PayPal releases WikiLeaks’ funds, caving to pressure from supporters. Now paypal is down!!
UPDATE: As of 12:10am PST on December 9, Paypal.com is widely unreachable according to our own checks and numerous reports on Twitter. We are unsure of the cause for this downtime, but it is very likely that it is under a DDoS attack from WikiLeaks supporters.
In a reversal of course, PayPal has released funds remaining in an account associated withWikiLeaks according to a post on PayPal’s blog.
Last week, a statement from PayPal indicated, the company had suspended the account following claims by the U.S. that the activities of WikiLeaks violated the law. According to the report, PayPal acted of their own volition, without being contacted by any government agency.
Further, the spokesman for PayPal indicated that the company had “permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.”
Now it appears attacks from the supporters of WikiLeaks have caused PayPal to re-think their position.
“While the account will remain restricted, PayPal will release all remaining funds in the account to the foundation that was raising funds for WikiLeaks.”
“We understand that PayPal’s decision has become part of a broader story involving political, legal and free speech debates surrounding WikiLeaks’ activities. None of these concerns factored into our decision. Our only consideration was whether or not the account associated with WikiLeaks violated our Acceptable Use Policy and regulations required of us as a global payment company. Our actions in this matter are consistent with any account found to be in violation of our policies”
Release of the funds come after a slew of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks earlier this week aimed at WikiLeaks’ providers. The providers have refused to conduct any business with WikiLeaks after the U.S. government stepped up its pressure on the site, claiming the site’s actions are in violation of U.S. law.
What are your thoughts? Is PayPal right to reverse course and release WikiLeaks’ funds? Do you think WikiLeaks has violated any U.S. laws, and if so, which ones?
Operation Payback cripples MasterCard site in revenge for WikiLeaks ban
Hackers attack credit card company and Swedish prosecution authority as 'censorship' row escalates
Operation Payback appears to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on MasterCard. Photograph: AP
The websites of the international credit card MasterCard and the Swedish prosecution authority are among the latest to be taken offline in the escalating technological battle over WikiLeaks, web censorship and perceived political pressure.
Co-ordinated attacks by online activists who support the site and its founder Julian Assange – who is in UK custody accused of raping two Swedish women – have seen the websites of the alleged victims' Swedish lawyer disabled, while commercial and political targets have also been subject to attack by a loose coalition of global hackers.
The Swedish prosecution authority has confirmed its website was attacked last night and this morning. MasterCard was partially paralysed today in revenge for the payment network's decision to cease taking donations to WikiLeaks.
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous appear to have orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the financial site, bringing its service to a halt.
Attempts to access www.mastercard.com have been unsuccessful since shortly after 9.30am.
The site would say only that it was "experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website" but insisted this would not interfere with its ability to process transactions.
But one payment service company told the BBC its customers were experiencing "a complete loss of service" on MasterCard SecureCode. The credit card company later confirmed that loss.
MasterCard tonight said in a statement it was "working to restore normal service levels" after "a concentrated effort to flood our corporate web site with traffic and slow access." The company added: "It is important to note that our systems have not been compromised and there is no impact on our cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
MasterCard announced on Monday that it would no longer process donations to WikiLeaks, which it claimed was engaged in illegal activity.
Visa, Amazon, Swiss bank PostFinance and others have also announced in recent days that they will cease trading with the whistleblowing site.
The moves have led to concerted attempts by hackers to target companies they deem guilty of "censoring" WikiLeaks.
"We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal," a statement circulating online, apparently from Operation Payback, said.
"Twitter, you're next for censoring #WikiLeaks discussion. The major shitstorm has begun," it added.
Twitter has issued a statement denying it has censored the hashtag, and saying confusion had arisen over its "trending" facility.
Meanwhile it has also emerged that Visa has today ordered DataCell, an IT firm that helps WikiLeaks collect payments, to suspend all of its transactions – even those involving other payees – a day after it cut off all the firm's donations being made to WikiLeaks.
DataCell, a small Icelandic company that facilitates transfers made bycredit cards including Visa and MasterCard, says it will take up "immediate legal actions" and warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and MasterCard could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide".
Andreas Fink, chief executive of DataCell, said in a statement: "Putting all payments on hold for seven days or more is one thing but rejecting all further attempts to donate is making the donations impossible.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks, which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension.
