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Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

blog.coursera.org

51–60 of 196 posts

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Where can I find a list of all domain names, top 1000, top 100000? Alexa http://www.alexa.com/topsites could provide you with data which is for the "top 500".

I know about Alexa, but 500 is too small for statistical analysis.

Look for the link there to download a list of the top million domains (according to them, of course).

Edit: http://s3.amazonaws.com/alexa-static/top-1m.csv.zip

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#52
In Iran there are restrictions on downloading articles from IEEE and ACM databases, not that we cannot access them, but our universities cannot renew their subscriptions. But there are always some ways to get what you need. It won't be different for Coursera. But it's not fair, because facebook, youtube, gmail and services like these are always available, and in here people are very good at hating US for making these differences.

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Where can I find a list of all domain names, top 1000, top 100000? Alexa http://www.alexa.com/topsites could provide you with data which is for the "top 500".

I know about Alexa, but 500 is too small for statistical analysis.

Alexa also has Top 1000000 sites, updated daily:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/alexa-static/top-1m.csv.zip

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#54
post #24

It would be nice if there were a safe harbor for open source/educational/non-dual-use materials even to individuals in a sanction-restricted regime. I doubt the Government of Cuba (the true target of the sanctions) would get material benefit from free courses for their populace. Certainly only the most indirect and limited military benefit. Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the treasury and state restrictions aren'…

If you are smart enough everything is dual-use. Hobbyist quadcopter to surveillance mesh of quadcopters is not so far. But in this case it is just the low that is outdated and not real reasons. Kinda like with encryption in times past.

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#55
post #23

This is ridiculous! What is the use of being the premier institute in the world, and do just about nothing about such a obvious immorality!? The kids in these countries are already suffering under oppression/war/famine/ you name it.. things you won't want upon yourself, much less on your kids.I know a guy who plays a rpg with me who is from Syria, he is 14 year old, and his school is defunct. Just few months back I r…

> The kids in these countries are already suffering under oppression/war/famine/ you name it.. Just a nitpick. Maybe in the other three countries this is true, but Cuba is pretty well off in those respects. Especially education wise.

You're clueless about what goes on in Cuba. Informers for the secret police are everywhere, nobody dares speak their mind in public. People are limited by a maximum wage. There are regular inspections of people traveling to ensure that they aren't sneaking illegal food, especially meat, around. And so on. It's as oppressive a totalitarian dictatorship as they come.

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#57
post #24

It would be nice if there were a safe harbor for open source/educational/non-dual-use materials even to individuals in a sanction-restricted regime. I doubt the Government of Cuba (the true target of the sanctions) would get material benefit from free courses for their populace. Certainly only the most indirect and limited military benefit. Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the treasury and state restrictions aren'…

These types of generic sanctions are not there for military purposes. They are there under the theory that they will be onerous enough to promote regime changes. Cuba is a good demonstration of how they don't work. On the contrary they create an excuse for these regimes for pretty much any domestic problem.

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#58
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The kids in these countries are already suffering under oppression/war/famine/ you name it.. Just a nitpick. Maybe in the other three countries this is true, but Cuba is pretty well off in those respects. Especially education wise.

You're clueless about what goes on in Cuba. Informers for the secret police are everywhere, nobody dares speak their mind in public. People are limited by a maximum wage. There are regular inspections of people traveling to ensure that they aren't sneaking illegal food, especially meat, around. And so on. It's as oppressive a totalitarian dictatorship as they come.

[deleted]

Re: Coursera blocks access to students in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria

#60
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were in the US they wouldn't listen to you either, so don't feel too bad.

Bullshit. If you work at it, you can change things. Sometimes it's not as fast, or as much as you want. And it's likely to be a lot of hard work. But you can help change things for the better.

Oh really? You can change decades-old embargo laws by writing to your elected local official? Really?
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