Nearly everybody is picking sides. Amazon's hosting service ditched WikiLeaks after a day, presumably as a result of pressure from Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. EveryDNS did the same, citing its inability to cope with DDoS attacks launched by "hacktivists" opposed to the leaks. PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard have refused to handle payments for donations to WikiLeaks -- at least in part due to .

[ Check out a few samples of Cringely's long history covering WikiLeaks: . | | ! | For a humorous take on the tech industry's shenanigans, subscribe to . ]

Meanwhile, because the organization has done nothing to violate its terms of service. And Google is trying to be Switzerland, offering up links but (as ) not stepping up to mirror the site in the cause of informational freedom.

In my last post, I . Well, guess who just emerge to defend WikiLeaks? That's right, that collective of 4channers better known as Anonymous.

As yet another fork of its seemingly endless vigilante exercise Operation Payback, against MasterCard, PayPal, Julian Assange's Swiss bank, and the Swedish prosecutors who are bringing charges against Assange for sexual assault. Still, it's a little like shooting a paintball gun at tanks in Tiananmen Square -- you can make a few colorful splashes, but you're unlikely to stop anything.