This image was lost some time after publication.

AllofMP3, the most popular of Russia's hardly-legal cheap-music-download sites, launched another verbal attack at its enemies, this time the Visa and Mastercard companies (who recently blocked AllofMP3 from using their online payment systems, after pressure from the music industry). The company called Visa's and Mastercard's decisions "arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory," says the Register.

AllofMP3 claims no court of law has found the site illegal, but the U.S. has long called it a roadblock to Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization. The company's defense: Its site warns users to check their local laws. In other words, even if Russian law is really so backward as to make AllofMP3 locally legal, the company knows it's providing illegal services to users in the U.S., England, and other countries with real copyright laws.

Eventually, Russia will give in and crack down on the site — it's just not worth being left out of the WTO. It's not much of a loss. After all, AllofMP3 is still a buck an album, while grabbing something on Bittorrent is free.

Blacklisted AllofMP3 slams 'capricious' Visa and Mastercard [The Register]