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Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

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Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#81

Post by WHATDOESIT »

icare_1er wrote: post #67
nickfromseattle wrote: post #49

I run a USA based SaaS and was mistakenly caught up in Auth0's 'sanctions'. 0. Production servers deleted 1. No logs, notifications or any indications of the issues 2. Can't get ahold of support on the free plan 3. Spend 1-2 weeks frantically trying to restore access to our customers 4. Find a random Auth0 support thread of someone who had the same issues 5. Auth0s response was to submit an affadavit to their legal t…

Insance.... what's next, I ate a Cuban sandwhich last year and posted it on instagram so GAFA will arbitrarily deplatform me ?

It's enough to post a comment on YouTube which doesn't entirely agree with the mainstream. I got a ban when I suggested on 20th Feb that Russia might attack Ukraine, and it took down the one (fortunately non-production) thing I had in GCP. Don't use them at all - especially not GCP - problem solved.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#82

Post by ceejayoz »

WHATDOESIT wrote: post #46
Sebguer wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cuba's biggest export is effectively doctors. But, sure, buy into decades old anti-communist propaganda!

These doctors need to be taught a lot and don't even care about proper hygiene (or as one of them told me "we care about hygiene, it just means something totally different in Cuba"), and don't know the first thing about modern medical procedures using modern technologies and tooling. It's nothing like US or European medical schools - it's like they went to a medical-oriented high school at best. In Europe we just sen…

Cuban life expectancy is almost exactly equal to American life expectancy; likely better over the last two years, actually (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/...). They don't seem to be doing that badly at keeping folks alive.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#83

Post by ceejayoz »

refurb wrote: post #68
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #12

Oh, nice, my company is just integrating Okta. Is Cuba still being punished for daring to host Soviet missiles? I think the way we've treated them is really terrible.

No, I think the sanctions came from expropriating US property without restitution.

Can the Hawaiians place similar sanctions on the US for doing the same thing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_history_of_the_United... looks like it could get... expensive.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#84

Post by WHATDOESIT »

ceejayoz wrote: post #82
WHATDOESIT wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These doctors need to be taught a lot and don't even care about proper hygiene (or as one of them told me "we care about hygiene, it just means something totally different in Cuba"), and don't know the first thing about modern medical procedures using modern technologies and tooling. It's nothing like US or European medical schools - it's like they went to a medical-oriented high school at best. In Europe we just sen…

Cuban life expectancy is almost exactly equal to American life expectancy; likely better over the last two years, actually ( https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/... ). They don't seem to be doing that badly at keeping folks alive.

American life expectancy is absurdly bad. I live in the places in Europe/EU where it's much higher, so to me it really is very bad (and yes we are making fun of US because of it too).

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#85

Post by guelo »

perihelions wrote: post #39

- "The Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") of the U.S. Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national s…

I am generally pro-regulation in my politics (police for the rich and powerful) but I agree that the power can be and is often abused. Just like regular police, firewalls should be built to prevent politicians from abusing regulations for political purposes.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#86

Post by throwawayacc2 »

At the start of this year, I was in Cuba. While in Cuba, I opened my bank app to check my balance. Just that, not to make any transactions.

I am a EU citizen. I only have EU bank accounts. The app I used was of a EU bank. There are no EU sanctions against Cuba at this time or at the time I was there. I also have no relation to the USA, I was never there or have business there.

A few days after opening my bank app ( again, read only, no transaction ) I received a threatening email from my EU bank saying I might be in violation of sanctions and it is prohibited to use the bank in a list of jurisdictions ( basically the ones mentioned in the post minus the last thee ) and the bank reserves the right to terminate my account.

As you can imagine, this was very concerning. Fortunately nothing came of it.

But still, I find it ridiculous the bank threatened to close my account just for being in a country that, at least for the jurisdictions that concern me, is a normal country.

I have no doubt this was an automated message. The only thing that prevented my bank account from being terminated was the suspicious activity flag triggered the email handler and not the delete account handler.

I find this to be utterly dystopian.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#87

Post by kube-system »

Nextgrid wrote: post #50
kube-system wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s nothing “outdated” here. The OFAC Controls being applicable to business done over the internet is not an unintended effect.

I think the reason he calls it outdated is the definition of "business" becomes murky when it comes to online services and SaaS companies. Does servicing an HTTP request that appears to come from a sanctioned country (based on unreliable GeoIP data) actually count as "business" for sanctions purposes?

The specific prohibitions vary by sanctions program, but there are some that prohibit companies from providing “services” and the answer as to whether that includes SaaS is right there in the name.

Companies are required to do due diligence to determine that they aren’t engaged in activities that are sanctioned. GeoIP is less than 100% accurate… but so is comparing first and last names. Unreliable data is not something inherently unique to the internet.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#88

Post by Melchori »

throwawayacc2 wrote: post #86

At the start of this year, I was in Cuba. While in Cuba, I opened my bank app to check my balance. Just that, not to make any transactions. I am a EU citizen. I only have EU bank accounts. The app I used was of a EU bank. There are no EU sanctions against Cuba at this time or at the time I was there. I also have no relation to the USA, I was never there or have business there. A few days after opening my bank app ( a…

Do you know that or do you assume that?

There are global trade and sanction contracts between USA and eu fyi and the financial sector is even more strongly regulated.

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#89

Post by jeroenhd »

ceejayoz wrote: post #82
WHATDOESIT wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These doctors need to be taught a lot and don't even care about proper hygiene (or as one of them told me "we care about hygiene, it just means something totally different in Cuba"), and don't know the first thing about modern medical procedures using modern technologies and tooling. It's nothing like US or European medical schools - it's like they went to a medical-oriented high school at best. In Europe we just sen…

Cuban life expectancy is almost exactly equal to American life expectancy; likely better over the last two years, actually ( https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/... ). They don't seem to be doing that badly at keeping folks alive.

The life expectancy for an American man is only 73 years old? That's distressingly low for such a rich country!

Re: Okta and Auth0 Blocking Cuba, Iran, N Korea, Syria, Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk

#90

Post by cmrdporcupine »

Melchori wrote: post #88
throwawayacc2 wrote: post #86

At the start of this year, I was in Cuba. While in Cuba, I opened my bank app to check my balance. Just that, not to make any transactions. I am a EU citizen. I only have EU bank accounts. The app I used was of a EU bank. There are no EU sanctions against Cuba at this time or at the time I was there. I also have no relation to the USA, I was never there or have business there. A few days after opening my bank app ( a…

Do you know that or do you assume that? There are global trade and sanction contracts between USA and eu fyi and the financial sector is even more strongly regulated.

On the Cuba issue specifically the EU and Canada many years ago basically told the US to "f off." Way back in the 90s in the beginning of the Helms Burton act days. I know the US occasionally makes threatening but unenforceable noises, but I'm pretty sure the EU drew a firm line on US overreach on Cuba. The mechanisms behind the US trade blockade of Cuba are considered to breach the sovereignty of other nations.

(As a Canadian I've been to Cuba many times with no issues; however a friend's father worked for a nickel mining company and spent time there overseeing their operations in Cuba and he can no longer travel to the US among other things.)

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