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Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

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Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#41

Post by willcipriano »

SirHound wrote: post #37
willcipriano wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That still doesn't explain why we are free from santions in the US. Why aren't we expected to overthrow our warmongering leaders? WMD turned out to be just as credible as Putin's Nazis.

And the people who started those wars aren’t in charge any more.

Congress declares and funds wars, it's been incredibly stable in the past few decades. Most people who have left have retired due to old age and somehow as inexplicable multi-millionaires. The vice president for 8 years of drone bombings is the president now.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#42

Post by EugeneOZ »

astonex wrote: post #32
sumedh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then those people need to overthrow their leaders Its easy to say that when you don't have a gun to your head.

Ukranians literally have guns to their heads. But lets not ban Russians from using a website because it might hurt their feelings.

It might cost them a job - they’ll be your enemies the next day. If you are not doing anything bad and just trying to survive, then injustice like this will instantly outrage you.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#43

Post by Aeolun »

gggggh wrote: post #34

Sounds good. While they're at it, also: - cut off Israel from GitHub for the occupation of Palestine - cut off Saudi Arabia from GitHub for the invasion of Yemen - cut off the US from GitHub for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq - etc. No double standards for the same imperialisms, please.

Not the same imperialism. The US was clearly never planning to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan. They grossly miscalculated.

For Russia this is a war of expansion.

I think under those conditions Israel could be cut off though.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#44

Post by ganzuul »

asats wrote: post #17

Most young educated russians (the ones that use github) are against this war already, the problem is that no one can really do anything as literally holding a blank piece of paper in front of any government building will get you arrested. Those are not the people you want to target, target the elites close to Putin, those are the ones that could probably force some change.

Today people who need Github and Stackoverflow for their work are not without influence, so this heuristic is not without merit.

If we are discussing getting a city's PLCs to stop pumping sewage in reverse after a cyber attack then access should be open. If it's about Yandex server farms then it's different.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#45

Post by sebow »

Yeah: don't hold your breath on that.

This is why self-hosting is the ultimate best solution and is a big criterion when i choose software.If you have moral/ethical problems towards an entity: you can solve them, because you're in control, not some "magical cloud fairy" you have to beg to stop providing useful resources to a regime(yes, ultimately even normal well-intended citizens become part of the regime, like it or not) that kills your family or close ones.

As stated previously in my comments, the corporate western world is either personally fetishizing russian or totalitarian regimes (there >are< other examples besides russia/china from the past 10-15 years), or they/their higher-ups are too invested into those countries to be able to do something meaningful without hurting themselves and their own financial well-being.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#46

Post by yaris »

astonex wrote: post #32
sumedh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then those people need to overthrow their leaders Its easy to say that when you don't have a gun to your head.

Ukranians literally have guns to their heads. But lets not ban Russians from using a website because it might hurt their feelings.

Those who can overthrow Putin and those affected by Github block are not the same group. And even combined they are just too few to cause any immediate course change for Putin. So it has nothing to do with feelings, it’s just useless (if not harmful longterm).

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#47

Post by throwaway290 »

wetpaws wrote: post #16
nickpp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one wants any harm to the Russian people, but they too must do something to stop their madman. I know it is much more dangerous for them than for us keyboard pundits, but it is their responsibility. Think how much more dangerous it is for Ukrainians.

Russia is a huge totalitarian prison and nobody can do much without being arrested or murdered.

While enacting a substantial change does not appear possible you can protest and people do, at least in larger cities streets become full with people holding banners. (Photo galleries were posted on HN and FWIW I have supporting information from someone who is directly there.) Protesters are selectively detained, but there is no mass murder or vanishing of people unlike what I imagine would happen in China (or Hong Kong now) so not sure if 'totalitarian prison' is entirely descriptive.

Blocking is a trade-off. Take Google access as another instance. On one hand, it lets sane people not be limited to just state propaganda by watching live the destruction their government is enacting, as well as communicate to the outside world that they do not support it by protesting and sharing photos of protests. OTOH, it lets bots mass-report YT livestream watchers, causing automated ban waves. If we block access, we address the latter, but also eliminate the former.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#48

Post by sneak »

Anonymous4272 wrote: post #15

But does this not impact ALL russians including those protesting against putin? Also, does this not go against the entire FOSS philosophy- free as in libre and free as in gratis?

It is worth noting that GitHub is not, and has never been, free software.

It is likely an error to assume that GitHub's operators have "foss philosophy", especially given that GitHub is owned by the people who sell Windows and Office and Xbox.

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#49

Post by ginko »

jdthedisciple wrote: post #9

Interesting how fast people lose all compassion and sympathy, and really humanity, towards a whole population which itself might be against what it's leaders are doing ... Also: I have yet to see such suggestions directed at the US or Israeli population for the many, well-known war crimes their leaders have committed and still are.

>Also: I have yet to see such suggestions directed at the US or Israeli population

Then you can't have looked very hard because there's a plethora of boycott movements against Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sancti...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel_in_sports

There's even a Github example:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200923222519/https://github.co...

Re: Cut Russia from GitHub due to invasion of Ukraine

#50

Post by nickpp »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #36
nickpp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one wants any harm to the Russian people, but they too must do something to stop their madman. I know it is much more dangerous for them than for us keyboard pundits, but it is their responsibility. Think how much more dangerous it is for Ukrainians.

Yeah, and see how you want to help them to fight against Putin - you block their access to GitHub to make them lose their jobs. Without the money - do you think they will go fight on the streets? No, they will look for other ways to feed their families. If they are isolated, they will have no other choice than start working on government. By action like this, you are just turning into enemies those who want to be on…

I totally sympathize and agree it doesn't sound fair but you will see more and more embargos and boycotts directed at Russia and Russians the more this Ukrainian murderous invasion continues...
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