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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

#161

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…

" biggest sponsor of terrorism, ...."

Mohammed Bone Saw, and the rest of the billionaires in Saudi Arabia who funded 9/11 would beg to differ.

The only reason we are embargoing Iran is because AIPAC tells us to. Iran has never done anything to the United States. Saudi Arabia killed 3,000 Americans in 2 hours, and we didn't seem to mind.

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

#162
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.

These countries are run by some of the most violent and oppressive regimes in the world. Let’s not pretend that the US is responsible for the quality of life of the people living there. These sanctions are entirely non-violent. The actual word you’re looking for is harmful. They’re designed to be harmful, economically. Responding to regimes like this with economic pressure is most certainly preferable to actual viole…

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

#163
post #106
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/...

It looks like the free services provided by GitHub are still available: "A selection of GitHub services such as access to public repositories will remain available to everyone, the company said in a statement on its website. “This includes limited access to GitHub public repository services (such as access to GitHub Pages and public repositories used for open source projects), for personal communications only, and no…

This is interesting, I didn’t see that.

In which case they are actually providing -more- than gitlab does.

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

#164
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty gross generalisation of the people and issues at stake. "We" the individual freedom loving, contributors. "They", the rogue nations using open source software to oppress and enslave. Honestly it boggles my mind how easily you slipped into that mentality in response to the comment you replied to - a comment describing people caught in the crossfire, affected by the choices of nations at war, individua…

If an individual feels wrongly and disproportionately impacted by US sanctions they can apply to the SEC for a waiver. A small, lonely dev will probably be ok. But the issue isn't with one dev who gets caught in the crossfire. You want to stop fighting a blazing inferno to mount a rescue operation because there's one kitten in the burning apartment building. Individual liberties cannot be realized without sanctions a…

> If an individual feels wrongly and disproportionately impacted by US sanctions they can apply to the SEC for a waiver. A small, lonely dev will probably be ok.

And github & Co will then invest money to not blanket-ban, but make exceptions for this individual? I have some doubts.

Do you believe that Iran's cyber warriors or their critical infrastructure people host their code on github? Because if not, you're not "fighting" the government, you're fighting individual developers.

> Do you think if Github were located in Tehran that Americans would be able to post a commit right now?

I find that a very problematic worldview, as it gives you permission to do anything. There are no limits, because "what if the table were turned? I'm doing it to them, so clearly they'd do it to me, right? So you see, I must do it to them first".

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

#165

I know lots of Iranian people and they are universally kind generous lovely people. I hate the way Iran is demonized so politicians can point out an enemy. We were flat out lied to about Iraq. Demonization of Iran is no different.

Irans government is pretty backwards. The Iranian society is and was much more open a few decades ago. Truly a sad story of development in the completely wrong direction.

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

#166
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the free services provided by GitHub are still available: "A selection of GitHub services such as access to public repositories will remain available to everyone, the company said in a statement on its website. “This includes limited access to GitHub public repository services (such as access to GitHub Pages and public repositories used for open source projects), for personal communications only, and no…

So what can't restricted foreign-nationals do? Private, paid-for repositories? Is there something else particularly important?

If I recall right from previous thread they can still create and commit to public repo but can't delete them. They also can't touch even their own private repo anymore.

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

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, thanks!

Note that this is not quite the same. Gitlab made a technical decision to move to Google Cloud, and Google Cloud has its own, much more outrageous block on a network level. Gitlab not being accessible from Iran is a by-product of that move, not a conscious decision Gitlab made. Arguably, if I create a Gitlab Account using a VPN but put country of residence "Iran", and Gitlab lets me do that, then Gitlab does not have…

Ha, good additional info indeed. I took the Github post as in "if I'm in Iran but use a VPN, and set Iran as country of residence I'm fine".

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

#168

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.

US: actively developing weapons of mass destruction. Has committed several war crimes and illegally occupied territories in the middle east. Actively funded and continues to fund international terrorism. Israel: ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories in Palestine. Yet Crimea, Syria and Iran are the bad guys (btw Iran was funded by the US - yes same regime that now the US cries against).

Github (and Microsoft) are US companies, not disinterested arbiters of good and bad who have come down on the side of the US.

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

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is to try and make it unsustainable for Russia to hold. --They have to pour money into the region to keep control of it due to people in the region being unhappy, out of work, etc. I'm not saying it's necessarily a good strategy, mind you.

> They have to pour money into the region to keep control of it due to people in the region being unhappy, out of work, etc. From what I've heard Russia is doing exactly that. And the people there seem happy, atleast according to a reddit AMA by a Crimean.

Save for the indigenous Crimean Tatars and some Ukrainians who are, although a minority, being harassed like there's no tomorrow.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/14/crimea-persecution-crime...

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

#170
post #26

If Crimea was unwillingly annexed by Russia, then the sanction is punishing the victim instead of the criminal. If Crimea people genuinely supported the unification with Russia and received sanction for that, then it is a blatant attack on Crimean people's freedom.

The only situation when economics sanctions isn't an attack against the victims is if a fully democratic country decided to start a war.

Some dictators are popular and their actions are supported by the people.
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