Microsoft Not the Only Firm Blocking IM Service To US Enemies 173
ericatcw writes "It was reported last week that Microsoft had cut access to its Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service to citizens of five countries with whom the US has trade embargoes. Now, it turns out that Google and, apparently, AOL have taken similar actions. According to a lawyer quoted by Computerworld, even free, downloaded apps are viewed as 'exports' by the US government — meaning totally in-the-cloud services such as e-mail may escape the rules. Either way, there appear to be a number of ways determined citizens of Syria, Iran, and Cuba can get around the ban."
Cutting internet into pieces (Score:2, Interesting)
"U.S. Enemies"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you guys in the USA still seriously believe that Cuba is going to invade and conquer you / subvert your citizens and turn them into communists / invite Putin to set up ICBMs pointing at you?
Across the water here in the UK it seems a bit daft. Really interested in some measured responses about why the USA still has a trade embargo against Cuba and treats them so coldly. I'm not trying to wind you up, but really curious and I don't understand. If the reason is because you believe Cuba has a poor human rights record, well that doesn't stop the USA trading with other countries where serious human rights abuses are commonplace. Is it because Cuba is nominally communist? I am pretty sure the USA trades with other countries that have communist/dictatorial leaderships.
Really curious - can any slashdotters enlighten me as to why the Cuba / USA situation continues? I would have thought it's all long gone cold war history and both countries would benefit from getting over it. Or has the Cuban leadership said something that the USA doesn't find acceptable and won't back down until they apologise?
cheers for any insights!
Re:"U.S. Enemies"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do politicians do anything? Political reasons. Gotta look tough 'n macho, or something. Tough on crime. Tough on communism. So on so forth. Yeah we trade with worse countries but Joe Voter is too stupid to know that and he knows that Cuba it the "enemy" of the good ol' USA so only a pinko liberal would end the embarge!*
*the vast majority of liberals don't support removing the trade embargo either. Oh...and I'm not a liberal.
Silly rules (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway that will not impair Fidel Castro of browsing Google News through Chavez's personal proxy, right?
Or it will not stop Ahmenidjad of reading all those funny books on US rocket programs he already got from googling... Besides he already bookmarked all the stuff.
Anyway I think it will be more damaging the fact that information, on what people think of these countries, is being blocked to them...
Eeeee, stop... North Korea was taken out of terrorism support list a little before they started to mess around with missiles and nukes. Well, missiles and nukes, they already had isn't it? Yes, it could be possible that Kim just decided to google a little bit and found the reason for that litlte meany bug that was plaguing his rockets. But the man went really mad, he is blasting a rocket every day and scrapping every piece of paper he signed. He's cursing the whole world and threatening pure harakiri. Maybe because of such things as this?:
http://www.nkeconwatch.com/north-korea-uncovered-google-earth/
So long for secretive North Korea...
Re:"U.S. Enemies"? (Score:2, Interesting)
Do you guys in the USA still seriously believe that Cuba is going to invade and conquer you / subvert your citizens and turn them into communists / invite Putin to set up ICBMs pointing at you?
Most Americans, no, they don't believe any of that. There's a minority ruled by the near constant crap flood of fear, racism, xenophobia and negativity offered up by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, along with a handful of media outlets owned by Rupert Murdock and Fred Koch. They don't realize that fear and smear have stopped working but they keep doubling down on the same losing strategy and hoping for a different result.
That 25% minority is now on the verge of tearing themselves apart as the people with two neurons left to make a spark try to wrest control of party away from the wingnuts. A task complicated by the fact that the inmates are running the asylum.
I think ever country has that 15-18% of crackpots, but not every one lets them seize control of the government. Learn the lesson. You can see where it got us.
Re:"U.S. Enemies"? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:OK With Me (Score:4, Interesting)
Only thanks to actions like this attempting to shut off methods of communication, the only information these people will get about the outside world will be what their government supplies them...
So as far as the people are concerned, it is not their heroic government that needs to change, it is the evil foreign governments who are picking on them.. And were it not for their heroic government fighting their corner, these people would be even more cut off from the world.
Re:hurt the wrong people more (Score:4, Interesting)
"I always thought the Internet would make wars awfully awkward, since you could be in direct, person-to-person contact with the civilians on the other side."
Reminds me of a common thought in the beginning of the 20th century. When aeroplanes were invented, there was the opinion that since everthing would be scoutable from the air, there would be no secrets since every troopmovement would be detected very easily. There would be no secrets and war would be impossible. That hope was crushed very quick I would imagine since war didn't stop and even became more dangerous to civilians(city bombing).
In a real war between equals, internet contact(and all other contact for that matter) between those countries would be immediatly cut off as far as it can be cut off. Sure, you can use proxies and the sort but only a select few would be able to subvert the "firewall". Every time a new way of evading the firewall becomes popular, goverments will try to block it and it will be enough to stop 90%+ of the people coming in contact with people on the other side.
Re:"U.S. Enemies"? (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to consider myself as in the liberal camp but now find myself much further to the left. I value education, science, freedom, free speech and heavily criticize religion and would like to see it disappear, such values used to be very common with the left.
What seems to me to have happened now though is traditional leftist values have been weakened by the trend towards liberalism, we often find liberal people saying rubbish like science is just a western form of thinking, that we shouldn't criticize cultures and religions that result in the torture and muder of homosexuals or the subjugation of women and children, and then a whole lot of 'anti-western' thinking untempered any form of rationality.
With regards to the article though, I agree with everyone saying this is just stupid, it has the very real potential to hinder progress in less democratic countries, and I can't see what possible good it could achieve.
On the Cuban trade embargo, I also not being from America, see the trade embargo against Cuba as very strange. Though I thought that the reason it still existed was more to keep Cubans living in America happy because they didn't want America dealing with Fidel? I was actually speaking to a guy from Cuba a couple of days ago via Jabber, he said that he fixes computers there. He said that a computer in Cuba costs about 25,000 Cuban Pesos, and he makes only 600 Cuban Pesos a month... I would really like see that trade emargo disappear so that the Cuban people could start trading more easily and get more money.
Re:OK With Me (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:OK With Me (Score:5, Interesting)
Mod parent up. Seriously, people in North Korea only go along with their dear leader because they think that they are in a good country. NK media pulls lots of tricks, like releasing footage of boxing day sales, then labels them "US consumers panic as famine hits". 1984 wouldn't work with IM.