PayPal says US Government advised it to stop Wikileaks payments

[bobbyw24]

PayPal has said that its decision to stop users from using its service to make donations to Wikileaks was made after advice from the US government.

A senior official at the online payments firm said the State Department had told it that the activities of the website were illegal in the US.

PayPal suspended payments to Wikileaks last week, and has been followed by Visa Europe and Mastercard.

Amazon and Swiss bank PostFinance have also cut ties with Wikileaks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11945875

[noxagol]

"advice"

[pcosmar]

"advice"

Yes, advice.

"You have a nice family, It would be a shame to see anything bad happen to them."

:(

[fisharmor]

Ok, but here's the sticking point -
IS it illegal?
If someone can point out what law Wikileaks is breaking, it'll be news to me (but probably won't change my mind on the situation).
If nobody can point to a law which is broken, then this amounts to corporations terminating agreements with paying customers just because the govt told them to,
and they therefore probably deserve what they get in response.

[jrskblx125]

Yah. Advice lol. More like "advised"

[Matt Collins]

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x93/sonicspikesalbum/Campaign%20VI/Toldja.jpg

[Matt Collins]

Ok, but here's the sticking point -
IS it illegal?
If someone can point out what law Wikileaks is breaking, it'll be news to me (but probably won't change my mind on the situation).
If nobody can point to a law which is broken,
But that doesn't matter.

We don't have a rule of law anymore in this country (if we ever did). The government just makes stuff up when they need to.

[Mach]

As far as the corporations, it's easy, they line their contracts with so much bullshit that you could fart and they could cancel services and kick you out.

[Bern]

They gave them some advice they couldn't refuse.

[ItsTime]

Good old fashion extortion.

[RonPaulCult]

Paypal should have said - SEE YOU IN COURT

[PreDeadMan]

More like do what we say or we'll FORCE you to comply

[Pericles]

Paypal should have said - SEE YOU IN COURT
They are owned by eBay - you think eBay is going to rock the boat? They depend on the .gov to keep their gig going for untaxed NET transactions.

[TonySutton]

Why would the State Department discuss a legal matter with Paypal and why would Paypal listen? If anything the Department of Justice should have been the ones to contact Paypal.

This whole thing stinks to high heavens.

Maybe because the lawyers at DOJ know there are not any laws being broken...

[amy31416]

Honestly, I doubt it was very difficult to get Visa/MC to comply, given their attachment to banking institutions and the fact that banks are one of Assange's targets....

Just saying.

[fisharmor]

But that doesn't matter.

We don't have a rule of law anymore in this country (if we ever did). The government just makes stuff up when they need to.

Oh, I know.
But I choose to keep talking as if there is such a thing.
Perhaps if we start to control the discussion of what law is and is not, then we can get society back to the point of realizing that not only is the real purpose of law to serve individuals (NOT governments), but it's also possible for it to be marvelously uncomplicated.

Rule by law is not rule of law. FedGov doesn't stand on the moral high ground when it invents reasons to send this guy to the gulag, and I'm surprised more people aren't concentrating on that talking point.

Maybe we're jaded after seeing it happen to many times over the last decade.