Credit card giants stop WikiLeaks donations

7 Dec 2010

We have been processing credit card donations for Wikileaks for 2 months now when the credit cards giants MasterCard and Visa are suspending our accounts due to the processing of donations to WikiLeaks.

We have been contacted by Visa Europe requesting DataCell to suspend all donations to WikiLeaks. We have not heard from MasterCard so far. With the advice with our lawyers, we have decided that we will not honor such requests because it is based on untrue and unverified accusations, and there is no jurisdiction ground to do so.

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The right to the freedom of speech is sanctioned as the basic human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a internationally recognized human rights law, ratified in most European, Inter-American and African legislations.

It is simply illogical to even think of WikiLeaks has done anything unlawful. If WikiLeaks were criminal, then CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and many other journalism channels would have to be considered unlawful as well because they, too, publish the same information. No authorities have ever tried to shut them down and we can still subscribe to the New York Times and pay with our credit card.

We have not heard of any criminal accusations about WikiLeaks anywhere else in the world. It is our honour to process and collect donation money on WikiLeaks behalf, for which they fight to uphold justice and truth and to fight for basic human rights. DataCell processes donation by credit card for WikiLeaks and we are helping them to source the funding they need for day-to-day operation such as server hosting fees.

If large companies such as Visa or MasterCard, who are duopoly on the credit card market, succumbed to political influence over fair trade rules, then they would better be ready to own up the damage they have done and lose a big chunk of their business. It might be very well the end of the credit card business.