Twitter user @anon_operation Current Target: www.mastercard.com | Grab your weapons here: http://anonops.net/anonops/Tools and FIRE!!! #ddos #wikileaks #payback

The massive cyber war to defend Wikileaks has continued and ‘hive’ numbers keep growing. Yesterday, at different times the hive claimed to be as many as a thousand individuals scattered worldwide joining into the collective and taking out targets blamed for persecuting Wikileaks.

MasterCard came under attack yesterday

“Please be advised that MasterCard SecureCode Support has detected a service disruption to the MasterCard Directory Server,” MasterCard said. “The Directory Server service has been failed over to a secondary site however customers may still be experiencing intermittent connectivity issues. More information on the estimated time of recovery will be shared in due course.”

One, target, PayPal has acknowledged US government pressure was behind their decision to freeze Wikileaks account. A swiss bank, PostFinance, VISA and MasterCard have withdrawn services in an effort to crush the whistle blowers.

Worldwide outrage has spawned a massive cyber revolution to counter state sponsored censorship, meanwhile in an ironic twist, the US state department is planning to host the World Free Speech Day in 2011

U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011
The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 – May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.

The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.

Yesterday, it was acknowledged that Julian Assange was being held on lesser charges to allow time for the US to assemble a greater case of espionage.

UPDATE: More irony

A cable from the Moscow embassy, dated 1st February 2010, details a new Russian card processing law which the embassy said would “disadvantage U.S businesses”, and urged senior US officials to take action. (click here).

“This draft law continues to disadvantage U.S. payment card market leaders Visa and MasterCard, whether they join the National Payment Card System or not,” it said.

Russia was considering whether to implement a new system of card payments (called NPCS), which would create a new payment processor run by Russia’s state banks. This would then handle all processing for domestic banking in the country.

“The fees for these services are estimated at Rb 120 billion ($4 billion) annually…the vast majority of Visa’s business in Russia is done with cards issued and used in Russia; with earnings from processing going to NPCS, Visa would no longer profit from these transactions.”

But there’s a second spokesperson for WikiLeaks who has been coming into the spotlight over the last few months: Icelandic investigative journalist and WikiLeaks staffer Kristinn Hrafnsson. Hrafnsson has been working with the whistleblowing group since April, and as Assange has become more reclusive and had his travel restricted by legal threats, Hrafnsson has become an increasingly visible spokesperson.

Operation Payback is also taking fire from DDoS attacks with its main site going on and off line.

The new face of Wikileaks Kristinn Hrafnsson

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