(The case is updated July 5)
The two international card and payment giants Visa and Mastercard must have decided to deny consumers to pay VPN and anonymisation services online using their cards, according to the website TorrentFreak.
Norwegian security authorities are both surprised and concerned by the decision, but Visa Europe denies that the claim originated from them.
cut payment solution
This week heralded the Swedish payment processor Payson that VPN services that make use of their payment solution will no longer accept payments with the very widely used payment cards.
In Norway, for example, an average of 1.85 per Visa card. Norwegian, and the company was in 2012 for 43.3 percent of transactions concerning private consumption.
– Payson restrictions on anonymity (including VPN services). Therefore, Payson no longer give their customers the option to pay by credit card (Visa or Mastercard), according to Payson email sent out to their customers.
Payson has confirmed to TorrentFreak that the reason underlying the urgent demands from both Visa and Mastercard to drop the payment of VPN services immediately (Effective from 1 July 2013.) Visa Europe disprove this .
ANGRY: Peter Sunde, one of the founders of website The Pirate Bay, driver VPN service Ipredator no longer be allowed to charge to Visa or Mastercard. Photo: Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
The Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde’s VPN service Ipredator is one of several companies that received notice from Payson via email. Sunde told TorrentFreak that he was very surprised by the message.
– This means that U.S. companies are forcing non-US companies to deny people to protect their privacy and remain anonymous, and thus, NSA spying even more. It’s madness, says Sunde.
Read also: Norwegians stopped Wikileaks money
He adds that there are several other options for accepting payment, such as Bitcoin, but believes it is outrageous for Mastercard and Visa has decided to ban legal technology.
– It is madness to censor a comprehensive legal system that is in place to avoid censorship and surveillance, says Sunde.
a very important and central point is after all the VPN is not in any degree intended for illegal file sharing, and the main benefits is precisely to use the freedom to refuse to let the monitor.
VPN is as important for journalists working in exposed parts of the world or the need to protect their sources, and the technology is also used by human rights activists, politicians, business people, police and engineers.
It is speculated that in general no payment applies only to the five Swedish VPN providers, all customers of Payson.
deliberation Worthy
Bjørn Erik Thon, Director of Inspectorate, find it alarming that the addition of such obstacles to be anonymous online.
GOING AGAINST THE IDEA BEHIND THE INTERNET: There should be possible to be anonymous online, says Bjørn Erik Thon, Director of the Inspectorate. Photo: Ole Petter Stokke Baugerød
– I do not even know the reason from Visa and Mastercard, and there are quite some guesses. But I think it is important to have the option to remain anonymous. I stand hesitated for a development where companies prevents anonymity in this way, he says.
He points out that the idea behind the internet is to discover, explore, share information and learn. It is not a tool for the police, as some believe.
These days, with big data and more opportunities to use this type of information than ever, we understand that many well-Thon both want and need to remain anonymous.
– We should welcome the service that allows you to be anonymous online, says Thon.
moralism
Security Expert Per Thorsheimveien is also one of those very taken aback when he heard about the payment giants decision.
– It is very surprising about these companies on their own initiative to filter out such services, says Thorsheimveien.
He further points out that it is only to look at what is happening in Syria and Egypt to understand that there is an important need for anonymity services and VPN for positive purposes.
IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS: Security Expert Per Thorsheimveien points out the importance of anonymization services online. Photo: Leif Martin Kirknes
– I want to believe that the ones who make and sell VPN services have as their primary purpose is to facilitate you to watch American television shows online, he adds.
It is after all a matter of legitimate companies that are neither judged or reviewed for anything, and a blockage of payment for legitimate companies is after all not normal business practice.
– It smells a little too much moralizing and generally in business, one should stick to the law and not private morality, says Thorsheimveien.
He draws, as several have also made comparison to the decision of Visa, Mastercard and American Express to stop payments to the website Wikileaks. What really lies behind, is speculation at this time.
Read also: Wikileaks closed
– It’s tempting to believe that even in that case there was a political backdrop that are not yet known. It was not enough companies came forward to it on its own merit, says Thorsheimveien.
is impossible
– My first reaction was that “this is the impossible,” begins Øystein Jakobsen, leader of the Pirate Party.
He says everyone has the right to protection from control and lovovergrep.
– For these two rights to work effectively, you must also have the right to safe communication and payment. One party should not be able to control this, whether it’s Visa or government, says Jakobsen.
He points out, as Thorsheimveien also talked about the similarities with the Wikileaks affair where Visa, Mastercard and American Express was denied payment, even if they were not lovdømt for anything.
Read also: Wikileaks suing card companies
– Then we saw this kind of abuse. Because they were not popular in a state, then lost the ability to bring in money, Jakobsen explains, adding that “even George Orwell would have the imagination to imagine the society we have now.”
Øystein Jakobsen, head of the Pirate Party. Photo: Pirate Party (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Pirate manager believes that the government must take such incidents seriously, because if we want the citizens to have the opportunity to interact and communicate without the influence of others, it must be able to remain anonymous.
– There is a constant pull towards a controlled society, and here I mean the government should step in – the Pirate Party will do – and to guarantee net neutrality, says Jakobsen
He points out that the reason we have the basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech and the right to safe and secure communication is that if we, at one time or another disagree with the government, so they will not sit at all cards.
– There is a aroganse taken to the extreme, that government knows best. Freedom can be used for activities we do not like and why should this freedom be removed. That is why this happened.
– This is not an attitude that pirate party parts, he concludes.
Pirate Party otherwise has also published an article about the case.
Visa refuses
(UPDATED 04 July 2013 17:53) TorrentFreak has updated the case and wrote that Visa Europe believes it is actually the bank to Payson behind.
Bank acts as intermediary between the payment provider that Payson and card issuers such as Visa and Mastercard.
Visa told TorrentFreak that they “have not been involved in the matter in any way, and never made any such claim to either Payson or any other organization.”
(UPDATED 5th July 2013 13:20) A spokesman for Visa Europe confirmed to Computerworld that “Visa Europe has not been involved in this matter in any way, and has not made any such claim to Payson or any other organization. “
It is therefore possible that involve internal relationship between Payson and their bank, and not a requirement by Visa or Mastercard.
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