Wikileaks Shuts Down to Protest Against Financial Blockade

WikiLeaks, the controversial Web site known for publishing secret government documents, has temporarily stopped all publishing activity because of a dispute over its finances.

We are forced to temporarily suspend publishing whilst we secure our economic survival, the group said in a statement.

For almost a year we have been fighting an unlawful financial blockade. We cannot allow giant US finance companies to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Our battles are costly. We need your support to fight back. Please donate now.

WikiLeaks says it needs $300,000 for security, $500,000 for publications research, $1.2 million for legal fees and $500,000 for salaries and staff among other things. Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange said Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union, have refused to allow donations to WikiLeaks. As a result, he said Wikileaks had to stop working on the secret documents they already have and instead focus on pending lawsuits against the U.S. and others.

WikiLeaks receives and publishes secret documents from whistle-blowers who want them to keep releasing and passing secret information to the media. Things like secret United States military and diplomatic cables on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, for example.

One sign that WikiLeaks needed money came recently when some of Assange's items were put up for sale on the WikiLeaks Web site. One was a WikiLeaks laptop and there was even some coffee grounds Assange smuggled out of jail in 2010 when he was being held for the extradition case. Below is a short video from WikiLeaks about the current shutdown.

Tell us in the comments if you think WikiLeaks is a scam or if you've already donated to the cause.