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.
You know a monopoly is present (Score:5, Insightful)
When it's impossible to boycot the bad guy...
Oh whatever (Score:5, Insightful)
> '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.'
That's rather bias. It also means that people are no longer able to circumvent geo locks on media content, avoiding the current media distribution models and laws. Some people are protecting their privacy, but I would guess the vast majority just want to watch Game of Thrones.
Re:Bitcoin (Score:4, Insightful)
Bitcoin has no privacy, or complete transparency, depending on your viewpoint.
Re:Oh whatever (Score:5, Insightful)
That people pay VPN services to bypass geo locks means they have money to pay *something* to watch that content. Media companies should take note and offer more reasonable pricing for content globally. All they are accomplishing by getting Visa and Mastercard to collude with them is forcing people to use even less legal methods to get content.
"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore
This is why... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why we need a payment system that does NOT rely on PayPal, Visa, or MasterCard.
And I guess this is why the US Govt. is trying to shut down bitcoin so hard....
Re:Good For Them (Score:5, Insightful)
As somebody who used to live and work in China, I find this to be rather unfortunate. VPNs are neither good nor bad by any inherent reasoning, but what this means is that people in regions that have oppressive regimes are going to find it harder to get access to the web unfiltered as it's going to be harder and harder to fund the services.
Ultimately, if the US government has had any input in this, it's going to bite them on the ass. Well, it will bite them on the ass, regardless of causation.
Re:You know a monopoly is present (Score:5, Insightful)
Because it's their network and no regulatory body has told them no. Doesn't make it right, but that's how it is until somebody steps in and says no.
Hmm, maybe they should... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm, maybe they should rename their services. "Remote internet ISP services" or "SSL internet connection", or some other obfuscated name. They can't ban everything associated with the internet.
Re:Oh whatever (Score:2, Insightful)
Game of Thrones' Lord Vaerys: The content of a man's letter is more valuable than the content of his purse.
Two thoughts. (Score:5, Insightful)
2) I make use of these usurious parasites' services because it lets me conveniently move my money from place to place without worrying about the security of either cash or my real bank accounts, and I can essentially do all my spending with one tidy itemized monthly bill. If I can no longer use Visa to purchase the goods and services I want, I no longer have a reason to use Visa at all.
And a bonus thought, for good measure - For those talking about the NSA or Bitcoin - This involves regional protection of content, a favor to Hollywood, nothing more and nothing less. At least direct your vitriol in the right direction, folks.
Re:Good For Them (Score:5, Insightful)
It just looks like the gloves came off with the whole Snowden affair. They now know they can get away with pretty much anything and the propaganda machine will keep up appearances well enough for the masses to accept it, and as a result the two-faced "protecting the freedom" with all its problems like VPNs can be finally finished.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Boycott VISA MASTERCARD. Start using BITCOIN. (Score:5, Insightful)
Learn to use Bitcoin instead of VISA and MASTERCARD.
Sure. How do I buy bitcoins without using Visa or MasterCard (or Paypal)?
alternatives? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hello,
Does the ban extend to VPS providers like Linode and Lowendbox (et al), or cloud services like Amazon AWS or Google Cloud which could host a VPN? If not, perhaps provisioning a VPN server is one of these is an alternative.
Credit card companies and payment processors might be less willing to suspend operations with Amazon or Google.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Re:Lo-Tek Solution? Perhaps ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Your cheque is an order to the bank to pay $X to Y. If your government outlaws Y, the bank cannot honour your order.
At the moment, banks have a smallish list of countries and companies that have been outlawed, and so the bank cannot pay tme anything. These are organizations/countries claimed to be in of support of terrorism. If the government in question can argue VPNs enable terrorism, they can add VPN companies to the list.
--dave
Re:Boycott VISA MASTERCARD. Start using BITCOIN. (Score:5, Insightful)
Heh, that local bitcoins site is great. "Meet me outside my apartment building and hand me cash, and sure enough you'll get some bitcoins, I promise, pinky swear".
