that's a pitty for paypal, although I would urge wikileaks to open up files for russians as well, since what happened basically it's what we knew, realpolitik rules, most of my Lithuanian friends share the opinions of US diplomats on power play between US and Russia

In my estimate, this puts Paypal, Amazon and eBay up there with China for censoring information. They have just lost themselves a very loyal customer. Screw you, government lackies.

Oh come on. Ethics? If you want to talk ethics, they are actually doing the right thing. If I was a private company and I took material from another company that was stolen and then post it on my site, well, guess what happens? My site gets taken down. Now let's say I posted stuff about the mafia and it included the names of informers. Well, not only am I unethical but I am pretty slimy as well since I did it knowing full well I screwed the poor sobs who had informed on the mob. These private companies would be facilitating the breaking of the law if they continued to assist these immature boobs. Let's take it to another level. Would you say that anyone who spies against this country and then gives their information to a foreign government is an admirable fellow and should be hoisted on your shoulders instead of spending time behind bars as a spy? What if they were an American citizen during the cold war who gave secrets to the soviets? Is that person a spy and guilty of treason or a hero? And for all those people screaming about censoring etc, just grow up. You do realize that its amazing you can say what you want in the first place. That is the beauty of the united states. A private citizen can say whatever the heck he wants (within legal reasons that are the broadest in the world). When Assange's supporters start shouting about censorship in other countries where you actually get sent to jail (or worse) for offering opinions against the government, then I might start taking you seriously. Start screaming and hollering for Assange to get and release state secrets from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, heck, just Venezuela. Of course, I know that will never happen and that speaks volumes about your positions on ethics and whistleblowing.

When you have to start comparing the United States to 3rd world military dictatorship shit holes to say we don't have it as bad as them and grow up, then you know you have lost the argument.

“Encouraging illegal activity.” Hogwash. Whistleblowers are part and parcel of journalism. When the New York Times published The Pentagon Papers, did they “encourage illegal activity”? How about publishing secret internal documents from Enron or any other corporation, “stolen” and leaked without their permission? It's called journalism. The public has a right to know what their government is up to. And I for one seriously doubt PayPal would apply this “principle” evenly.

This is a scary thought for Paypal’s terms of service. Wikileaks had not been convicted of doing an illegal activity thus in effect they had not violated the Paypal’s TOS. If Paypal can do this with a large and popular entity, how much more with ordinary account holders?

[...] In a packet of documents [PDF] on what WikiLeaks is calling a “financial blockade,” the organization reveals it has been running on cash reserves since the end of 2010, when a number of financial and web services companies began denying service to WikiLeaks. [...]

[...] In a packet of documents [PDF] on what WikiLeaks is calling a “financial blockade,” the organization reveals it has been running on cash reserves since the end of 2010, when a number of financial and web services companies began denying service to WikiLeaks. [...]

[...] In a packet of documents [PDF] on what WikiLeaks is calling a “financial blockade,” the organization reveals it has been running on cash reserves since the end of 2010, when a number of financial and web services companies began denying service to WikiLeaks. [...]