Credit card blockade of WikiLeaks donations likely to be legal, EU says
A blockade on WikiLeaks payments processor DataCell by Visa, MasterCard and American Express is unlikely to violate E.U. competition rules.
A blockade on WikiLeaks payments processor DataCell by Visa, MasterCard and American Express is unlikely to violate E.U. competition rules.
DataCell, an Icelandic company that accepted donations on behalf of WikiLeaks, filed a complaint with the European Commission earlier this week against Visa Europe and MasterCard Europe for halting its ability to process payments.
For a few hours on Thursday, credit card donations once again flowed to WikiLeaks through a payment gateway at Icelandic hosting company DataCell. Then Visa shut it down again.
WikiLeaks' card payment processor is preparing legal action against Visa Europe, MasterCard Europe and other payment intermediaries after its contract to process payments was abruptly terminated following WikiLeaks' release of secret U.S. diplomatic cables last November.