Donation payment channels to Wikileaks are being choked off by political pressure. The US State Department have had words with Paypal, Visa and Mastercard and all three have withdrawn their services despite Wikileaks not breaking any laws.
Check out this statement from DataCell, the hosting company that provides the payment gateway to Wikileaks donations.
Then, if you use any of the above payment services, go to your bank’s contact form and raise a complaint. They’ll have complaint resolution systems that force them to respond. Here’s what I just sent my bank.
I wish to complain about the withdrawal by Visa of payment services to DataCell Hosting Services, who provide the payment gateway used by Wikileaks. Visa’s claim that the service was suspended because of illegal activity, or to protect Visa’s brand name are both false and ridiculous. Wikileaks has not been shown to commit any crime, and it defies logic that Visa prefers to associate its brand with pornographers and gamblers than a legitimate news organisation. This illogical, politically motivated behaviour seems certain to expose Visa to financial risk and ultimately affect the cost and efficiency of the service it provides to me as a customer.
I eagerly await their reply.
Oh, and consider donating to Wikileaks – they’ve still got plenty of friends.