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Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

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Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#61

Post by vasco »

adastra22 wrote: post #20

OP, some context from the other side might be helpful. Yes, there are fines for American companies if they do business with Iranians. That's how sanctions work as I'm sure you're aware. But the story doesn't stop there. If an American finds out they are transacting with a sanctioned individual, or citizens of a sanctioned country like Iran or North Korea, the stakes go up: $1M USD fine and up to 20 years in federal p…

In all of these situations if you want to do the right thing you need plausible deniability. Network block IPs from Iran, don't block VPNs, done, users from sanctioned countries can use your software but you're also going by the rule.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#62

Post by number6 »

tgma wrote: post #37
adastra22 wrote: post #20

OP, some context from the other side might be helpful. Yes, there are fines for American companies if they do business with Iranians. That's how sanctions work as I'm sure you're aware. But the story doesn't stop there. If an American finds out they are transacting with a sanctioned individual, or citizens of a sanctioned country like Iran or North Korea, the stakes go up: $1M USD fine and up to 20 years in federal p…

This is partially true, but not the entirety of the story. There are blanket sanction waivers ( General License ) by OFAC to allow certain things. There's also the possibility to get an OFAC license (as GitHub did.) The real issue is there is little to no advantage (realistically no money to be gained from Iran) or even awareness (sometimes the cloud infrastructure bans Iran by default and you don't have enough users…

[flagged]

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#63

Post by JumpCrisscross »

don_esteban wrote: post #52
barrenko wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to get people in those contries to overthrow their leadership. And if your're someone sliding into nasty leadership / government situation you have to realize there will be a consequence to that and that the perception of the ruling party can never be separated from the perception of the people.

"The point is to get people in those contries to overthrow their leadership." No, that's for consumption by population of the sanctioning country. The people in the know know very well that that never works. The point is for every other country in the world to see how much it hurts if you don't follow the wishes of USA. Classic mafia strategy. The exception were the sanctions on Russia at the start of the Ukraine war…

> point is for every other country in the world to see how much it hurts if you don't follow the wishes of USA

This is the symbolic value of sanctions. It’s a part of coalition building and domestic messaging. (Though if you constantly do it this becomes less effective.)

It’s a classic team-building strategy: costly signalling [1]. You see it in mafias, but like, also when a softball team buys matching jerseys.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costly_signaling_theory_in_e...

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#64

Post by slg »

>Iranian IPs are blocked here, due to your decision to arm Russia with drones so that they can indiscriminately massacre civilians.

The "your decision" in that response is really off-putting. I know the law is what it is with sanctions like this. However, it is a failing of basic human empathy to blame other common citizens of a country for the actions of their government while we almost certainly do not endorse all the actions of our own government and would probably be a little upset if a foreigner assumed we did.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#66

Post by harperlee »

daniel_iversen wrote: post #53

> By the way, did you know you could return 451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons instead of 403 Forbidden when you're going to ban me next time? Had no idea, interesting!

451 coming from here by the way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#67

Post by Devasta »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #35
barrenko wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to get people in those contries to overthrow their leadership. And if your're someone sliding into nasty leadership / government situation you have to realize there will be a consequence to that and that the perception of the ruling party can never be separated from the perception of the people.

> The point is to get people in those contries to overthrow their leadership. That's the theory, but has it ever worked? That something that never works (not even in cases where it has been going on for multiple generations, as in the case of Cuba or Iran) keeps being tried makes it impossible to believe that the intention is making it "work" in the sense you mean. The sanctions are just to sink those countries for p…

If anything I'd say it has the opposite of the intended effect sometimes.

Like, during WW2 the UK was being bombed and ration books and supply shortages were the order of the day. They look back on their endurance of the conditions inflicted upon them as a source of national pride, have to imagine that is the case for many in the sanctioned countries too.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#68

Post by adastra22 »

vasco wrote: post #61
adastra22 wrote: post #20

OP, some context from the other side might be helpful. Yes, there are fines for American companies if they do business with Iranians. That's how sanctions work as I'm sure you're aware. But the story doesn't stop there. If an American finds out they are transacting with a sanctioned individual, or citizens of a sanctioned country like Iran or North Korea, the stakes go up: $1M USD fine and up to 20 years in federal p…

In all of these situations if you want to do the right thing you need plausible deniability. Network block IPs from Iran, don't block VPNs, done, users from sanctioned countries can use your software but you're also going by the rule.

And that's generally what people do. Make a best effort, and then it is "don't ask, don't tell." Unless you have specific KYC rules in your industry.

Re: Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';

#70

Post by vasco »

palmfacehn wrote: post #18
OccamsMirror wrote: post #2

It must be really frustrating be on the receiving end of sanctions. The ugly truth about sanctions is that they punish the people more than the aristocracy. But they're still better than wars.

From the article: >I read hackernews on a daily basis and I visit lots of different websites regularly. I am almost always on my VPN as I am internally firewalled by the government and externally shooed because of the sanctions, so I am probably missing some of these heart-warming messages: >>Iranian IPs are blocked here, due to your decision to arm Russia with drones so that they can indiscriminately massacre civili…

Only way to widthraw consent in a democracy is moving to pay your taxes somewhere else.
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