WikiLeaks to hold talks with VISA to end payment ban

WikiLeaksWikiLeaks can resume releasing confidential files again if it solves its bitter dispute with Visa Europe over ban of payment to the controversial site. Earlier this year the site had stopped releasing confidential files due to lack of payments as the credit card companies such as Visa or MasterCard had stopped the donations towards the site under pressure from the US Government.

Iceland with which WikiLeaks has business links has taken a leading role in trying to end the blockade in Europe. Benedikt Jonsson, Iceland’s ambassador in London, said: ‘We alerted both parties that the embassy would host a meeting if that could help solve the dispute.’ Although the WikiLeaks representative acknowledged that the meeting was taking place, Visa Europe declined to discuss the meeting, but a spokesman said: ‘When a merchant wants to accept Visa payments, it must abide by our regulations and also the applicable laws in the country or countries where the cardholder and merchant are based.’

However it is unlikely that the dispute is going to end any soon. With pressure from the US government on basis that these releases harm the lives of many people, it is hard to see the credit card companies moving from their current position.

WikiLeaks to hold talks with VISA to end payment ban

News report by Adhir Roy Chowdury