WikiLeaks
supporters struck back Wednesday at perceived enemies of the site and
its jailed founder Julian Assange, launching hacker attacks against
MasterCard, Swedish prosecutors, a Swedish lawyer and a Swiss group
that froze Assange’s bank account. So-called “hacktivists” operating
under the label “Operation Payback” claimed responsibility in a Twitter
message for causing technological problems at MasterCard, which pulled
the plug on its relationship with WikiLeaks on Tuesday.
MasterCard said it was “experiencing heavy
traffic,” but spokesman James Issokson told The Associated Press the
company would not confirm whether WikiLeaks was involved. Issokson said
MasterCard was trying to restore service Wednesday but was not sure
how long that would take. The website’s technical problems have no
impact on consumers using credit cards, he added. MasterCard is the
latest in a string of U.S.-based Internet companies – including Visa,
Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS – to cut ties to WikiLeaks in
recent days amid intense U.S. government pressure. The online attacks
are part of a wave of support for WikiLeaks that is sweeping the
Internet. Twitter was choked with messages of solidarity for the group,
while the site’s Facebook page hit 1 million fans.
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