WikiLeaks stämmer VISA

WikiLeaks stämmer VISA på Island

för olaglig blockering av konto

RT 21 June, 2012
The world`s most famous whistleblowing website WikiLeaks is suing Valitor, formerly VISA Iceland, over suspension of financial services. The hearing is taking place before the Icelandic courts in Reykjavik on Thursday.

In a statement published on its website WikiLeaks announced the case is the first in a series of suits over the “unlawful” banking blockage.

WikiLeaks asserts that the financial blockade has been imposed by Visa Iceland on DataCell, the Iceland-based company processing donations for WikiLeaks, after the site published leaks in December 2010.



“Julian Assange was working in Iceland the winter of 2009-2010. After that, WikiLeaks actually produced a tremendously important leak which exposed corruption within Iceland. It shed light onto why the entire banking system of Iceland collapsed in 2008,” WikiLeaks press spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson explained to RT.

He added that WikiLeaks has been “starved of 95 per cent” of its funds.

DataCell signed an agreement with Valitor in June 2011, but after a short period of processing donations for WikiLeaks, Valitor terminated the agreement and closed the gateway, even though it had been previously tested and certified by the company.

Valitor has cited alleged violations by Datacell for collecting donations for a third party. Datacell, however, insists that Valitor was fully aware of the final recipient of donations.

http://www.rt.com/news/wikileaks-sues-visa-iceland-413/

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WikiLeaks pressrelease 2012-06-21:

Wikileaks has launched a case against

Valitor hf. (formerly VISA Iceland)

2012-06-21. Today, a hearing is taking place before the Icelandic courts in Reykjavik to callenge the unlawful suspension of financial services aganst Wikileaks.

Since 7th December 2010, after publishing the biggest leaks in journalistic history, an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade has been imposed by Visa against Datacell, the Icelandic base company processing the donations for the transparency publishing group WikiLeaks.

The case of DataCell ehf. against Valitor hf. (formerly VISA Iceland) is the first of many legal responses of WikiLeaks to the banking blockage. The case number is E-561/2012.

DataCell is an Icelandic/Swiss data company that provides data hosting and other technical services. WikiLeaks made a service agreement to DataCell and according to the agreement, the Iceland based company processed credit card donations to the WikiLeaks project.

Originally DataCell had a merchant agreement with a Danish credit card processing company, Teller AS. VISA Europe forced Teller to close the service in December 2010.

In June 2011 DataCell, due to the illegal closure, sought a new merchant agreement to be able to facilitate its customer to pay with credit cards and process donations to WikiLeaks. DataCell signed this agreement with the Icelandic company Valitor (Visa Iceland) in une 2011. The gateway was tested and certified by Valitor and subsequently opened.

After a brief period where donations had been processed to WikiLeaks, Valitor terminated the agreement and closed the gateway, without any plausible explanation.

Datacell´s demands in court are clear: that Valitor reopens the gateway and honours the signed merchant agreement.

Valitor has cited alleged violations by Datacell for collecting donations for a third party. Its argument does not hold as

a) such limitations refer to merchant sales and b) Valitor was fully aware of the intent to collect donations.

A decision by the Reykjavik District Court in this case is expected in 4-6 weeks.

Contact for comment:

Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, lawyer for DataCell sveinnandri@lr.is telephone: +354 894 7406

Kristinn Hrafnsson, spokesman for WikiLeaks khrafnsson@gmail.com telephone: +354 821 7121

http://wikileaks.org/Wikileaks-has-launched-a-case.html

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Bakgrundsinfo:

(2011)Exclusive: WikiLeaks loses

Icelandic financial lifeline

NEW YORK | Fri Jul 8, 2011
(Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lost a financial lifeline. Since December, bans by the world's major credit card networks, it has been difficult for supporters of the controversial whistleblower to send him donations.

But this week, WikiLeaks gained a brief respite with the unwitting help of an Icelandic bank.

The window was quickly closed.

On Thursday, WikiLeaks payments provider DataCell said it could start processing donations to Assange's group again, circumventing a months-long ban by Visa and MasterCard.

An Icelandic bank called Valitor had agreed to accept payments processed by DataCell, but DataCell did not tell Valitor that those payments would include donations to WikiLeaks, the bank told Reuters on Friday.

"Valitor was not informed that DataCell would be conducting these activities when their business agreement was made," spokeswoman Jonina Ingvadottir told Reuters in an emailed statement on Friday.

She cited Visa and MasterCard's prohibition on the "service such as DataCell is offering WikiLeaks."

The world's two largest credit card processing networks were among several companies to cut off services to WikiLeaks late last year after the whistleblower organization made public a massive trove of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

One person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Friday that Valitor had blocked the Visa and MasterCard WikiLeaks donations and terminated its contract with DataCell.

Fewer than 100 donations were processed before Valitor blocked the payments, the person said.

Other media outlets this week reported that it was Visa Europe that discontinued the WikiLeaks donations, but DataCell told Reuters that Valitor discontinued all donations to WikiLeaks it had been accepting.

The failed Valitor partnership is the latest blow to Assange, who has struggled to gain funding since the major payments networks stopped processing payments to WikiLeaks.

The Internet vigilante group Anonymous temporarily shut down the public websites of both Visa and MasterCard in December after the companies began their embargo.

Visa and MasterCard send money from bank to bank around the world, on behalf of consumers, companies, governments and other organizations. But those organizations, including WikiLeaks and its processing partner, need bank partners.

