Mastercard, Visa begin to block payments to VPN providers

Credit card processors Mastercard and Visa have begun banning VPN providers, taking a similar stance as they do with file-sharing services.

In one such example, Swedish payment service provider Payson sent an email to all customers stating they cannot accept Mastercard or Visa payments any more due to a recent policy change by the companies.

"Payson has restrictions against anonymization (including VPN services). As a result Payson can unfortunately no longer give your customers the option to finance payments via their cards (VISA or MasterCard)," reads the email (via TF).

Another anonymization provider, the Pirate Bay-backed iPredator VPN, showed anger at the move. Founder Peter Sunde added: "It means that US 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. It's just INSANE. For iPredator there are always other payment methods, like Bitcoin, but it's insane to censor a totally legit system that is there to avoid censorship and surveillance."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 4 Jul 2013 0:21

megadunderhead

and you can avoid this by just creating a shawdow company and give it a nice name like fluffy bunny .com and show a video of a bunny and say help save the bunnys and have them pay for services through a phony site that gives them access to the other site then you can no longer track payments

4.7.2013 01:37 #1

Menion

I believe this is where bitcoin comes usefull.

4.7.2013 01:48 #2

nonoitall

Originally posted by Menion: I believe this is where bitcoin comes usefull. My thought exactly.

me on the Dragon Ball Encyclopedia
me on YouTube

4.7.2013 02:34 #3

Jemborg

It just goes to show that VPNs actually work.

What business is it of Visa's what I pay for?

Originally posted by megadunderhead: and you can avoid this by just creating a shawdow company and give it a nice name like fluffy bunny .com and show a video of a bunny and say help save the bunnys and have them pay for services through a phony site that gives them access to the other site then you can no longer track payments At last you say something that makes sense!

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

5.7.2013 00:00 #4

Mez

Obama got his first real money from the entertainment sector. Opra can smell a winner. His policy is reward friends and punish enemies.

5.7.2013 19:03 #5

pmshah

What a stupid move ! Does anyone realize that VPN allows access to political and social sites that are frowned upon or restricted by government of the day ?

This is not going to prevent VPN services from functioning. One will have to find a way of transferring the funds. Recently I had a relative bring me some hardware from USA. All I had to do was remit funds via PayPal to his email account. My bank does have the facility of very securely transferring funds to any bank account in any bank in the world via netbanking. So now is it going to be a toss up between the banks and credit card companies ?

5.7.2013 21:00 #6

Mez

I am sure the move was intended to be just that, restrictive. I guess you need to watch your ass or maybe you will get taken out by a drone cause you have been naughty!

6.7.2013 14:03 #7

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