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GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

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Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#71

Post by cies »

factorialboy wrote: post #34

So many dimensions come to play here. 1. There's the obvious legal aspect i.e. how these laws are framed and interpreted. 2. Then there's the geopolitical aspect. Is it fair to impose sanctions on Iran. 3. There's another aspect around GitHub policy that asks if an entire organization be banned for the location of one team member. 4. Finally, there's the aspect of relinquishing control. Your app development is on the…

> Ironically, Git is a decentralized version control system.

And Git is open source.

Github is a US-registered company under MS. The US has a history of weaponizing its economic power.

Stallman (RMS) was right once again.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#72

Post by zed88 »

numlock86 wrote: post #42
zed88 wrote: post #11

What's the difference between a Chinese company and a US company? None. Both work for the state, although US ones operate under the guise of democracy. This sort of union between tech and politics is not going to take us anywhere.

Nice phrasing. A bit edgy and exaggerated, though. But since they are the same, I bet you can show us where the USA holds a few (at least 5 digit range) people in abduction camps, just to name one difference. Now that would be interesting.

Well...human memory is certainly weak or biased or both. Let's not forget Guantánamo bay, which is just one among many examples.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#74

Post by EdwinLarkin »

Entrusting your business to an american entity is the stupidest idea you could have thought about.

Especially us europeans should not rely on American services at all.It's not worth it.

American corporations are just as much a liability as their counterparts in China.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#75

Post by cies »

brmgb wrote: post #45
jeroenhd wrote: post #21

If the Iranian employee logged into the Github account, isn't blocking the account exactly what the law says they should do? If all they did was apply a merge request in one of the repos then would reverting the merge and blocking the account would be enough to comply? Is there some alternative way to comply with US export restrictions? The real question here is why people even consider using US cloud companies when…

It's not an Iranian employee. That's just someone visiting Iran and login to their GitHub account. GitHub reaction is outrageously disproportionate. They should just prevent login from Iran. They had no basis for blocking a legitimate customer in Europe based on this.

Funny how GH gets shit for what the US has as laws. I'd focus my outrage on the law, the lawmaker, and those who uphold it. GH is merely trying to go by the book/ avoid penalties, as expected.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#76

Post by mola »

kiallmacinnes wrote: post #14
enriquto wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. It's alright to blame them, but it's unfair at the same time. The world is not fair. EDIT: concerning hypothetical worlds, I pretty much not want to live in a world were companies blindly follow the law regardless of how harmful it is. We have tried these worlds in the past and they were not pretty.

> EDIT: concerning hypothetical worlds, I pretty much not want to live in a world were companies blindly follow the law regardless of how harmful it is. We have tried these worlds in the past and they were not pretty. Personally, I think a distinction is necessary. Companies IMO should absolutely obey the laws regardless of if they like them or not. It's entirely unfair to blame them for obeying the law. They (as wel…

One way to fight a law is civil disobedience.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#77

Post by cookieswumchorr »

numlock86 wrote: post #51

While GitHub is not really to blame (following the laws and all, no matter how silly they are) why would your employees login from Iran with their work laptops into their work accounts while "visiting their parents" anyway? Why is that not the actual problem? Lack of policies?

depending on what the company does, different levels of security are appropriate. but, yeah, I would avoid taking valuable data with me on a flight to shady countries (the US being among the top 10 of that list)

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#79

Post by esolyt »

arghwhat wrote: post #55
brmgb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an Iranian employee. That's just someone visiting Iran and login to their GitHub account. GitHub reaction is outrageously disproportionate. They should just prevent login from Iran. They had no basis for blocking a legitimate customer in Europe based on this.

> ... one employee opened his laptop while visiting [h]is parents in Iran. I suppose this implies that the employee is Iranian. The U.S. sanctions are pretty aggressive, and I don't think preventing login from Iran is anywhere near enough to comply. The law is the problem here.

It implies he has parents in Iran. He could be a US citizen or an Iranian citizen. Or both. Or neither.

Re: GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran

#80

Post by rightbyte »

numlock86 wrote: post #51

While GitHub is not really to blame (following the laws and all, no matter how silly they are) why would your employees login from Iran with their work laptops into their work accounts while "visiting their parents" anyway? Why is that not the actual problem? Lack of policies?

You can't have policies for everything.

Their main problem is using SaaS for something as basic and important as version control. Than you have to deal with silly US laws.

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