Checkout once. I don't know of any vendors that use it exclusively. That would be like only taking Visa and not Mastercard. It might work for the Tonys, but a theater would crater in a few weeks if it did that on a regular basis. Everybody and his pet dog Sparky uses PayPal. If Google had the market share that PayPal has, there wouldn't be a second place, just a third and fourth.

Hello Sir. My name is Mr Aquanquanquango from Googley Google Video World. The computer is saying there is a large sum of monies waiting for you in the amount of two american dollars. I just need your bank account number and sorts code and I will wire the monies immediately!

I want my Two Dollars!

A solid case of rental being passed off as buy-to-own. Microsoft and other DRM's also require you to "refresh" ownership with a regular inoculation from the mother ship, or your imagined "property" will be confiscated. Apple's DRM appears to be the only one that does not require regular connection to the inter-web. So old fashioned, that when you buy to keep, they actually can't stop you keeping it. Even so, I'd rather have my content DRM-free. HDCP, required to view HD video, allows "revocation", so that your high definition DVD's can be junked at the whim of a central authority.

This is just one small sign. At every point of our lives those in positions of power are eroding the established freedoms of the majority. Oh, the humanity . . .