No matter how big a news story is at the time, it can disappear into nothing faster than it arrived. Remember when WikiLeaks threatened to blow World politics apart? Not only that, but Assange was being dragged through a dubious trial whilst the American's bayed for his blood. In reaction we saw companies such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal turn against the whistle blowing website (refusing to process donations to the site) and a counter-reaction of 'hacktivists' such as 4chan's Anonymous hitting anti-Assange websites with denial of service attacks.
The whole thing has died down now and contrary to popular belief, the leaks didn't cause World War III. But behind the headlines, Wikileaks staff have been building up a case against the card companies with the help Danish and Icelandic lawyers. The claim is that Visa and Mastercard have “engaged in an unlawful, US influenced, financial blockade.”They certainly did, but as businesses surely they have the discretion to pick and choose who they do business with. At least that's what it will say in the small print and that's what they'll say to avoid legal trouble.
If WikiLeaks are successful in their legal action they may be in for a significant windfall. According to WikiLeaks $15 million has so far been lost in revenue due to the actions of Visa and Mastercard.
The legal proceedings may put WikiLeaks in the headlines, but for all the wrong reasons. Whether you're a fan of the website or not it's not, the idea is to provide a service to the public and create transparency in politics. The fact that there has been so much pressure on the website ranging from Visa and MasterCard's financial blockade, claims of spying and D.O.S attacks from unknown sources, is pretty worrying. What are they trying to hide from us?