WikiLeaks to file complaint against Visa, Mastercard: lawyer
Whistleblower website WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at the Troxy Club in London on July 2. WikiLeaks will lodge a complaint with the European Commission against credit card giants Visa and MasterCard if the two companies refuse to lift their ban on donations to the site, their lawyer said.
WikiLeaks will lodge a complaint with the European Commission against credit card giants Visa and MasterCard if the two companies refuse to lift their ban on donations to the site, their lawyer said Monday.
The controversial site that has infuriated the US by leaking thousands of diplomatic cables will file the complaint on Thursday if the ban is not lifted first, the site's Iceland-based lawyer Svein Andri Sveinsson told AFP.
WikiLeaks will also file separate complaints in both Denmark and Reykjavik, likely in September, hoping to recover the tens of millions of euros it says it has lost through the seven-month donation freeze, Sveinsson said.
"There are three battlefields in this case. One in Brussels, one in Denmark and one in Iceland," the lawyer explained.
At the commission in Brussels, WikiLeaks will charge that Visa and MasterCard have abused their dominant market position and violated European competition rules.
"Visa and Mastercard are not small companies down the street. Visa and Mastercard have a total dominant position on this market," Sveinsson said, noting the two companies control 96 percent of the European credit card market.
"They cannot behave as they want to. They have to have reasonable and logical motives, and they haven't," he complained.
The Brussels complaint will be filed through an Icelandic company affiliated with Wikileaks called Sunshine Press Productions and another Icelandic firm, DataCell, that handles WikiLeaks' donation collection.
In December, Visa and MasterCard imposed a ban on all payments made to WikiLeaks.
DataCell wants the freeze lifted, but also wants to be compensated for all funds it thinks it has lost over the past seven months.
"That's 130.000 euros per day," Sveinsson claimed. "If you count that over the period, that's an eight figure number. In euros."
The lawyer also insisted the site's work has been misrepresented by its enemies.
"Many people think WikiLeaks are hackers. But they're not, they're just another press organisation," he said.
"They get confidential information that is leaked to them ... They're not hackers, and they're not leaking the information themselves."
WikiLeaks' Australian founder Julian Assange became an international celebrity last year after his site leaked classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as private cables written by US diplomats, many of which contained embarrassing descriptions of foreign officials.
(c) 2011 AFP
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Jul 04, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Jul 04, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
rofl^2
Jul 05, 2011
Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
Visa and Mastercard have to be regarded as willful helpers.
Some people do see the destruction and try to fight it. Whether they are working directly for Wikileaks or in the judicial system doesn't matter.
Jul 05, 2011
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I'll post a review of Stainless Steel Rats somewhere.
Jul 05, 2011
Rank: 1.8 / 5 (4)
Fool.
Jul 05, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
WL is a Press organization. they leak real news. As people no longer read the newspaper but instead watch sound bites of news and internet headlines - a source that freely distributes contributions of information is the next logical step of in-depth reporting - turns into here's all the info that was gathered in your lap for you to make a judgment on.
How would the original Watergate story appear in today's world. It was a 10 page back and front news story 30 years ago. It was investigative work done and done well. There was a story that broke about Baseball steroid use that started in Kansas City that was 7 full pages giving background & telling news, how would that appear in today's world?
WL is an organization that every American should stand behind. It goes to our basic principals of freedom of press to report information that is found & is libel for lies
Jul 05, 2011
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Jul 06, 2011
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there are very few true conspiracies -- why? it is agreed that it is normally VERY hard to get more than 3 people to agree to do something that has questionable moral/ethical nature to the action. It is even harder to get this conspiracy to happen in highly regulated industries...
that being said -- Enron and a few other high profile conspiracies did happen -- but they all came to light because it is hard to get a group of people to all agree to break the law - and a whistle blower emerged -- we have seen 2-4 cases in the US in 20 years with publically traded companies -- private companies can be corrupt all they want to - but public companies have to disclose way too much information for it to last.
Banks have a lot of power - and in general the biggest are granted even more power and responsibility to protect the country basically. If you understand anything about the financial crisis you lived through know this -
The economy of the USA almost ceased to exist !!!
Jul 06, 2011
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--
I would love to address that far reaching and over generalized comment -- but i think i have reached the core of what most people think of when they think of banks post crisis ...
It is NOT the banks fault people are forclosing on their homes ... if you got an ARM for a house that means you really 1) couldn't afford the house or 2) your credit was crap and this was the only type of loan you could get. Buying a house is an ADULT decision and its bad politics for someone to say , Hey read your f*ing contract like an adult before you sign. The banks gave you money for a house and its up to you to understand the repayment structure.
Jul 06, 2011
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before this crisis only 5-7% of people actually defaulted on home loans. WHy beacuse they saved and saved and knew they had to have good credit and a down payment to buy a house - congress changed the rules to allow more people to get a home -- lowered the credit requirements that had been in place for 60 year -- lowered the down payment requirements that had been in place.
I have a better question for you ...
Why after over a hundred years of building houses - does the price per square foot keep increasing ??? It is the only industry where this happens. Are houses really worth what we have been paying for them or have we been getting f*ed from construction companies and general contractors for years???
the house i grew up in was purchased for 30k but got up to 130k in 20 yrs. what changed ?? nothing if anything the value of the house should have gone down because it should be easier to replicate the same structure with today's tools
Jul 09, 2011
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Jul 09, 2011
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A hundred years ago, a loaf of bread cost a few cents. Today, a loaf of bread might cost a few dollars. Clearly, bread has not become a hundred times better.
I suspect that the value of your house has actually decreased; it is only that the value of the dollar in terms of what it can be traded for has fallen more. I think this is what they call inflation, but it's really a result of profiteering.
Jul 10, 2011
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