"This is not about the brand of Visa; this is about politics, and Visa should not be involved in this.
"Visa customers are contacting us in masses to confirm that they really donate and they are not happy about Visa rejecting them. It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."
Earlier, PayPal, which has also been the subject of technological attack since it suspended payments to WikiLeaks last week, appeared to admit that it had taken the step after an intervention from the US state department.
PayPal's vice-president of platform, Osama Bedier, told an internetconference the site had decided to freeze WikiLeaks' account on 4 December after government representatives said it was engaged in illegal activity. "On November 27th, the state department, the US government basically, wrote a letter saying that the WikiLeaks' activities were deemed illegal in the United States and as a result our policy group had to make the decision of suspending the account," Bedier said. He added: "We ... comply with regulations around the world, making sure that we protect our brand."
His remarks will undoubtedly intensify criticism from supporters of WikiLeaks that the site is being targeted for political reasons.
Operation Payback, which refers to itself as "an anonymous, decentralised movement that fights against censorship and copywrong", and has been linked to the influential internet messageboard 4Chan, argues that such steps "are long strides closer to a world where we cannot say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas".
It added: "We cannot let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship.
"This is why we intend to utilise our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
The MasterCard action was confirmed on Twitter at 9.39am by user @Anon_Operation, who later tweeted: "We are glad to tell you that http://www.mastercard.com/ is down and it's confirmed! #ddos #WikiLeaks Operation: Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK"
PostFinance was successfully hacked on Monday after it shut down one of WikiLeaks' key bank accounts, accusing Assange of lying. Its service since has been seriously disrupted.
PayPal has also been targeted a number of times, but while its internal blog was paralysed for more than two hours, the payment processing facility has so far been able to withstand the attacks.
Other cyber attacks were mounted yesterday on EveryDNS.net, which suspended dealings on 3 December, while Amazon, which removed WikiLeaks content from its EC2 cloud on 1 December, may also be a possible target.
According to bloggers monitoring the cyber attacks, those involved in the protests have also been targeting the websites of US senator Joe Lieberman, who is an outspoken critic of WikiLeaks, and Sarah Palin, who said Assange should be treated like a terrorist.
Claes Bergstrom, the lawyer of the two women who claim Assange raped or assaulted them, confirmed his website was shut down overnight, as was the site of a lawyer representing Assange in Sweden. This was the first time such an attack had occurred, he said.
DDoS attacks, which often involve flooding the target site with requests so that it cannot cope with legitimate communication, are illegal.
WikiLeaks supporters disrupt Visa and MasterCard sites in 'Operation Payback'
MasterCard and Visa attacked after restricting dealings with WikiLeaks – and hackers say Twitter is next
Supporters of Julian Assange in London. WikiLeaks supporters Anonymous have launched a campaign of online attacks against perceived enemies. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
It is, according to one breathless blogger, "the first great cyber war", or as those behind it put it more prosaically: "The major shitstorm has begun."
The technological and commercial skirmishes over WikiLeaks escalated into a full-blown online assault yesterday when, in a serious breach of internet security, a concerted online attack by activist supporters of WikiLeaks succeeded in disrupting MasterCard and Visa.
The acts were explicitly in "revenge" for the credit card companies' recent decisions to freeze all payments to the site, blaming illegal activity. Though it initially would acknowledge no more than "heavy traffic on its external corporate website", MasterCard was forced to admit last night that it had experienced "a service disruption to the MasterCard directory server", which banking sources said meant disruption throughout its global business.
Later, Visa's website was also inaccessible. A spokeswoman for Visa said the site was "experiencing heavier than normal traffic" and repeated attempts to load the Visa.com site was met without success.
MasterCard said its systems had not been compromised by the "concentrated effort" to flood its corporate website with "traffic and slow access". "We are working to restore normal service levels," it said in a statement. "There is no impact on our cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions globally."
In an attack referred to as Operation Payback, a group of online activists calling themselves Anonymous said they had orchestrated a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the site, and issued threats against other businesses which have restricted WikiLeaks' dealings.
Also targeted in a dramatic day of internet activity was the website of the Swedish prosecution authority, which is currently seeking to extradite the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, on sex assault charges, and that of the Stockholm lawyer who represents them. The sites of the US senator Joe Lieberman and the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, both vocal critics of Assange, were also attacked and disrupted, according to observers. Palin last night told ABC news that her site had been hacked. "No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange's antics," Palin emailed ABC. "This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts."
