Mastercard, Visa begin to block payments to VPN providers

[Larry-G]

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."

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2013/07/04/mastercard_visa_begin_to_block_payments_to_vpn_providers