PayPal suspends donations to WikiLeaks

BEIJING - PayPal, the online payments service, has blocked donations to WikiLeaks and to a German foundation that raises funds for it following the release of 250,000 confidential US government cables.

A statement on thepaypalblog.com dated Friday said PayPal had permanently closed the donations account because terms of service had been breached, adding that PayPal did not allow its service to be used for ‘illegal activities’.

According to the Daily Mail, the move by PayPal, a subsidiary of U.S. based online marketplace operator EBay Inc., came as another blow to the organisation that has embarrassed Washington and foreign leaders by releasing the secret cables.

WikiLeaks had become an Internet vagabond, forced to move from one website to another as governments and hackers hounded the organisation, trying to deprive it of a direct line to the public, the paper said.

Meanwhile, the web hosting company OVH has confirmed that it had been hosting WikiLeaks since early Thursday, after a client asked for a ‘dedicated server with… protection against attacks’, adding it was now up to the courts to decide on the legality of hosting the site on French soil.

WikiLeaks chief is likely to be arrested by British authorities and extradite him to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual molestation. Assange has been denying rape charges against him, and added at this point in time, he missed his country “a great deal”.

However Assange warned that he had sent the politically sensitive US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks to 100,000 people and they would be released if the website was brought down. He further stated that the cables had been copied in encrypted form and would be automatically published online if “something happens to us”. (ANI)