DataCell founder Olaf Sigurvinsson confirmed that Valitor had terminated the contract with his company this week. He told Reuters that when he signed the contract with Valitor, "it was absolutely clear that we were going to continue our proposal to collect donations," including to WikiLeaks.

He said DataCell has filed a complaint over Valitor's actions to the financial supervisor in Iceland, and that it plans to file one to the European Union.

Visa Europe spokeswoman Amanda Kamin said in an email on Friday that "an acquirer briefly accepted payments on a merchant site linked to WikiLeaks." She said as soon as this came to Visa's attention, action was taken. Kamin did not elaborate further.

MasterCard said it has not changed its position on the WikiLeaks donation embargo.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/08/us-wikileaks-payments-idUSTRE7675XL20110708

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USA:s & Bankernas kriminella

världsomfattande blockad

mot WikiLeaks:

- 27 November 2010: United States - US State Department intentionally and wrongfully imply (but do not formally state) illegal conduct by WikiLeaks in a letter to lawyers for Julian Assange, which they then immediately leak to the press...

- 29 November 2010: Global - Cablegate publication starts with New York Times, Der Spiegel, El Pais & the Guardian, expanding eventually to over 90 publications in over 50 countries.

- 29 November 2010 and following days:

United States - Assassination calls and declarations of war by US senators, pundits and media against WikiLeaks.

- 1 December 2010: United States/Global - Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks

- 2 December 2010: United States/Global - EveryDNS stops wikileaks.org domain service

- 3 December 2010: United States/Global - Paypal discontinues service

- 4 December 2010: Germany - PayPal blocks Wau Holland Stiftung’s (WHS, the foundation receiving donations for WikiLeaks) access to its account and freezes remaining money for 180 days.

The money is released immediately by PayPal after a WHS lawyer intervenes.

- 6 December 2010: Switzerland - Swiss Post Finance freezes Julian Assange Defence Fund account in Switzerland

- 7 December 2010: United States/Global - Visa and MasterCard stop processing payments to WikiLeaks.

Germany - A letter from the FA Kassel (Kassel tax department) to WHS Foundation, which receives donations for WikiLeaks, asked whether donations have been transferred to WikiLeaks. WHS responded promptly, with data detailing transfers to WikiLeaks

- 8 December 2010: United States/global - Updated Statement about WikiLeaks from PayPal General Counsel

- 9 December 2010: Global - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns blockade

- 12 December 2010: Iceland - Icelandic Parliament Considers Revoking Visa/MasterCard Licenses For Wikileaks Ban

- 15 December 2010: Germany - FA Kassel (tax department) announces WHS (the foundation that receives donations for WikiLeaks) charitable status may be revoked (pending investigation).

- 16 December 2010: Global - Amnesty International examines Human Rights at stake when blocking WikiLeaks payments

- 18 December 2010: United States/global - Bank of America discontinues any services intended for WikiLeaks

- 20 December 2010: United States - Apple removes WikiLeaks application for iPhones

- 21 December 2010: United States/Global - Western Union adds WikiLeaks to ’Interdiction List’

Global: UN and OAS Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression issue a Joint Statement Condemning the Blockade against WikiLeaks

- 26 December 2010: United States: New York Times Editorial Condemns Blockade

- 30 December 2010: Denmark/Global - Denmark-based contractor for VISA Europe and MasterCard, Teller AS, reports that WikiLeaks has not violated any VISA regulations, Icelandic or Danish laws.

- 1 January 2011: Germany – WHS Foundation, which receives donations for WikiLeaks moves its office from Kassel to Hamburg

- 13 January 2011: United States - US Treasury finds no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks

- 17 January 2011: UK - WikiLeaks Press conference with Rudolf Elmer

- 19 January 2011: Switzerland - Elmer is handed suspended sentence. He is the arrested without charge in connection with WikiLeaks press conference.

- 9 February 2011: United States/Global - Bank of America, who hired data intelligence firms HBGary, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies, is revealed to have commisioned a proposal of a systematic attack against WikiLeaks.

The proposal is leaked.

- 24 February/1 March 2011: United States – Ethics complaint filed at the DC Bar against law firm Hunton&Williams and members of Congress call for probe into illegal conduct by the firm (hired by Bank of America to sabotage WikiLeaks and target WikiLeaks’ supporters)

- 14 February 2011: Germany: FA Hamburg-Nord (tax department) drops Kassel investigation into WHS Foundation’s (which receives donations for WikiLeaks) charitable status, but initiates a new investigation on different grounds.

- 9 June 2011: EU - WikiLeaks & Datacell announce prospective EU Commission Complaint against VISA and Mastercard

- 7 - 8 July 2011: Iceland/Global - DataCell: Credit card donation to WikiLeaks is accepted again but VISA closes payments hours after

- 14 July 2011: EU - WikiLeaks & Datacell file a Complaint to the European Commission for infringement of the EU Anti Trust Laws

- 25 July 2011: Switzerland - Rudolf Elmer is released after 187 days in detention. He had not been charged.

- 24 October 2011: Global - WikiLeaks suspends publication to invest all resources in fighting the blockade.

Germany - Decision on revoking WHS (the foundation that receives donations for WikiLeaks) status is still pending; WHS has been prevented from opening new bank accounts in Switzerland and Germany for the past 9 months.

For information on

how to beat the banks visit

WikiLeaks donate page.

For further information on the banking blockade against WikiLeaks download this PDF.
A kit with full information on the blockade and tools to assist WikiLeaks through it can be downloaded here.

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---Video: Blockaden mot WikiLeaks---

http://undermattan.blog.com

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