Wikileaks Payback - Offensive and Defensive

[Magda Hassan]

Just after this:

Mastercard does this:

WikiLeaks's payment provider, DataCell, said it's again able to accept credit-card payments seven months after Visa Europe Ltd. and MasterCard Inc. (MA) blocked donations to the website.
DataCell is using an alternative-payment gateway to process money sent through MasterCard, the world's second-largest payments network, and Visa Europe, which runs the largest card network in the European Union, Reykjavik, Iceland-based DataCell said in a statement today.
"DataCell is happy to report that we are now able again to process donations to WikiLeaks," the company said. "We choose to interpret this as that Visa and MasterCard has in fact given in to our demand" to reinstate the service.
MasterCard's website was attacked by hackers last month and in December after the Purchase, New York-based firm and Visa Europe blocked WikiLeaks from using its network to collect funds from donors. WikiLeaks, led by Julian Assange, publishes secret documents, including confidential U.S. diplomatic and military information. The December attack on MasterCard was orchestrated by hacker group Anonymous, TechCrunch reported at the time.
Amanda Kamin, a spokeswoman for London-based Visa Europe, denied that the firm had changed its policy on WikiLeaks donations. "We have not reinstated DataCell and are looking into how transactions are being made," Kamin said in an e- mailed statement.
James Issokson, a New York-based spokesman for MasterCard, didn't return e-mails or phone calls seeking comment.
American Express

DataCell is also able to process WikiLeaks donations made through American Express Co. (AXP), the biggest credit-card issuer by customer spending, according to the statement. Christine Elliott, a spokeswoman for New York-based AmEx, didn't return e- mails and phone calls seeking comment.
At about 4:20 p.m. New York time, the WikiLeaks Twitter account, which has almost 1 million followers, posted a message about the "Financial block workaround."
"Donate whilst you can Visa, MasterCard and AmEx," read the rest of the message, which linked back to the WikiLeaks website.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed Twitter Inc. to hand over data about users with ties to WikiLeaks.
PayPal, a unit of EBay Inc. (EBAY), the world's largest online marketplace, also suspended payments to the website in December. PayPal hasn't lifted its block, company spokesman Anuj Nayar said in a phone interview.
"Nothing has changed regarding being able to take WikiLeaks donations via PayPal," Nayar said.
Assange Defence Fund

PayPal still accepts donations for the Julian Assange Defence Fund through a company called FundRazr, according to Nayar. The fund was created by Assange's defense team and receives contributions to help defend the WikiLeaks leader, according to a Facebook application.
Visa Inc. (V)'s supension of payments to Wikileaks is still in place, spokeswoman Erica Harvill said in an e-mailed statement. Visa Europe split from Visa Inc. before the San Francisco-based company's initial public offering in 2008.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-07...ck-1-.html

I suppose there is also the up coming court case to consider as well...

Here's The Legal Complaint WikiLeaks Is Threatening To File Against Visa, MasterCard

Jul. 1 2011 - 10:24 pm
More than six months have passed since Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and others cut WikiLeaks' purse strings. And if that blockade lasts six more days, the secret-spilling group plans to take its financial fight to the courtroom.
If Visa Europe and MasterCard Europe haven't re-opened payment WikiLeaks by next Thursday, the group and its payment provider DataCell plan to file a complaint with the E.U. Commission against the two companies as well as the Danish payment processor Teller, according to Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, the Icelandic lawyer for WikiLeaks and DataCell.
"They're boycotting Datacell and Wikileaks without any objective justification," says Sveinsson. "This is clearly an abuse of their market dominance."
According to Sveinsson, the following complaint was sent to the two companies earlier this month, and will be filed with the E.U. Commission at an appointment Thursday if the situation isn't resolved by then.
Link to Scribd document of the legal complaint here


The complaint argues that the three payment firms have violated Articles 101 and 102 of the E.U. Treaty, which deal with competition among businesses and forbid the creation of anti-competitive cartels. Article 101 prevents firms from creating partnerships for the purposes of price fixing, and Article 102 forbids firms in a "dominant position" from abusing that position.
Both Visa and MasterCard have claimed that payments to WikiLeaks and DataCell were suspended because they potentially violate the companies' terms of service. MasterCard has gone as far explaining that it prohibits "customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal." Visa has stated that it is investigating "the nature of [WikiLeaks] business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules."
A Visa spokesperson told me earlier this month that the company would "respond in due course" to WikiLeaks' threat of legal action. I've put out requests to both companies for further comment but haven't yet heard back.
Teller has already completed an investigation into WikiLeaks' legality, and in January stated in a report to Visa that it could find no proof that WikiLeaks had broken any laws.
WikiLeaks' and DataCell's complaint makes no specific claims of monetary damages. But a video released by WikiLeaks earlier this week implied that the termination of credit card payments to WikiLeaks has cost it $15 million.