As you will see from my blog post late last year, this is a real topic
that needs to be addressed;
http://paymenttalk.blogspot.com/2009/09/whose-data-is-it-can-you-get-...
PCI is a good thing but it should not be an excuse to hold a merchant
hostage.
If a service provider has confidence that they are providing a quality
service at a fair price, then they should be willing to securely
transfer a merchant's data to the merchant if they are PCI compliant
or to their new provider if they are PCI compliant. This should be
done in a timely manner as long as the merchant is in good standing
and has met all the other terms of their agreement.
