Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
271–280 of 638 posts
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#272Wow 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…
For more than a decade, Section 230 [1] has protected internet platforms from censorship of user-generated content. Why is Section 230 not applicable here, or is a similar law needed with wider scope? [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230 > It is the policy of the United States— (1) to promote the continued development of the Internet and other interactive computer services and other interactive media; (…
Penalties for noncompliance are stiff and there are no safe harbour provisions.
(IANAL but I have implemented systems to check OFAC lists at other companies and seen it result in similar situations)
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#273https://twitter.com/a_h_a/status/1059225338650144774?s=12
The notion that the US conducts military operations “only” to exploit oil is a popular one but it’s not very nuanced thinking, and dances close to extremism. I haven’t spent the time to read what else this guy espouses but I suspect the ethnicity card is being played to hype up some drama when there are other issues at play.
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#274My 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.
How do people export/backup messages from Slack?
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#275Aside 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…
> I know they're private companies and they _can_ do it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. Actually, if you look at the image, Slack is beholden to US law, export regulations and economic sanctions - companies doing business with countries they shouldn't are in big trouble. See also: Huawei, who despite sanctions continued to do business with Iran, which caused the US to give them a huge fine. I don't…
When the law is as clearly wrong as this one is, it should be violated.
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#276^1: Well, hmm, I wonder what % of active instances are on a free tier, but that's a separate unrelated question
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah imagine bitching because you lost a primary communication tool and a bunch of your saved data because of your ethnicity.
That's not what happened at all, that's why it's hard to take him seriously. He makes it look like Slack went out of their way to look at all of their users and check of what race they are to ban those who are Iranians, when they just made a geoip check.
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are not entitled to Slack's infrastructure, no matter how much you came to depend on it for your day-to-day life.
Well that's not strictly true. Presumably there is a contract of some sort, and Slack must abide by it, entitling users to Slack's infrastructure to some degree. It's not completely arbitrary. Plus there're notions of estoppel potentially at play.
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#279Welcome to the brave new world of the "cloud": you data, business, money, most intimate secrets and livelihood is at the whims of a foreign corporation that will stop at nothing if it means 2 cents more on their bottom line, or gets them on the good side of a government entity. You have no rights, you have no intrinsic human valuu and you have no means to fight for yourself.
If you don't hold it, you don't own it. HN types seem to not get this, at all, they think companies should indefinitely preserve all their data and make it available on demand, no matter what, in-perpetuity. The MailChimp thread yesterday now this one and the gods help you if you suggest people backup their data regularly instead of relying upon a 3rd party to always have it available for them.
If you don't hold it, you don't own it.
Re: Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.