WikiLeaks: million euros needed to secure survival

WikiLeaks is trying to get 1 million euros in donations by bypassing the Visa and MasterCard blockade through France’s Carte Bleue. The whistleblower site says it will run out of funds within a few months if money is not added quickly.

The French civil rights movement Fonds de Défense de la Net Neutralité has created an account with the French credit card system Carte Bleue to enable donations for WikiLeaks. Visa and MasterCard would be contractually bound to maintain the payment option via Carte Bleue and therefore not be able to block donations to WikiLeaks again, WikiLeaks claims.

Payments agencies such as Visa, PayPal, MasterCard and Bank of America ceased services to WikiLeaks in 2010 and prevented 95 percent of donations from reaching their target, according to the site. It would be an amount of more than 20 million dollars. The blockade followed notorious publications about classified US diplomatic communications and a video of US soldiers shooting at civilians.

WikiLeaks says it has had to draw on the cash reserves of the Wau Holland Foundation, which have shrunk from 800,000 euros at the end of 2010 to less than 100,000 euros in June this year. WikiLeaks’ reserves will dry up in a few months at the current spending pattern, the site says. WikiLeaks therefore wants to collect a minimum of 1 million euros.

The site calls for the circumvention to be used as soon as possible before it is cut off again. This happened earlier in the Icelandic detour via payment provider Datacell. However, the judge in Iceland ruled that Visa must comply with its contractual obligations and lift the block by July 26, on pain of a daily fine of 800,000 Icelandic kroner, or more than 5100 euros.