Just wondering why this skill was disabled. It's certainly one of the funnest things about playing a rogue.
It's abusable and too difficult to implement properly. It also will completely mess up the economy, especially in such a low gold environment.
My understanding is that you may still use the skill with a DM present, that it is an RP tool (lift the keys off of the guard so you can rescue your friend) rather than a 'gain random item from random guy' tool.
I have always tried to be fair to PCs who want to pickpocket. If you want to pickpocket one of my PCs, I will RP it out with you. Make your PP roll and I'll make my spot check. If you make your roll, I'll give you some gold. Just be prepared for me to go hostile and stab you if I catch you.
As the action itself could conceivably lead to PvP, a DM would need to be present in any area featuring NPCs.