Iceland may ban MasterCard, Visa over WikiLeaks censorship
73 replies, posted
[quote]Credit card companies that prevented card-holders from donating money to the secrets outlet WikiLeaks could have their operating licenses taken away in Iceland, according to members of the Icelandic Parliamentary General Committee.
Representatives from Mastercard and Visa were called before the committee Sunday to discuss their refusal to process donations to the website, reports Reykjavik Grapevine.
"People wanted to know on what legal grounds the ban was taken, but no one could answer it," Robert Marshall, the chairman of the committee, said. "They said this decision was taken by foreign sources."
The committee is seeking additional information from the credit card companies for proof that there was legal grounds for blocking the donations.
Marshall said the committee would seriously review the operating licenses of Visa and Mastercard in Iceland.
WikiLeaks' payment processor, the Icelandic company DataCell ehf, said it would take immediate legal action against the companies to make donations possible again.
"DataCell who facilitates those payments towards Wikileaks has decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again," DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said last week. "We can not believe WikiLeaks would even create scratch at the brand name of Visa."
"It will probably hurt their brand much much more to block payments towards WikiLeaks than to have them occur," Fink added.
After news that the companies had stopped processing donations to the secrets outlet, those participating in an online campaign known as "Operation Payback" temporarily knocked the websites of Visa and Mastercard offline.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension," Fink continued. "This is not about the brand of Visa, this is about politics and Visa should not be involved in this."
Neither company has offered a detailed explanation of why they stopped processing payments to WikiLeaks. MasterCard said only that WikiLeaks had acted in an "illegal" manner, in violation of the company's terms.
The companies still process payments to The Guardian and the New York Times, which have published leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
"I can use Visa and Mastercard to pay for porn and support anti-abortion fanatics, Prop 8 homophobic bigots, and the Ku Klux Klan," Jeff Javis noted at The Huffington Post. "But I can't use them or PayPal to support Wikileaks, transparency, the First Amendment, and true government reform. Just saying."
Last week, the Swiss bank Postfinance closed the account of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because he gave "false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process." Swiss authorities are investigating if the bank violated secrecy rules by publicly announcing that it had closed his account.[/quote]
[url=http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mastercard-visa-licenses-revoked-iceland-wikileaks/]Source[/url]
Omfg iceland what will they do
Finally, a government that stands up against the injustice and doesn't have its tongue deep in USA's ass.
Free assange
Huh, I guess "Freedom isn't free." had a different meaning...
Hell yeah Iceland.
Good move Iceland, hope others can take that as an example.
I dont fucking understand why do they punish private companies for something the US government did
Poor Iceland, getting stuck with Paypal.
[QUOTE=Laserbeams;26688401]I dont fucking understand why do they punish private companies for something the US government did[/QUOTE]
Companies pretty much owns the government in that country son.
[QUOTE=not_Morph53;26688402]Poor Iceland, getting stuck with Paypal.[/QUOTE]
PayPal froze Assange's account.
[QUOTE=Portalist;26688795]Companies pretty much owns the government in that country son.[/QUOTE]
And other governments too. But shh, that's supposed to be secret...
[QUOTE=Rick Ross;26688231]Omfg iceland what will they do[/QUOTE]
Something is better than nothing, atleast they aren't being quiet in their corner crying to themselves.
[quote=Badass]"I can use Visa and Mastercard to pay for porn and support anti-abortion fanatics, Prop 8 homophobic bigots, and the Ku Klux Klan," Jeff Javis noted at The Huffington Post. "But I can't use them or PayPal to support Wikileaks, transparency, the First Amendment, and true government reform. Just saying."[/quote]
Extremely well said.
[img]http://www.careersandjobsuk.com/templates/images/news/407.jpg[/img]
Where will I buy 50 doughballs for 2 quid now?!
I like how one man has such a big impact on the world
[QUOTE=Asm;26688944]I like how one man has such a big impact on the world[/QUOTE]
You'd be surprised how many there have been throughout the history.
[QUOTE=Asm;26688944]I like how one man has such a big impact on the world[/QUOTE]
But it isn't one man. If it were one man we wouldn't know about it.
Julian Assange wouldn't be anything without the hundreds of people leaking documents to him.
Or hundreds of people telling thousands of people about it (Journalists.)
It really is a contributed effort.
[QUOTE=PUDDI;26688859][img_thumb]http://www.careersandjobsuk.com/templates/images/news/407.jpg[/img_thumb]
Where will I buy 50 doughballs for 2 quid now?![/QUOTE]
I know where you can buy 50 dogballs for 2 quid if that helps...
I thought their current situation financially was fucked up enough as it is?
[QUOTE=Janizaurd;26688844]Something is better than nothing, atleast they aren't being quiet in their corner crying to themselves.[/QUOTE]
yeah more like LOOK AT ME IM ICELAND
Another reason not to go to iceland
Hah, Iceland's economy has been horrible lately. There's no way they'd lock out Mastercard and Visa.
that's why mums shop at iceland
Thank god I don't live in Iceland, I use my visa on a daily basis.
If they actually ban them, hopefully their economy destroys the country.
[QUOTE=Mindtwistah;26688272]Finally, a government that stands up against the injustice and doesn't have its tongue deep in USA's ass.[/QUOTE]
Iceland is pretty pro Wikileaks, because they exposed how shit their banking system was or something.
[QUOTE=Jsm;26691014]Iceland is pretty pro Wikileaks, because they exposed how shit their banking system was or something.[/QUOTE]
See? That's fucking awesome. An economy is [b]built[/b] on its banking system. This is why leaks about the right things are good. I think it is a necessary evil.
This is probably going to do more harm than good, people won't like to know that their MasterCards and Visas are useless because the government wants to play white knight on foreign affairs/shit that doesn't concern the country.
If they really want to support Wikileaks doing stupid shit might as well just block trade with USA.
