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Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

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Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#141

Post by C4stor »

jstanley wrote: post #118
manigandham wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet is not a place. It only functions to connect people and places which exist in physical locations that are bound by national and regional laws, and the transfer of data between locations is subject to these rules.

That's true of snail mail, or telegrams, or even phone calls. But I'd argue the internet is so fast, and so high bandwidth, and so always-available, that it is a qualitatively different thing from merely a transfer of data between physical locations. It is a place where things happen that aren't just transfers of information between physical places. For example, Hacker News is a place within the wider place that is t…

I think the important point is that it's bound by laws, and nations will (and must) enforce their laws.

Right now, it means revendicating parts of that place that is internet as waving their flags, and holding accountable individuals and companies powering those parts.

You can argue that there are no nationalities on the internet, bust most nations beg to differ.

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#142

Post by alistairSH »

debaserab2 wrote: post #100
jimijazz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree about going to the self-hostable path. I would add as an alternative, looking for non-US products, maybe from neutral countries. As someone mentioned in the twitter thread, this could happen to any product: Google, Facebook, even taking the bus!

Neutral countries? What’s a neutral country?

Switzerland?

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#143

Post by paraditedc »

laumars wrote: post #110
paraditedc wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what's wrong with this comment, but OP is right. We have seen cases where domain registries or hosting providers suspend accounts for violating their ToS, which is totally legal.

Because you don’t need a hosting provider to self host. You don’t even need a domain name either. But in all honesty, there are hundreds of registrars and thousands of hosting providers around the world. Not all of them fall under US jurisdiction. But if you’re really really paranoid of getting shut down, there’s also .onion sites or distributed systems like IPFS. You can not prevent people from communicating on the…

I am not sure where you live, but in many places you can't host your own servers from your room because of ISP restrictions.

Also, there are not a lot of places where you can find data centers that rent servers out for personal uses.

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#145

Post by [deleted] »

dade_ wrote: post #25
jstanley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They were using Slack from Syria though. This doesn't excuse anything. People in Syria are people too. This is similar to how people were calling for websites to block access to Europe over the copyright thing. The internet is a place where you don't even need to have a nationality. It is a place where we can all exist as pure thoughts. Why are we letting politics fuck it up?

What about fines and jail time? https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/...

[deleted]

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#146

Post by wil421 »

gingerlime wrote: post #99
wil421 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you have employees in Syria? It’s a violation of federal sanctions. Edit: In the US, UK, and EU.

We're not a US company (I hope there are no sanctions in our own country. I somehow doubt it, but I'm not entirely sure to be honest, so I won't mention the country to avoid getting us in potential trouble... Anyone knows which other countries enforce similar sanctions on Syria??).

The US, UK, and EU.

I wound be careful of you or your company reside here. The company I used to work for was fined for continuing services in Syria.

I think your are in Germany and the EU might have lifted restrictions based on certain industries.

https://www.ajc.com/business/investigation-into-syria-accusa...

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#147

Post by dustinmoris »

Wow the Twitter thread and the experiences which are mentioned here sound so extreme and crazy that I am seriously confused to what believe.

- Is this all made up to prove some point?

- Is this just how the US ticks right now?

- Is Slack just completely gone mad?

- Is this what companies believes is acceptable nowadays?

- Is this the future of the web?

The fact that I am not sure what to believe and that I wouldn't be surprised if this is all true or equally all made up is what really scares me. Ten years ago I would have had a lot more confidence and faith in the world that this must be either a big mistake or something fishy, but today I feel like anything goes and in a week's time nobody will care again :(

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#148

Post by andybak »

deadbunny wrote: post #77
icebraining wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an app installed in your phone, it might sync without your knowledge.

Sure, so your option is "uninstall app" or "never visit country/region I've always wanted to". Tough choice. I'm not defending slack or practices like it (hell, I have a blank phone I use whenever I leave the country) but it's not quite the choice you're making it out to be.

> Sure, so your option is "uninstall app"

The problem is "which app?". Short of a factory reset on both my phone, laptop and kindle it seems I would be in danger of tripping a switch somewhere.

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#149

Post by Juliate »

SentientNo4 wrote: post #120
robteix wrote: post #105

Aside from the obvious wrong of blocking people based on their origin, what's up with these companies closing accounts with no warning and no recourse? I know they're private companies and they _can_ do it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. Why not give the user even a few days notice so they can communicate with support to try and clear things up? Taking the OP's story at face value, Slack should eas…

Simple: it costs them money and resources to go through the process you described, whereas it costs them almost nothing to directly close the account and send an automated message.

I wouldn't call "reputation" nothing or less valuable than money.

Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada

#150

Post by mc32 »

mmjaa wrote: post #134
mc32 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand the regime supports destabilizing groups throughout the middle east. They want to contend to be the main influence there along with Saudi. They also from time to time threaten oil supplies and threaten Europe with restarting their missile programme. They’ve been quite nettlesome. However, with more energy independence the present US administration seems to be disengaging from the ME, in contrast to…

>On the other hand the regime supports destabilizing groups throughout the middle east. They want to contend to be the main influence there along with Saudi. As does the USA. So?

Right. So they say we’re bad, we say they’re bad. I’m all for letting them work things out on their own and stay out of their local disputes so long as they keep it local.

But unfortunately with the weapons they’re willing to use against each other it may be hard to just sit on the sidelines.

Any case OP was painting them as being “innocent”.

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