MasterCard and Visa Start Banning VPN Providers 353
Nyder sends this quote from TorrentFreak:
"Swedish payment service provider Payson received an email stating that VPN services are no longer allowed to accept Visa and MasterCard payments due to a recent policy change. ... The new policy went into effect on Monday, leaving customers with a two-day window to find a solution. While the email remains vague about why this drastic decision was taken, in a telephone call Payson confirmed that it was complying with an urgent requirement from Visa and MasterCard to stop accepting payments for VPN services. 'It means that U.S. companies are forcing non-American companies not to allow people to protest their privacy and be anonymous, and thus the NSA can spy even more.'"
Oddly, this comes alongside news that MasterCard has backed down on its financial blockade against WikiLeaks.
US considered hostile (Score:5, Informative)
Don't use US services.
Re: You know a monopoly is present (Score:3, Informative)
It's not really a private company decision. US financial control authorities merely disallow any money transaction company that flouts their political controls. It is not allowed to have a non US based credit card network.
Oh, fuck off. (Score:2, Informative)
"I would guess" you're making shit up. You're willing to throw out anonymity and privacy because some people might be circumventing copyright somehow? You're pathetic. (Or you're a government astroturfer. But I repeat myself.)
Re:Oh whatever (Score:5, Informative)
I use a VPN service (VyprVPN). I'm a USian.
My primary reason for using it is that many "open" hotspots have filters. These filters often filter out content that is merely "politically inconvenient", usually to the Religious Right. Since a lot of the web filtering software has ties to these self-appointed censors, they tend to be very aggressive on what they filter.
VyprVPN allows me to access these sites even from behind this restrictive filtering.
Re:Request, and suggestion... (Score:5, Informative)
You can find a good rundown of privacy and payment options for a lot of popular VPN services here: http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/ [torrentfreak.com]
Basically, if you so choose, you can use a VPN service very anonymously.
Re:Oh whatever (Score:5, Informative)
They made it harder for non-Americans to pretend to be Americans and subscribe to things like netflix. Lots of people want to pay for content, content that is not available in their country or content that is much cheaper in the States so they get a VPN to pretend that they're somewhere else.
Re:And thus it begins (Score:4, Informative)
Here is the reference you asked for [wikipedia.org]. I can forgive you for not realizing you had this right, given how seriously US/UK some EU and commonwealth nation states are ignoring and openly pissing on basic human rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
A right to privacy is explicitly stated under Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.[14]
[14] United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved October 7, 2006 from http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.htm [un.org]