Concerns to do with Wikileaks

I guess we haven't been hearing as much about Wikileaks in the news lately, but I'd like to comment. My overall opinion of that organization is mixed, but I am concerned about some of the response to their activities. Before I get to my main point, I'd like to briefly summarize some points that I've heard on different sides of the issue:

• Whistleblowers are doing society a favour when they expose government or corporate wrongdoing, not when they're revealing other confidential information. (For example, if my employer covered up an environmental incident, I would be protected if I blew the whistle. But if I revealed confidential financial data or details of their proprietary technology, I could be fired and maybe even sued.) These diplomatic cables that Wikileaks revealed are mostly confidential conversations between officials, not evidence of wrongdoing.
  
• In the past, Wikileaks has exposed some evidence of government wrongdoing, such as a video of American soldiers killing Iraqi civilians and journalists.
• When the media publishes confidential information, it's normally the source that gets punished (if the source can be found), not the media outlet.

My big concern about how authorities are treating Wikileaks is this: their simplest means of raising money are being cut off without proof in court that their activities are illegal. Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal all cut off Wikileaks from accepting donations by credit card, supposedly because the money was being used for illegal activities. While I agree that these companies shouldn't be facilitating illegal activities, the legal status of Wikileaks is murky. Their guilt has not been proven in court. What would you think if you got fired from your job and your bank account got suspended because someone from the government told your employer and your bank that you were doing something illegal, but you never had a chance to defend yourself in court? What's happening to Wikileaks seems similar to me.

Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal are for-profit corporations that collectively control a very large portion of the world's electronic financial transactions. I am concerned about the level of control that Mastercard and Visa in particular have over the world's financial transactions, but that's a topic for another day. But when most of your communication is online and your potential income comes from donations from around the world, you're crippled if these three companies refuse to deal with you. These companies shouldn't be allowed to cut organizations off like this without due process.

(Sources: I got some information here from Wikipedia.)