Stefanie wrote:
I'm with you, regarding Lieberman.

However, I don't blame for-profit companies for distancing themselves from WikiLeaks... If they don't want to risk controversy, it's their right... companies trying to make money don't need bad press, and being associated with WikiLeaks right now brings too much heat.

You're right in a sense - Visa, Mastercard, and Amazon are victims here.

The reason continuing to process payments for Wikileaks brings heat is because Lieberman brought heat. He raised this issue publicly and promoted the idea that the public ought to insist that companies distance themselves from Wikileaks. He basically told the press to go find companies that are doing this and ask them why and quote them on it. The media complied - they even went after companies that have nothing to do with Wikileaks without checking their facts. These companies faced reprisals, real market consequences stemming from bad press, if they did not comply with Lieberman's "request."

As has been raised in many places, the credit card companies are still processing payments for the KKK. No one seems to care about that, in spite of the number of times that the issue has been raised, because the people raising the issue are not powerful enough that the media telegraphs their opinions.

The reason Lieberman's opinions matter is because he is a United States Senator.

So there you have it. Lieberman is using the power of his public office to threaten businesses that refuse to comply with his demand to distance themselves from an organization that, like it or not, probably hasn't broken the law and which is engaged in actions that are probably protected by the Constitution.

(And to make matters worse, these companies were also hit with DDOS attacks!)

The power of the United States Senate is not supposed to be used in this way. The power of the Senate is supposed to be exercised through due process of law. So the fact that this is happening this way is a real problem - this was a significant abuse of power.

However, the only way that we can combat this public perception problem is to present another side to the coin. To make it clear that we don't think that this is how business ought to be done in America, and that we support companies that have the spine to refuse to comply with requests like this, which should never have been made in the first place.

Visa, Mastercard, and Amazon had a choice. They chose wrong. You cannot simultaneously claim that its reasonable for people to be upset with these companies for doing business with Wikileaks but its not reasonable for people to be upset with these companies for refusing to do business with Wikileaks.

If we don't push back against these companies no one will be able to host anything controversial on the Internet in the future.

RE: Lieberman undeterred