What I hear VISA just suspended donations too, with Mastercard and paypal gone... wikileaks really has no mainstream method of funding their operations now.
Totally agree. While what wikileaks and Assange did is legally debatable and I don't really support a lot of what was leaked (with the exception of the apache hosing the journalists awhile back), I really find it troubling that a supposedly free nation like Sweden is easily strong armed into holding him and denying him bail on trumped up allegations and technicalities on a potential cia plant. Apparently, Assange has the means and will to abscond... I mean come on, the guy turned himself in.
Also, given that wikileaks hasn't even been formally charged with doing anything illegal yet I find it equally alarming that corporations are so easily pressured into denying wikileaks support. The US complains about China and Russia of using extra-judicial means and pressure tactics while employing said tactics themselves inside and outside of their own jurisdiction. Hypocrites.
Turning himself in doesn't make him any less of a risk to abscond, and he certainly has the emans to do so.
As for the actions of corporations, there's also an element of avoiding potential liability on their parts. Ther's a lot of grey area in the whole realm of what providers can be held responsible for, so while I'm sure there's plenty of pressure, there's also an element of just getting as far away as possible from a potentially ugly situation.
The recent batch of releases are even more interesting. It shows just how badly the British government was "bullied" by Libya into returning Megrahi (the Lockerbie Bomber) back to Libya. It's actually kind of sad. Then they tried to claim that it was a "compassionate" release because he would be dead in 3 months from prostate cancer -- yet a year later the man's still kickin'.
People were pissed then -- they should still be. The UK is going to have some issues glossing this one over, even more so than before. Front page on the Guardian right now.
Quote:
The British government's deep fears that Libya would take "harsh and immediate" action against UK interests if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish prison are revealed in secret US embassy cables which show London's full support for the early release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, made explicit and "thuggish" threats to halt all trade deals with Britain and harass embassy staff if Megrahi remained in jail, the cables show. At the same time "a parade of treats" was offered by Libya to the Scottish devolved administration if it agreed to let him go, though the cable says they were turned down.
[ . . . ]
The Libyans "convinced UK embassy officers that the consequences if Megrahi were to die in prison … would be harsh, immediate and not easily remedied … specific threats have included the immediate cessation of all UK commercial activity in Libya, a diminishment or severing of political ties, and demonstrations against official UK facilities.
"[Libyan] officials also implied, but did not directly state, that the welfare of UK diplomats and citizens in Libya would be at risk."
The British ambassador in Tripoli, Vincent Fean, "expressed relief" when Megrahi was released, the US reported.
"He noted that a refusal of Megrahi's request could have had disastrous implications for British interests in Libya. 'They could have cut us off at the knees,' Fean bluntly said."
Cretz cabled that "the regime remains essentially thuggish in its approach". He warned the US itself should keep quiet: "If the [US government] publicly opposes al-Megrahi's release or is perceived to be complicit in a decision to keep al-Megrahi in prison, [America's Libyan diplomatic] post judges that US interests could face similar consequences."
Wow, the amount of hate directed towards this whole thing almost makes me want to donate to their cause.
No kidding.
I was pretty clear in what I thought about Wikileaks after the documents on Afghanistan were released, but he is getting absolutely railroaded by the US government that its beyond ridiculous.
If he did something illegal by releasing the documents, charge him.
My issue is that this seems to have been done to Assange without due process.
He has not been charged with a crime. The charges in Sweden are garbage, the Swedish police practically admitted as much.
No one, anywhere, has proven that anything Wikileaks has done is illegal.
They're calling him a terrorist, of course they are, for the past 10 years the US has used that label to justify the trampling of human rights, as soon as they label someone a terrorist all of a sudden they can do whatever they want with him and the law is left by the wayside.
The recent batch of releases are even more interesting. It shows just how badly the British government was "bullied" by Libya into returning Megrahi (the Lockerbie Bomber) back to Libya. It's actually kind of sad. Then they tried to claim that it was a "compassionate" release because he would be dead in 3 months from prostate cancer -- yet a year later the man's still kickin'.
Too bad Wiki didn't release a cable that shows Libya having a fountain of youth..It's actually about 17 months since he was given 3 months to live.
