It was New Year's Eve last week, and I was making year-end charitable contributions. I went on-line and found a website to donate to Wikileaks. Julian Assange has been a virtual political prisoner for two years.
My Chase Mastercard "declined" the charge from an Icelandic organization which was accepting donations for Wikileaks, though I was nowhere near the credit limit and had never missed a payment. Since then, my card has declined everything I've tried to put on it, and two phone calls to the card service have not cleared up the situation. "Suspicious activity" said the voice at the other end of the line. "Did you authorize this charge?" Yes, I said, I did. "OK we'll take the hold off." But...
(Back in 2010, the US Government pressured VISA and Mastercard to refuse contributions to Wikileaks, starving them of support. This is the new definition of "free enterprise". The purpose of Wikileaks is to provide a safe conduit for whistleblowers who discover in the course of their work that governments or corporations are engaging in illegal behavior. Providing this conduit is now considered "terrorism", a new synonym for "freedom of speech".)
After a law suit last spring, Mastercard was reported to have backed down and permitted donations to Wikileaks.
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