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An Apology and an Update

slackhq.com

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Re: An Apology and an Update

#21

Post by alangpierce »

toefraz wrote: post #5

How did they not block based on nationality when they literally blocked a nation?

For context, one of the original reports of this was from (I believe) an Iranian-American with US Citizenship living in the US:

https://twitter.com/aaomidi/status/1075621119028314112

You might read that and infer that Slack is somehow tracking the national origin, ethnicity, or race of all of its users, which would be much fishier behavior than IP-based blocking. They're explicitly saying that they don't do that and that they don't have that information.

Re: An Apology and an Update

#22

Post by Wowfunhappy »

> We will soon begin blocking access to our service from IP addresses associated with an embargoed country. Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country.

Is Slack legally required to do this? As long as they aren't knowingly accepting payment from these countries, shouldn't they be in the clear?

How are other tech companies dealing with this? Does Google block access from embargoed countries? Does Windows refuse to work?

Re: An Apology and an Update

#23

Post by pests »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #22

> We will soon begin blocking access to our service from IP addresses associated with an embargoed country. Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. Is Slack legally required to do this? As long as they aren't knowingly accepting payment from these countries, shouldn't they be in the clear? How are other tech companies dealing with this? Does Google b…

No it only does Google do it themselves but if you host at GCP then they automatically do it for you as well.

Re: An Apology and an Update

#24

Post by miaklesp »

orthecreedence wrote: post #15
pyrophane wrote: post #11

This is yet another good reason to prefer decentralized networks. When Slack or Facebook or whomever agrees to block someone there is no resolution other than appealing to a company with a closed decision making process, something I don't think any of us really want.

Yep. Going to go ahead and throw Matrix/Riot out there as a great alternative.

Which platform would be better today from practical standpoint? for a remote team of developers. Matrix?

Re: An Apology and an Update

#25

Post by da_chicken »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #22

> We will soon begin blocking access to our service from IP addresses associated with an embargoed country. Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. Is Slack legally required to do this? As long as they aren't knowingly accepting payment from these countries, shouldn't they be in the clear? How are other tech companies dealing with this? Does Google b…

> Is Slack legally required to do this?

Yes, absolutely. Breaking sanctions is not just illegal, it's a criminal offense. There have been sanctions against Iran since roughly when Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [1] in May of this year.

The CFO of Huawei was arrested in Canada per a request by the US because of their dealings with Iran [2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Comprehensive_Plan_of_Ac...

[2]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-05/huawei-cf...

Re: An Apology and an Update

#26

Post by ehsankia »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #22

> We will soon begin blocking access to our service from IP addresses associated with an embargoed country. Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. Is Slack legally required to do this? As long as they aren't knowingly accepting payment from these countries, shouldn't they be in the clear? How are other tech companies dealing with this? Does Google b…

I used Google Maps and most other google apps fine while in Iran. Youtube and some other sites are blocked, but that's actually from the Iran side. Of course these are all free services, I assume I could not have actually paid for any paid services.

EDIT: I know that Google AppEngine and probably Cloud are blocked, because they provide foreign nation with "computing resources", but that's also its own different bucket.

Re: An Apology and an Update

#28

Post by skywhopper »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #22

> We will soon begin blocking access to our service from IP addresses associated with an embargoed country. Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. Is Slack legally required to do this? As long as they aren't knowingly accepting payment from these countries, shouldn't they be in the clear? How are other tech companies dealing with this? Does Google b…

Yes, I work for a SaaS provider and we maintain blocks on access from a short list of embargoed countries.

Re: An Apology and an Update

#30

Post by chomp »

kodablah wrote: post #19

What changed recently that hadn't been the case for past years that made them add these new measures? A true, earnest apology would at least touch on the justifications for the changes more than just "become legal". But I understand that, sadly, that kind of transparency is a bit much to ask of any company these days. Still curious though if it was just an internal decision or spurred via government/legal threat/requ…

I worked at a couple companies where these "sudden pushes" to knock out embargoed countries were made. They both came when new legal counsel joined the staff.

It's very clear to me that this is some housekeeping attached to their IPO.

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