Libya does have a fountain of youth. It's thick, black, oily, and comes from the ground. It's what allows the once great British Empire to be bullied and ordered around by a backwater African dictator.
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The problem I have with Wikileaks is they have a large amount of unchecked power right now. Who is to say whether what they are releasing is true or not? They could completely fabricate something and the only organizations that could deny it are the government themselves. The same governments that will have lost the trust of the people following Wikileaks.
Speaking of morons, I was more than taken aback by this video. Not what I expected at all.
Actually, this type of government abusing power / we're not being told everything / conspiracy stuff is what Beck lives for... I'm somewhat surprised that you're surprised
Ólafur said that it's not his concern what WikiLeaks does, but he personally doesn't see anything wrong with their operations. At the same time, his company has been experiencing pressure to stop working with WikiLeaks.
"We get a lot of mail, and there have also been [DDOS] attacks against us," he said in part. "If these people want to shut us down, they're going to have to shut down every news outlet in the world. WikiLeaks is doing nothing more than distributing the information that they receive. If they weren't getting this information, someone else would. These documents would be released whether WikiLeaks existed or not."
Hrafnsson is a far more taciturn character than Assange, and not one who seems to relish the spotlight. He emphasized in our November interview that WikiLeaks wants to “gradually put more emphasis on the leaks than on Wikileaks, and more emphasis on the organization than the founder.”
As for the impact of Assange’s potential arrest? “This is not a one man organization,” he said. “We will continue our work.”
"State Dept told us these were illegal activities. It was straightforward." The answer was met with boos from the mostly European audience.
Bedier basically admitted that PayPal has complied with governmental request, "We first comply with regulations around the world making sure that we protect our brand," he said...
When asked about Mastercard.com going down earlier today and whether or not Paypal had fears of retaliation, "One of the signs that you're a successful payments company is that hackers start to target you, this case isn't anything different."
And mastercard.com got taken down earlier in what is dubbed Operation Payback by Anonymous (good God no, don't unleash 4chan). Are we witnessing the first all out "war" between the established order and internet culture?
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Last edited by HPLovecraft; 12-08-2010 at 07:13 AM.
A group of whistleblowers including Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon papers; Katharine Gun, the former GCHQ translator who leaked documents about the Iraq war; and Craig Murray, Britain's former ambassador to Uzebekistan who sacked after revealing torture, have put out a statement in support of WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks has teased the genie of transparency out of a very opaque bottle, and powerful forces in America, who thrive on secrecy, are trying desperately to stuff the genie back in.
Ellsberg is quoted as saying:
Every attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.
Payment processor DataCell threatens to sue Visa and Mastercard over canceling WikiLeaks donations
The international credit card company, Visa, today ordered payments processor DataCell to suspend all of its transactions, just 23 hours after it cut off all donations being made to WikiLeaks.
DataCell, a small Icelandic company which facilitates transfers made by credit cards including Visa and Mastercard, says it will take up "immediate legal actions" to ensure that donations can once again be made to WikiLeaks.
Andreas Fink, the chief executive of DataCell, today warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and Mastercard, which have both suspended payments to WikiLeaks in the past week, could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide."
"Visa is hurting Wikileaks and DataCell in high figures," Fink said in a statement. "Putting all payments on hold for seven days or more is one thing but rejecting all further attempts to donate is making the donations impossible.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to Wikileaks which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension. This is not about the brand of Visa, this is about politics and Visa should not be involved in this."
[ . . . ]
If you want to donate, use wiretransfers. And make sure your local Visa partner knows that it is your sincere wish to donate to Wikileaks using your Visa card. We will do our best in the meantime to support Wikileaks.
ALSO, the former Australian Foreign Minister has just come out and blamed the US for the leaks, saying it is their responsibility to protect their own security.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Rudd said: "Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorised release of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications network. The Americans are responsible for that."
Mr Rudd, the former prime minister who was replaced by Julia Gillard in June, added: "I think there are real questions to be asked about the adequacy of [the US] security systems and the level of access that people have had to that material.
"The core responsibility, and therefore legal liability, goes to those individuals responsible for that initial unauthorised release."
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