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Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

ahmadhaghighi.com

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Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#21

Post by vikramkr »

dsabanin wrote: post #16
sschueller wrote: post #8

Open source code, books and knowledge should never be blocked, until we learn this we are no better than the people we are trying to "punish" with pointless and ineffective sanctions.

What's your alternative to sanctions that's more effective? War?

no sanctions may[0] be equally effective as sanctions.

[0] https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd201803_e.pdf

The literature isn't conclusive either way, there's evidence in both directions. But sanctions definitely tend to hurt everyday citizens more than they hurt the targeted governments. Dictators and cronies aren't going to have to worry about increased prices of goods - they get whatever they want - that's sort of the point of being dictator

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#22

Post by joshmanders »

monkin wrote: post #17
arkitaip wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a defeatist attitude. What you unkindly label as whining, I see as advocacy for a good cause. Blocking access to gitlab does nothing but strengthen the autocracy in Iran and prevents Iranian devs from making a living and supporting their communities.

Putting post like that is nothing more than whining, as it doesn’t change anything. Want to do something better? Write some petitions, make a campaign or anything other, but bashing company that have to comply with US laws is just stupid. Sorry if this is unkindly and defeatist for you.

Exactly, want to do something? Complain to your government representatives, not Gitlab.

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#23

Post by AsyncAwait »

skrebbel wrote: post #4
doomlaser wrote: post #2

> GitLab is not the only actor in this discrimination against Persian/Iranian people, we also blocked by GitHub, Docker, NPM, Google Developer, Android, AWS, Go, Kubernetes and etc. US sanctions compliance most likely Edit: confirmed by Gitlab: https://twitter.com/gitlab/status/1312183287402512384

Also, nitpick, nobody's blocking Persians. I'm not Persian but if I go to Iran I bet I'm blocked too. I'm strongly opposed to these sanctions, and I also think GitLab should've given people notice so they could get their data out. But I'm not sure it's a good place to pull the racism card.

I agree it's not racism on GitLab's part, but the U.S. officials behind these sanctions themselves do use phrases like that they want to 'choke Iran's economy', that is in the middle of a pandemic where people's respiratory systems are at risk, it certainly doesn't look good on their part.

Also worth noting that GitLab has previously banned hiring from China/Russia, so it's no stranger to blanket bans of questionable nature.

1 - https://www.zdnet.com/article/gitlab-considers-ban-on-new-hi...

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#24

Post by ThePadawan »

sschueller wrote: post #8

Open source code, books and knowledge should never be blocked, until we learn this we are no better than the people we are trying to "punish" with pointless and ineffective sanctions.

That is already the case [0]:

[Excluded are...] Technology, technical data and software that is publicly available, meaning published in periodicals, books, print, or electronic media that is available to the public at a price that does not exceed the cost of reproduction or distribution; (...)

[0] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/code-of-condu...

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#25

Post by ThePadawan »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
nguyenkien wrote: post #6

Why whining, just head over gitee.

Or host your own GitLab instance in Iran.

GitLab (the company) are legally not permitted to export their product: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/code-of-condu...

According to them, that includes downloads.

So no luck there either.

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#26

Post by christophilus »

ahelwer wrote: post #19
dsabanin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your alternative to sanctions that's more effective? War?

The only thing Iran is guilty of is insufficient deference to US hegemony. Any other charge you levy can have its equal found in our so-called allies in the region, or even the US itself.

You’re not wrong, so far as I can tell. Not sure why you’re being downvoted. Iran has some serious issues, but they don’t appear to be worse than the Saudis or any number of other countries we (the US) consider allies.

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#27

Post by landryl »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
nguyenkien wrote: post #6

Why whining, just head over gitee.

Or host your own GitLab instance in Iran.

Of course they could have done that, if gitlab had at least given a prior warning...

Some of the screenshot show them even trying to get a temporary account with support just to get what they've been locked out of to make a backup.

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#29

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

ahelwer wrote: post #19
dsabanin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your alternative to sanctions that's more effective? War?

The only thing Iran is guilty of is insufficient deference to US hegemony. Any other charge you levy can have its equal found in our so-called allies in the region, or even the US itself.

One of the things Iran's unambiguously guilty of is these same kinds of access restrictions. If you've ever wondered why Google's sanctions-related controversy was focused on Google Cloud, it's because that was the biggest Google service allowed at the time - search, Gmail, and Youtube had already been banned by the Iranian government.

So while I share the skepticism expressed upthread that blocking websites is effective diplomacy, it's hard for me to look at the situation and see a one-sided problem.

Re: Gitlab Blocked Iranians’ Access

#30

Post by marcosdumay »

dsabanin wrote: post #16
sschueller wrote: post #8

Open source code, books and knowledge should never be blocked, until we learn this we are no better than the people we are trying to "punish" with pointless and ineffective sanctions.

What's your alternative to sanctions that's more effective? War?

More effective in what goal?

Antagonizing and radicalizing people? Yes, war is more effective in that.

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