On 6 December 2010 PostFinance released a press release, in which they announced that the account of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been frozen. The Pirate Party wonders whether with this freeze the laws regarding postal and telecommunications privacy have been violated.

The Pirate Party of Switzerland is very concerned regarding the communication of PostFinance in the case Assange / WikiLeaks. They released the name of a customer and details of the business relationships with this customer through a press release to the public.1 Customer relationships of financial institutions deserve special protection. Therefore, customers of PostFinance should be granted the same discretion as bank customers, despite PostFinance not having a bank license.2 But even though the PostFinance is not bound to the strict Bank Act, their customers are not without protection. Due to the fact that PostFinance is a subsidiary company of the Swiss post, it is bound to the Postal and Telecommunications Act.

The Pirate Party demands a legal clarification whether PostFinance has violated the postal and telecommunications privacy laws by releasing its press statement. We are also astonished at the fact that the TEDEC has so far not commented this publication in any way.

Due to the unusually fast reaction of PostFinance, we conclude that the account was locked probably without giving Julian Assange the opportunity to respond to the allegations. A dissolution of a customer relationship (bank account) is only possible in a case of hardship, due to the that the Swiss Post has to deliver basic services to the public. However, the corresponding provision of the Postal Law has yet to come into effect, so the account has been frozen without a clear legal basis.

• 1. http://www.postfinance.ch/en/about/media/press/pressrelease/press101206....
• 2. http://www.postfinance.ch/en/about/pf/keyfigures.html