Intro: "The Reykjavik District Court has ruled that Valitor, formerly known as VISA Iceland, violated contract laws by blocking credit card donations to Wikileaks."

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Frontline Club in London October 24, 2011. (photo: Luke MacGregor/Reuters)

WikiLeaks Wins Case Against VISA

By RT

13 July 12

he Reykjavík District Court has ruled that Valitor, formerly known as VISA Iceland, violated contract laws by blocking credit card donations to Wikileaks, according to a press release posted on the whistleblowers' Twitter account.

The court also ordered that the donation gateway should be reopened within 14 days otherwise Valitor will be forced to pay a fine of $6,200 daily. Valitor CEO Vidar Thorkellsson told Bloomberg, however, that the company would appeal the ruling. He declined to comment further.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said "This is a significant victory against Washington's attempt to silence WikiLeaks. We will not be silenced. Economic censorship is censorship. It is wrong. When it's done outside of the rule of law its doubly wrong. One by one those involved in the attempted censorship of WikiLeaks will find themselves on the wrong side of history."

The blockade stripped away over 95% of donations from supporters of WikiLeaks, costing the organization in excess of $20 million.

In June, Datacell, the Iceland-based company that processed donations for WikiLeaks, filed a case against Valitor, the company behind VISA and MasterCard, for "unlawfully suspending financial services".

Wikileaks faced a number of financial obstacles in 2010. When Master Card and other companies began to block payments to the site, Datacell allowed VISA card-holders to donate to Wikileaks via the company.

However, Visa banned its card-holders from donating to Wikileaks. Datacell's director Olafur Sigurvinsson told reporters he was amazed at the double stadards.

"I can support Al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, buy weapons and drugs and all kinds of porn with my Visa card. There is nobody investigating this, but I cannot support a human rights organisation which is fighting for freedom of expression," Sigurvinsson said.

Donating money is a basic right in every free society, agrees human rights activist Peter Tatchell.

“Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have not been charged with any offence, so to pre-emptively cut off the finances of a company that has not been found guilty of any crime, I think, is a very, very bad omen,” he told RT. “Once we give those companies the right to veto whose donations to which companies they would accept, we are on a slippery road not only to censorship, but indeed to an unfree society.”

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+27 # MJnevetS 2012-07-13 07:28

"we are on a slippery road not only to censorship, but indeed to an unfree society." We are no longer on the slippery road. We've arrived!

+17 # brux 2012-07-13 07:31

Yea!!!! A little late Iceland. Also it's hard to believe that the trumped up rape charges are still being hung over the head of Assange after so long. If he was going to be charged it should have been when the "crime" occurred.

+10 # ericlipps 2012-07-13 12:00

Visa has tipped its hand: it will appeal, and appeal, and appeal, for years if it can, and in the meantime the block on donations to WikiLeaks will stay in place. Even a $6,200.00 daily fine won't deter the company, which will accept it as a cost of doig political business. And if Visa finally wins on appeal, watch for the court to refund the fines already charged.

+5 # MJnevetS 2012-07-13 12:17

Ericlipps, you have a misapprehension of the law. There will likely (I say this, as I only practice in the US and I don't know the law in Iceland) be NO fine paid during the pendency of the appeal. In the US, Defendant would likely have to post money with the court, sufficient to cover the cost of what the fines would be during the course of the appeal, but even that is subject to judicial discretion.

0 # John Locke 2012-07-13 14:41

MJnevetS and it could be a supersedes bond or foreign equivalent!

0 # MJnevetS 2012-07-24 11:56

While I often disagree with John Locke, WHY would anyone give him a thumbs down for a correct statement of the law (in the US)?! (I gave you a thumbs up to reflect reality!)

-5 # Michael_K 2012-07-13 14:31

VISA obviously thought Obama would do the same protective job he did for criminal phone companies.

The problem is that even his accomplices can't trust him.. there is no honour among thieves.

+6 # Doll 2012-07-13 15:23

Let's here it for the Scandinavians, especially the Icelanders. They are showing us what real democracy looks like.

Scandinavian countries scored in the top five spots on a number of people friendly issues and the good ole US of A in the bottom five.

Iceland made the bankers eat their bad debts and rewrote their constitution - on line as I understand it. They are back on their feet. We could learn a lot from them.

Still, I sure wish they would give their volcanos more "user friendly" names.

+1 # Jyl 2012-07-14 09:01

What a pathetically miniscule fine - a drop in the bucket for a wealthy comglomerate. It would once have been mind-boggling to think that our credit card companies could control or curtail one's donations to those its executives don't personally approve of. Yet another step towards being bereft of freedom and liberty.

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.