An online statement from activists said: "We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal … Twitter, you're next for censoring #WikiLeaks discussion. The major shitstorm has begun." Twitter has denied censoring the hashtag, saying confusion had arisen over its "trending" facility.
A Twitter account linked to the activists was later suspended after it claimed to have leaked credit card details online.
Though DDoS attacks are not uncommon by groups of motivated activists, the scale and intensity of the online assault, and the powerful commercial and political critics of WikiLeaks ranged in opposition to the hackers, make this a high-stakes enterprise that could lead to uncharted territory in the internet age.
A spokesman for the group, a 22-year-old from London who called himself Coldblood, told the Guardian it was acting for the "chaotic good" in defence of internet freedom of speech. It has been distributing software tools to allow anyone with a computer and an internet connection to join in the attacks.
The group has already succeeded this week in bringing down the site of the Swiss bank PostFinance, which was successfully attacked on Monday after it shut down one of WikiLeaks' key bank accounts, accusing Assange of lying. A PostFinance spokesman, Alex Josty, told Associated Press the website had buckled under a barrage of traffic. "It was very, very difficult, then things improved overnight, but it's still not entirely back to normal."
Other possible targets include Amazon, which removed WikiLeaks' content from its EC2 cloud on 1 December, and EveryDNS.net, which suspended dealings with the site two days later. PayPal has also been the subject of a number of DDoS attacks – which often involve flooding the target site with requests so that it cannot cope with legitimate communication – since it suspended all payments to WikiLeaks last week.
A PayPal spokesman told the Guardian that while a site called ThePayPalBlog.com had been successfully silenced for a few hours, attempts to crash its online payment facilities had been unsuccessful.
The site suggested today its decision to freeze payments had been taken after it became aware of the US state department's letter saying WikiLeaks's activities were deemed illegal in the US.
Tonight PayPal said that it was releasing the money held in the WikiLeaks account, although it said the account remains restricted to new payments.
A statement from PayPal's general counsel, John Muller, sought to "set the record straight". He said that the company was required to comply with laws around the world and that the WikiLeaks account was reviewed after "the US department of state publicised a letter to WikiLeaks on November 27, stating that WikiLeaks may be in possession of documents that were provided in violation of US law. PayPal was not contacted by any government organisation in the US or abroad. We restricted the account based on our Acceptable Use Policy review. Ultimately, our difficult decision was based on a belief that the WikiLeaks website was encouraging sources to release classified material, which is likely a violation of law by the source.
"While the account will remain restricted, PayPal will release all remaining funds in the account to the foundation that was raising funds for WikiLeaks. We understand that PayPal's decision has become part of a broader story involving political, legal and free speech debates surrounding WikiLeaks' activities. None of these concerns factored into our decision. Our only consideration was whether or not the account associated with WikiLeaks violated our Acceptable Use Policy and regulations required of us as a global payment company. Our actions in this matter are consistent with any account found to be in violation of our policies."
PayPal did not explain how WikiLeaks violated this policy in their statement and requests for further information went unanswered.
There have been accusations that WikiLeaks is being targeted for political reasons, a criticism repeated yesterday after it emerged that Visa had forced a small IT firm which facilitates transfers made by credit cards including Visa and MasterCard, and has processed payments to WikiLeaks, to suspend all of its transactions – even those involving other payees. Visa had already cut off all donations being made through the firm to WikiLeaks.
DataCell, based in Iceland, said it would take "immediate legal action" and warned that the powerful "duopoly" of Visa and MasterCard could spell "the end of the credit card business worldwide". Andreas Fink, its chief executive, said: "Putting all payments on hold for seven days or more is one thing, but rejecting all further attempts to donate is making the donations impossible.
"This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks, which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension. This is not about the brand of Visa, this is about politics and Visa should not be involved in this … It is obvious that Visa is under political pressure to close us down."
Operation Payback, which refers to itself "an anonymous, decentralised movement that fights against censorship and copywrong", argues that the actions taken by Visa, MasterCard and others "are long strides closer to a world where we cannot say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas. We cannot let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship. This is why we intend to utilise our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
The MasterCard action was confirmed on Twitter at 9.39am by user @Anon_Operation, who later tweeted: "We are glad to tell you that http://www.mastercard.com/ is down and it's confirmed! #ddos #WikiLeaks Operation: Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK"
The group, Coldblood said, is about 1,000-strong. While most of its members are teenagers who are "trying to make an impact on what happens with the limited knowledge they have", others include parents and IT professionals, he said.