Anyone with any better advice?
Re: And thus it begins (Score:5, Insightful)
Nah, technology adapts far easier and quicker against them than at their favor. Visa and Mastercard are hardy the only ways in existence to exchange money and as they become more and more restrictive other options are sure to fill the void.
Right... it is ultimately to their detriment to adopt these policies.
They are creating a motivation and a market for other companies to replace them
Re:Hmm, maybe they should... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, they can. That's why this is so scary. ISPs are VPN providers just waiting to happen. Every ISP that provides shell accounts can easily become someone's VPN provider, through no fault of their own.
First, they came for the VPN providers....
Re:US considered hostile (Score:5, Insightful)
A nation (or to be fair, its administration) that continually bullies its own people and citizens of other nations cannot expect to be treated as anything but a pariah. Trouble is, I don't see any other governments having the courage to stand up to the US.
Re:Boycott VISA MASTERCARD. Start using BITCOIN. (Score:3, Insightful)
Uhhm, you _can_ verify that. Just whip out your phone and make sure the coins were sent before you give cash or buy from someone well trusted.
Re:This is why... (Score:2, Insightful)
No, you can't.
Suppose there were only 10 bitcoins in the world all sequentially numbered, and I owned number 2 and 5. If I want to pay Paul a bitcoin, I tell everybody on the bitcoin peer network that I am giving him coin 2. Everybody now knows he has coin 2. Unless he tells everybody that he is giving away 2, your CPU can't interject and say "guess what guys, I have 2", I don't care if it was invented by god and jesus combined.
If you think you can, put up or shut up: Show us the math.
Re:And thus it begins (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: And thus it begins (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole "I read it in X, they say it on Y, so it must be true" fallacy stems from the misconception that "free press" means that the press tells the truth. While they MAY, unlike in countries where the ruling powers dictate what they may print, no law dictates that they MUST do so.
The press is still held in pretty high esteem in large portions of the population, mostly because of what they did in the past. The press actually earned that reputation. We did actually have some high quality reporters and a lot of very good journalists that critically analyzed events around the globe and tried to offer enough insight to give people the "other side" of what governments and "official" news outlets provide.
This gradually changed in the last two or so decades. News turned from information to entertainment, and content was replaced with opinion. The press ain't what it used to be. I'd love to peg it all on Fox News and how their sensationalist, opinion-heavy reporting "forced" everyone else to jump the bandwagon, but in the end, we're to blame. If we didn't want to get that kind of "news", they couldn't offer it.
People don't want information anymore. They don't want to form their opinion. They don't want to think. They want to choose the opinion they want to join. It's easier. It spares them the thinking. They can just parrot what your favorite news anchorman spills and feel intelligent for using big words (even though the words aren't theirs).
We're to blame. It's love to say "they are", but I can't help but feel responsible for it, too.
Re:And thus it begins (Score:5, Insightful)
Outside source or not, we have a basic right to communicate over a secured connection, and so by extension the right to pay any legitimate company we like to provide said services to us.
But no, a world corporate duopoly Mastercard/Visa have decided that we no longer have that right. As citizens WE MUST revoke or at the very least impose hefty enough fines on these companies for abusing the privileges we gave them, by allowing them to sell their services into our respective countries. Arrogance, much.
Of course, those who organized this fiasco are the same ones who control our their politicians, so this basic and necessary wrist slapping will not occur, and so we continue our slide down the slippery slope...
Re:And thus it begins (Score:4, Insightful)
And if you had read the linked articles, you would have seen the prior occurrence with wikileaks. Having both Visa & Mastercard not accept either the wikileaks donations or VPN payments at the same time seams suspicious.
"Seems suspicious"? It was already obvious that they take orders from Washington, in exchange for diplomatic support for their expansion into Russia and other markets.
It was already obvious that Visa and Mastercard are not neutral payment providers, and therefore not reliable as international payment infrastructure.
This just underscores even more that we need better payment infrastructure. The world can't afford to be dependent on these two companies for its economic traffic.