Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada • Hacker News Board

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

#221

Post by spacehome » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:14 PM UTC

bgarbiak wrote: post #151

icebraining wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it wasn't given up, what would the lawsuit complain be, and what would one gain from it if it succeeds? Isn't Slack legally entitled to shut down any accounts at any time?

IANAL but cutting you off your everyday job and crucial documents (causing stress, money problems, hopefully not: unemployment) only because you happened to open an account in a random country seems like a reason good enough for a lawsuit. What to gain: compensation, and that damn' account.

You are not entitled to Slack's infrastructure, no matter how much you came to depend on it for your day-to-day life.

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

#222

Post by hnauz » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

dustinmoris wrote: post #147

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 b…

The guy is bitching so much in the thread, claiming that he's been profiled based on his race (and not the fact that he connected to Slack from Iran at some point), that it's hard to take him seriously.

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

#223

Post by jstanley » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

matt_the_bass wrote: post #155

FYI US export controls generally apply to nationals of an embargoed country even when they are outside of that country. Is the person in question an Iranian national or does slack have reason to believe? Then they are required to not provide their export controlled product, service or knowledge. The us government does not offer a “graceful” stoppage of service allowance. Yes this is annoying but probably not slacks f…

This is still Slack's fault as well.

It's unethical to enforce unethical rules, even if the government tells you to.

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

#224

Post by bborud » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

I think this highlights the precarious situation most people find themselves in today when it comes to communication channels and data that is being stored in the cloud. We tend to assume that we have rights and that wrongs will eventually be righted. But in practical reality this isn't necessarily true.

Speaking of which, are there any open source alternatives to Slack which anyone could recommend?

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

#225

Post by macspoofing » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

jeromegv wrote: post #115

jordank wrote: post #80

My wife’s Slack account was closed yesterday. She created the account while traveling in Cuba (legally) years ago and hasn’t been back to Cuba or any other sanctioned country since. She is a cofounder of an org that uses Slack heavily and has now lost access to all her messages and files from the past couple years of work. There appears to be no appeal process here.

Cuba is one of the most popular destination for Canadians, can't ever imagine what would happen if they actually ban everyone that had their IP over there at some point in the last few years.

I suspect the fact that the account was created in Cuba is what triggered the action.

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

#226

Post by adminu » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:18 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #188

dustinmoris wrote: post #147

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 b…

I don't think this is the future of the web. This sort of thing is a temporary blip before everybody figures out decentralised solutions for everything. Decentralisation is clearly the end game as long as politics causes problems like this. A decentralised solution will continue to "just work", while centralised solutions continue to boot people off. It's pretty obvious which one is going to win.

Until taking part in a decentralized system is a crime by itself due to potentially illegal content and your possession and distribution of that content.

The distributed system does not stop to work then, but the user might risk punishment for using it, which might be even worse than not being able to use it.

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

#227

Post by TomMarius » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:18 PM UTC

geofft wrote: post #211

icebraining wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it wasn't given up, what would the lawsuit complain be, and what would one gain from it if it succeeds? Isn't Slack legally entitled to shut down any accounts at any time?

One, no, you are not legally entitled to shut down accounts on the basis of race or national origin, if that's what they're doing. Two, they may have to at least return the data: if I let you use a desk at my place and you start doing business there, I am pretty sure I cannot legally refuse you entry and hold on to your papers . Three, even if they are, we're also legally entitled to call Slack incompetent losers, an…

Digital data is not paper.

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

#228

Post by blindwatchmaker » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:20 PM UTC

hnauz wrote: post #222

dustinmoris wrote: post #147

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 b…

The guy is bitching so much in the thread, claiming that he's been profiled based on his race (and not the fact that he connected to Slack from Iran at some point), that it's hard to take him seriously.

Yeah imagine bitching because you lost a primary communication tool and a bunch of your saved data because of your ethnicity.

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

#229

Post by z3t4 » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

This is probably just one of many PR attempts from Slack. All closed accounts are probably owned by their PR team, or they prefer buzz over users. What about Google, Facebook and Twitter, are they closing down Iranian accounts too !?

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

#230

Post by gnulinux » Thu, Dec 20, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #103

sneak wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal process is filing a lawsuit against Slack, provided the person wronged didn’t already agree to give up that right when accepting Slack’s TOS.

Even if it wasn't given up, what would the lawsuit complain be, and what would one gain from it if it succeeds? Isn't Slack legally entitled to shut down any accounts at any time?

Honest question: if I go to McDonalds and pay for a burger can they refuse to serve me? I understand that they can refuse to serve me before paying, but after I pay their service and goods too?