Council of Europe - Declaration on online service
providers: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1883671&Site=CM
The Guardian Comment is Free (23 November 2012) by Glenn
Greewald:
click here
Video: U.S. demands to assassinate Assange - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZuQW0US2sJw
*Quote from Visa and MasterCard Submissions to the European Commission*
Visa's response to the European Central Bank:
"As you will no doubt be aware, in some
jurisdictions, various stakeholders have questioned whether WikiLeaks is, in
respect of some of the material it publishes, committing criminal acts. Our
Operating Regulations prohibit the use of the Visa system for illegal purposes
either in the jurisdiction of the merchant (in this case Iceland) or the
jurisdiction of the cardholder (which could be anywhere in the world). It is
possible that activities that are permitted in one jurisdiction may be illegal
in others. Accordingly, the application of the relevant position under the
Operating Regulations does not necessarily depend solely on Icelandic law.
This position is appropriate and proportionate in light of the alleged unlawful conduct of WikiLeaks, which, among other sensitive material, in 2010 published and refuses to return large amounts of material stolen from classified US military databases. Further, according to recent press coverage, it appears that the leaking of sensitive information is continuing."
MasterCard's arguments to the European Commission:
"MasterCard does not hold a collective dominant position with Visa... It is also worth mentioning here that MasterCard does not constitute an 'essential facility', and therefore is under no obligation to provide its services to any particular undertakings.
It is evident that any affiliation with an organisation causing damage to the national interests of several nations involved in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and possibly putting lives needlessly at risk, will be damaging for the public perception of MasterCard and consequently damage MasterCard's goodwill or its [trade]Marks.
By way of example, in 2004 MasterCard requested the
Dutch acquirer, then 'Interpay Nederlands B.V.' (now 'Paysquare') to suspend
the provision of acquiring services to merchants operating websites offering
access to pornographic material including showing sexual acts with animals
('bestiality content').
...before taking its decision, MasterCard Incorporated did not have any contacts with public authorities, and therefore did not act upon request from any public authorities.
MasterCard Incorporated had several conversations with the FBI, US Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the possibility of such DDoS attacks.
MasterCard Incorporated had conversations with certain Congressional staff (i.e. Chairman Lieberman and Chairman King's [Senate and House Homeland Security Chairs] staff)."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
