Julian Assange's WikiLeaks website out of money. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, right, and his lawyer Mark Stephens. The worldwide web's most notorious secret-spiller, is going silent because it's no has no money. Source: AP WIKILEAKS, the worldwide web's most notorious secret-spiller, is going silent because it's broke. WikiLeaks said in a statement last night that it would temporarily stop publishing in order to focus on making money. The whistle-blowing website founded by Australian Julian Assange said the blockade imposed by financial companies including Visa, MasterCard, Western Union and PayPal had left it with no choice. The statement said that, in order to ensure survival, WikiLeaks must "aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents".
US-based financial companies pulled the plug on WikiLeaks shortly after it began publishing some 250,000 State Department cables last year. The group says the restrictions starved it of nearly all its revenue. WikiLeaks suspends release of secrets to seek cash. LONDON (AP) – WikiLeaks — the online anti-secrecy organization whose spectacular leaks of classified data shook Washington and other world capitals and exposed the inner workings of international diplomacy — may be weeks away from collapse, the group's leader warned Monday.
Although its attention-grabbing disclosures spread outrage and embarrassment across military and diplomatic circles, WikiLeaks' inability to shake the restrictions imposed by American financial companies may prove its undoing. "If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the new year," founder Julian Assange told journalists at London's Frontline Club. "If we don't knock down the blockade we simply will not be able to continue. " WikiLeaks, launched as an online repository for confidential information, shot to notoriety with the April 2010 disclosure of footage of two Reuters journalists killed by a U.S. military strike in Baghdad.
Pfc. WikiLeaks says blockade threatens its existence. WikiLeaks halts publication to raise money. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange takes questions during a press conference at the Frontline Club in London on October 24. NEW: WikiLeaks says it plans to start a new anonymous submission systemAssange: A banking blockade has destroyed 95% of WikiLeaks' revenueWikiLeaks says it must focus on fighting the funding block to stay afloatMany banks stopped dealing with the site after it published State Department cables London (CNN) -- WikiLeaks announced that it was temporarily stopping publication Monday to "aggressively fundraise" in order to stay afloat. A financial blockade by Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union has destroyed 95% of WikiLeaks' revenue, organization founder Julian Assange said. "Our scarce resources now must focus entirely on fighting this unlawful banking blockade," Assange said. "It is absurd.
This is unprecedented," WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters Monday. Lack of funds shuts down WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks Temporarily Stops Leaks Due to Lack of Funds. Whistleblower haven WikiLeaks will temporarily stop releasing leaks because of a lack of funds, the organization announced at a press conference in London on Monday. WikiLeaks has been under a blockade from many major financial institutions, including PayPal, Visa and PostFinance, since it started leaking U.S. government cables in November 2010. "WikiLeaks has lost an estimated 95% of donations due to financial blockade," WikiLeaks spokeswoman Kristinn Hrafnsson said. "It could have received 40 million to 50 million Euros if it weren't for the blockade," she added. In an effort to raise money for the continued operation of the site, WikiLeaks has announced it will temporarily stop publishing leaks while it focuses on what WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange calls an "unlawful financial blockade.
" At the conference, Assange also announced the Nov. 28 launch of a new, independent certificate authority, because other certificate authorities "cannot be trusted. " BONUS: The WikiLeaks Gift Shop. WikiLeaks' Assange says site might close this year - Technology & Science. WikiLeaks — whose spectacular publication of classified data shook world capitals and exposed the inner workings of international diplomacy — may be weeks away from collapse, the organization's leader warned Monday.
Although its attention-grabbing leaks spread outrage and embarrassment across military and diplomatic circles, WikiLeaks' inability to shake the restrictions imposed by American financial companies may prove its undoing. "If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the new year," founder Julian Assange told journalists at London's Frontline Club. "If we don't knock down the blockade we simply will not be able to continue.
" As an emergency measure, Assange said his group would cease what he called "publication operations" to focus its energy on fundraising. He added that WikiLeaks — which he said had about 20 employees — needs an additional $3.5 million to keep it going into 2013. The video was just a foretaste. WikiLeaks suspends release of secrets to seek cash. WikiLeaks suspends publishing to fight financial blockade | Media. Julian Assange, co-founder of WikiLeaks, has announced that the whistleblowing website is suspending publishing operations in order to focus on fighting a financial blockade and raise new funds. Assange, speaking at a press conference in London on Monday, said a banking blockade had destroyed 95% of WikiLeaks' revenues.
He added that the blockade posed an existential threat to WikiLeaks and if it was not lifted by the new year the organisation would be "simply not able to continue". The website, behind the publication of hundreds of thousands of controversial US embassy cables in late 2010 in partnership with newspapers including the Guardian and New York Times, revealed that it was running on cash reserves after "an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade" by the Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union.
WikiLeaks said in a statement: "The blockade is outside of any accountable, public process. It is without democratic oversight or transparency.