14 DAY TRIAL // Credit card donations to WikiLeaks were briefly re-opened last Thursday, but lasted only 24 hours with VISA quickly blocking the ban evasion.
A month ago, DataCell, the Iceland-based company that used to collect donations on behalf of WikiLeaks, warned VISA and MasterCard that it plans to file a complaint with the European Commission claiming violations of competition laws if service is not restored.
DataCell has been blocked from processing credit card transactions since December 2010, a measure that affected all of its customers, not just WikiLeaks.
The ban came at the request of VISA and MasterCard which together with PayPal and other organizations tried to financially isolate the whistleblowing site.
"Since 9th June 201, DataCell has not received any substantial answer from the credit card companies, besides confirmations of receipt.
"However, today we have observed that an alternative payment processor that we have contracted with, has in fact opened the gateway for payments with Visa and Mastercard, and now also for American Express Card payments, which is an option we did not had before," the company announced on Thursday.
DataCell interpreted the new development as a sign that credit card companies are trying to avoid a complaint to the European Commission, but it wasn't so.
In less than a day VISA realized there's a ban evasion and ordered the company's new Iceland-based payment provider, Valitor, to correct it. DataCell plans to file a complaint with the Icelandic Financial Authority to have Valitor's license cancelled.
It also instructed its legal team to file the complaint to the European Commission this week. "DataCell regards this action on behalf of VISA as a clear sign that they are not willing to solve the situation," the company said in a new press release.