OntheWilderSide

(excerpt from) The Tech Herald
Cablegate: Visa and MasterCard face legal problems over WikiLeaks blockade
Full story: here.
by Steve Ragan – Jul 3 2011, 03:25

After more than six months of preparation, WikiLeaks and DataCell are moving forward with a lawsuit, looking to end the financial blockade brought by Visa and MasterCard. According to WikiLeaks, Visa Europe, MasterCard Europe, and Teller are the three businesses highlighted by the complaint.

“…U.S. influenced, financial blockade…”

On December 7, 2010, DataCell announced to the world that Visa Europe suspended their accounts due to them processing donations to WikiLeaks. They were asked to stop processing donations in exchange for service restoration, but DataCell refused, explaining that the request to do so was based on untrue and unverified accusations.

A day later, DataCell’s payment processor, Teller, started suspending all Visa transactions through DataCell, on the request of Visa Europe. The reasoning behind Visa Europe’s request was to “investigate the case in order to protect the Visa brand name; and to make sure neither payment processor nor Visa Europe is doing illegitimate transactions to fund the WikiLeaks website.”

For those same reasons, Teller suspended DataCell’s MasterCard account as well. The block on DataCell has prevented them from collecting WikiLeaks-related donations, as well as collecting payments via credit card for other services, including their primary business as a data center and hosting provider.

“… [Visa] is clearly an attempt trying to undermine WikiLeaks through financial mean. This is not about the Visa brand name. This is about politics. Visa should not be involved in it (sic),” DataCell said in a statement.

In March, Teller said that they found nothing wrong with DataCell’s processes within the legal framework governing the credit transactions. They asked that Visa Europe, as well as MasterCard Europe, allow them to reopen DataCell’s accounts. Visa Europe refused, and MasterCard’s stance is unknown, but it is understood that they were working with Teller on the matter.

However, the fact that DataCell was still unable to process payments led them to announce the hiring of a legal team in Iceland, Denmark, and U.K. “…to present our case in the courts.”

“Our goal is to get the justice fulfilled. We believe it’s our right to conduct businesses in a legal way just like any other companies. The legal opinion we have got from our law firms and legal professors around the western world is, simply, Visa behaves like the worst kind of mafia with their behaviour…It’s not in the hands of Visa to decide what is illegal and what’s not.”

When speaking to Icelandic media, DataCell’s founder, Olaf Sigurvinsson, added to his company’s statements.

“…I can support Al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, buy me a weapon, drugs and all kinds of porn with a Visa card…while I can not support human rights organization which campaigns for freedom of expression.”

Actions that are in “…violation of EU competition laws …”

On Saturday, WikiLeaks announced that the firm of Bender von Haller Dragested in Denmark and the Reykjavik Law Firm in Iceland warned both Visa and MasterCard that if the U.S. influenced financial blockade “…is not removed they will be litigated in Denmark and a request for prosecution will be filed with the EU Commission.”…

Information about how to donate to Wikileaks is
at the Wikileaks website: here

Kimberly’s video about Wikileaks and freedom:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpuxaugjMs]

Filed under: News Tagged: | activism, Bender von Haller Dragested, corporate responsibility, DataCell, EU, EU Commission, financial institutions, Free Speech, Freedom of the Press, government accountability, government transparency, Human Rights, Julian Assange, legal actions, MasterCard, Mastercard Europe, Olaf Sigurvinsson, Teller, the banks, transparency, Visa, Visa Europe, Wikileaks, Wikileaks song