WikiLeaks wins battle against Visa and MasterCard in Iceland

[Jan]

Wikileaks: 1, Visa and MasterCard: 0

Icelandic courts rule that Visa and MasterCard must process donations to WikiLeaks or face 800,000 kronur (about $6,000) daily fines.

 

[copacetic]

Excellent.

 

[Gambit]

$6000 a day fine is nothing for these companies. They might just continue blocking and pay the fine instead. I suppose wikileaks doesn't get the fine money so they will still be screwed.

 

[w1z4rd]

Well done!

What mastercard and visa did was douche. Who are they to tell you what politics you should be involved in.

 

[LazyLion]

and how much money are they likely to really get from such a small country like Iceland?

It's a pyrrhic victory

 

[elvis_presley]

Well done!

What mastercard and visa did was douche. Who are they to tell you what politics you should be involved in.

They don't tell you - Visa/Mastercard's customers did. Visa/Mastercard feared a boycott from large companies that got Wikileak'd (I seem to remember them being threatened about it), so took evasive action. This way, they can continue to process payments, Wikileaks can get their money, and Visa/Mastercard can say "hey, we tried to block them, but you read the news? We were forced to unblock them".

Everyone wins! Except Bafana Bafana. You can bet they'll continue losing.

 

[Centronix]

Awesome news. Hope they don't get involved in politics again.

 

[grok]

Fscking bankers!

 

[copacetic]

Fscking bankers!

A wunch of them.

 

[MiY4Gi]

Great victory in the battle against financial freedom.

 

[ponder]

and how much money are they likely to really get from such a small country like Iceland?

It's a pyrrhic victory

Gary,

It's irrelevant. The issue is people paid money to someone/body. You can't decide for me whether I give my money to rema church, the replublicans or the spca. They overstepped their bounds on so many fronts it's appalling. If I wanna donate money to the church of scientology or the smurfs it's fsckall of your business.

Edit: My post is just an example and not aimed directly at you

 

[d0b33]

If I can donate to the KKK why not wikileaks? sue them hard!

 

[LazyLion]

Gary,

It's irrelevant. The issue is people paid money to someone/body. You can't decide for me whether I give my money to rema church, the replublicans or the spca. They overstepped their bounds on so many fronts it's appalling. If I wanna donate money to the church of scientology or the smurfs it's fsckall of your business.

Edit: My post is just an example and not aimed directly at you

I said it is a pyrrhic victory, because Iceland is just one small country. What are they going to do about all the other countries where they are still blocked? The point is, that the major part of the blockade remains in place around the world.

 

[ponder]

I said it is a pyrrhic victory, because Iceland is just one small country. What are they going to do about all the other countries where they are still blocked? The point is, that the major part of the blockade remains in place around the world.

That needs to get fixed via the courts.

 

[Saajid]

They don't tell you - Visa/Mastercard's customers did. Visa/Mastercard feared a boycott from large companies that got Wikileak'd (I seem to remember them being threatened about it), so took evasive action. This way, they can continue to process payments, Wikileaks can get their money, and Visa/Mastercard can say "hey, we tried to block them, but you read the news? We were forced to unblock them".

Everyone wins! Except Bafana Bafana. You can bet they'll continue losing.

Hahahaha. +1 funny man

 

[Sodan]

I would have liked to be able to say "Now that's priceless!"
But still on a positive note, I'll say sets a good precedent.

 

[moosag]

They don't tell you - Visa/Mastercard's customers did. Visa/Mastercard feared a boycott from large companies that got Wikileak'd (I seem to remember them being threatened about it), so took evasive action. This way, they can continue to process payments, Wikileaks can get their money, and Visa/Mastercard can say "hey, we tried to block them, but you read the news? We were forced to unblock them".

Everyone wins! Except Bafana Bafana. You can bet they'll continue losing.

Hahahaha! Class!! So True... Bafana are useless!

 

[zamicro]

I said it is a pyrrhic victory, because Iceland is just one small country. What are they going to do about all the other countries where they are still blocked? The point is, that the major part of the blockade remains in place around the world.

With everything being online, they just need one place to process payments. If you buy something from an online store, they do not need payment processors in each country.

 

[LazyLion]

http://mobile.news.com.au/technolog...-visa-mastercard/story-e6frfrnr-1226424977903

The implications of the judgment weren't immediately clear.
Even if Valitor chooses to comply with the judgment, it isn't clear whether Visa or MasterCard would still allow their customers to make donations to DataCell or WikiLeaks.
Neither Visa nor MasterCard immediately returned emails seeking comment on the judgment.