Anonymous was born out of the influential internet messageboard 4chan in 2003, a forum popular with hackers and gamers. The group's name is a tribute to 4chan's early days, when any posting to its forums where no name was given was ascribed to "Anonymous".
But the ephemeral group, which picks up causes "whenever it feels like it", has now "gone beyond 4chan into something bigger", its spokesman said. There is no real command structure; membership of the group has been described as being "like a flock of birds" – the only way you can identify members is by what they are doing together. Essentially, once enough people on the 4chan message boards decide some cause is worth pursuing in large enough numbers, it becomes an "Anonymous" cause.
"We're against corporations and government interfering on the internet," Coldblood said. "We believe it should be open and free for everyone. Governments shouldn't try to censor because they don't agree with it.Anonymous is supporting WikiLeaks not because we agree or disagree with the data that is being sent out, but we disagree with any from of censorship on the internet."
Last night WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said: "Anonymous ... is not affiliated with WikiLeaks. There has been no contact between any WikiLeaks staffer and anyone at Anonymous. We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks. We believe they are a reflection of public opinion on the actions of the targets."
What about shutting down WikiLeaks? Easier said than done, as it turns out...
News.com.au graphic showing number of WikiLeaks "mirror" sites after attempts to shut down the original. Picture: Simon Wright
WHAT have we learned from WikiLeaks? Among other things, that it's really bloody hard to kill a website.
Maybe even impossible.
What looks to be the biggest campaign in history to censor a single website has failed.
After a concerted, multinational effort to shut it down, WikiLeaks is still alive and kicking. In fact, it's kicking even harder than before.
There are now more than 500 websites around the world — called "mirrors" — containing the secret US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.
The whistleblower group says the mirrors "will make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the internet".
And you know what? It looks like they're right.
The mirrors were created by members of the internet community in response to a campaign in recent days to shut WikiLeaks down.
It began last Thursday, when the group's US website, wikileaks.org, stopped responding.
Amazon that day confirmed it had stopped hosting the site, after a plea from US Senator Joe Lieberman for organisations to cut ties with the group.
That wasn't too much of a hurdle for WikiLeaks, which signed up with a new hosting company in France.
Tableau Software followed suit shortly afterwards by removing graphs hosted on its servers showing where the secret cables had originated and what they were classified.
Then, on Friday, the company that operated the website name wikileaks.org cut its ties as well – effectively taking the group off the web.
But even that didn't stop WikiLeaks for long.
A few hours later the group had registered a new website name, wikileaks.ch, in Switzerland.
On Saturday, PayPal said it had "permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks", blocking financial transfers to the group.
Meanwhile, in France, Industry Minister Eric Besson began fighting to have WikiLeaks banned from the country. The company hosting the site, OVH, referred the matter to the courts.
"We have decided to ask a judge to rule on the legality or not of this site being on French territory," said OVH managing director Octave Klaba.
Before a decision was made, the WikiLeaks website stopped responding yet again. There was speculation that OVH had switched its servers off, but it's not clear what really happened.
The president of the Swiss Pirate Party, which was operating the wikileaks.ch website name, redirected traffic to another server in Sweden to fix the problem.
And it's about here that WikiLeaks decided to fight back.
On Sunday, the group began calling to its followers on Twitter to sign up and "mirror" the website. By Monday morning, there were hundreds of them. Right now, there's 507, all listed on wikileaks.ch.
News.com.au this morning tested a dozen of the mirrors, selected at random, to check they were active. 11 of the 12 were.
As well as the mirrors, the main site at wikileaks.ch is still active. It appears to be running off the server in Sweden, which has stayed online despite attacks.
The attacks made the website unresponsive for a short time overnight, but it seems to have recovered today. It's not clear who is behind the attacks.
If the Swedish server does fall, WikiLeaks is likely to turn to another backup, or may even return to France. So far the courts have not told OVH they are unable to host the site, according to reports.
But while WikiLeaks has won the fight to stay online for the moment, it's sure to face increasing pressure in coming days and weeks.
The whistleblower group has yet to publish the bulk of the diplomatic cables earning it the wrath of governments around the world. At the time of writing, only 913 of the 251,287 cables had been released.
