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GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

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Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#151

Post by formercoder »

miracle2k wrote: post #128
mugsie wrote: post #80

The US trade restrictions are pretty far reaching. They block companies trading with countries and companies on entity list . It also bans US companies from dealing with companies that deal with countries and companies on the list. So let us look at this: 1. GitHub becomes a Maltese company. 2. GitHub allows Iranian users to use all features 3. No US company could buy a GitHub Enterprise licence, or a private org. Th…

That's not true. There are already many non-US companies who are providing services to Iran in the same sense that Github is providing services, and those companies are also having US clients, proving that it can be done. Now, if a Maltese-Github were specifically designated by OFAC, then sure. But that's fairly unlikely.

So is it just a question of risk tolerance? Are the laws clear or are companies like GitHub in a grey area with out precedence?

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#152

Post by fit2rule »

tapia wrote: post #30
ausbah wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like the Iranian government.

Not like the US government is any better right now

At no point in the last 40 years has the US government held a higher moral ground than the Iranian government. The USA has killed far more innocent people under far worse pretext than any other nation on Earth.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#153

Post by tsimionescu »

meddlepal wrote: post #124
cdmckay wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that sanctions also kill people through lack of supplies like medicine being available, people being unable to economically support themselves, and, if the sanctions cause the government to collapse, all the death that results from that. So let’s not pretend sanctions are somehow nonviolent.

It's relatively easy to avoid sanctions in the first place or have them removed: comply with US demands. Most of the world does this just fine. There's a few bad actors out there screwing their countries and their people.

I'm hoping you're being sarcastic - if so, you're right, the US is becoming more and more transparent in its use of power to simply force countries to do whatever it wants.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#155

Post by tomtompl »

sbhn wrote: post #58

Poor America, always shouting it’s under attack, is that because it’s war machine is the second largest money spinner on earth. Its drooling for your hard earned American tax payer dollars. Its for your security, you know that.

tell that to ukrainians, ok?

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#156

Post by fit2rule »

patrickaljord wrote: post #126
tomohawk wrote: post #23

Crimea: Illegal occupation by Russia. Ethnic cleansing. Syria: Using chemical weapons, sponsoring terrorism Iran: Assisting Syria; Actively developing nukes they say they will use, nuclear proliferation, biggest sponsor of terrorism, .... On the other hand, some people can't use an internet service. Oh! The inhumanity! Get a sense of proportion.

> Syria: Using chemical weapons, sponsoring terrorism Was there a single UN report that was able to prove with certainty it was from the government and not the opposition? The Syrian government and Russia were winning the war at the time and it didn't make any sense to cross Obama's "red line". As for sponsoring terrorism, I guess you're talking about Saudi Arabia and the US who funneled money and weapons that ended…

>Was there a single UN report that was able to prove with certainty it was from the government and not the opposition?

There wasn't, and this fake news has been widely debunked.

That doesn't stop the blood-thirsty types from continuing to claim it happened in their call for war, more war, more endless war ..

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#157

Post by fit2rule »

patrickaljord wrote: post #138
sorenjan wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

FYI, Obama started more wars and bombed more countries than Bush and Trump.

.. thus demonstrating that the US has been a far more negative influence on the world than most Americans have the courage to admit.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#158

Post by diminoten »

snitko wrote: post #11

We made it point now to avoid all US-based services. While we're not affected by the sanctions yet, it seems like it is a possibility in the future. There's really not a lot of reasons to use Gitlab or Github or Slack or a number of other services. They're not exceptional in any way and can be replaced by other open-source or commercial projects.

Convenience and speed aren't reasons?

You're handicapping yourself against your competitors, and no one who does that lasts very long.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#159

Post by dijit »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #97
mugsie wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any company that does business in the US, or with another company that does business in the US. Not just US based companies are subject to these restrictions (if they want to sell into the US)

Don’t make it too hard on yourself. If you want to use your own economic clout to take a swing at the US, then just stick to boycotting US companies. See if it’s even possible to operate your project like that. You’ll be taking a step back in time by at least 10 years.

The sensibility you have expressed is chiefly why we should fight US dominance of the tech sector. Not why we should lean in to it.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#160

Post by miracle2k »

dijit wrote: post #2

Same as Gitlab then[0]. US Sanctions should not affect internet services (so long as they are provided for free)[1], but political pressure appears to be very strong. Personally I find it quite abhorrent, and would cite this as a reason not to use US based companies in future. [0]: https://about.gitlab.com/2018/07/19/gcp-move-update/ [1]: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/...

Like I wrote somewhere else, the Gitlab case is both worse and better. Gitlab did not make a specific decision to block Iranian users, it merely made a technical decision to move to Google Cloud, and Google Cloud is blocking sanctioned countries on a network level (which is abhorrent).

But I don't see Gitlab making an active decision that they have to do this for sanctions compliance reasons, it was just a side-effect and they didn't care enough for it to change their minds about the move.

Specifically, if I sign up to Gitlab, set my country of residence to Iran, and Gitlab lets me create private repositories, then they are not enforcing the sanctions the way Github does.

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