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Comment by monkin | Hacker News Reader

GitLab can’t do nothing about it, and whining will not help. Everything is on government level.

Not whining. Bringing this into our attention is important, especially for those who live outside the US. I've been naively trusting the US-based services as always open and free, as in freedom. It's not. Any political move may mean my data can get frozen out and become unreachable anytime. A real wake up call.

>GitLab can’t do nothing about it

Change your Hosting to a non US Company is what you can do.

They are not whining, and GitLab could have notified them about the account suspension, and sent them a link with their archived account data to download.

No, they could not have. The law is very clear that absolutely no business activity is allowed.

Source: I implemented part of the sanctions compliance for a major tech company’s platform (and saw other projects get sunset because they didn’t implement it)

GitLab has been responding to private support requests from Iranians regarding the account closures, isn't that service considered business activity?

Btw, doesn't blocking by IP address go beyond what is required by law, since only Iranian residents are subject to sanctions? Would preemptively restricting accounts that have logged in from an Iranian IP address and asking for proof of residence break the law?

> Btw, doesn't blocking by IP address go beyond what is required by law, since only Iranian residents are subject to sanctions?

The penalties for violating sanctions are so severe that it is worth the risk of potentially blocking legitimate customers.

> Would preemptively restricting accounts that have logged in from an Iranian IP address and asking for proof of residence break the law?

It would be extremely expensive and in a literal sense not worth the time.

Of course GitLab can do something about it. It happened, as their tweet says, because they changed vendor. So it sounds like they may be able to work around it by changing their hosting choices.

Also, this may come as a shock to you, but when a law is sufficiently unjust, there can come a time to disobey the law. In this case, disobeying the law would not directly risk anyone's safety, lowering the barrier somewhat.

Just of clarification, did they take down the project of all Iranian nationals? or simply block access to GitLab from Users with IP from Iran? Would it be possible to hide their identity, say tor or VPN?

Can't speak for GitLab specifically, but I have spoken to Persians living abroad that had their credit cards cancelled, bank accounts frozen, and SIM cards simply stopping to work. One of them hasn't lived in Iran in two decades and denounced their citizenship half a decade ago.

Businesses don't care. It's easier for them to have a couple of false positives than it is to deal with the possible consequences.

Gitlab can either:

- Not be a US company

- Not comply with US sanctions

- Not do business in the US

There’s options. Just because they don’t want to take them doesn’t mean they’re not there.

LOL. That’s not how world and/or business works, but good try thought.

What a defeatist attitude. What you unkindly label as whining, I see as advocacy for a good cause. Blocking access to gitlab does nothing but strengthen the autocracy in Iran and prevents Iranian devs from making a living and supporting their communities.

Putting post like that is nothing more than whining, as it doesn’t change anything. Want to do something better? Write some petitions, make a campaign or anything other, but bashing company that have to comply with US laws is just stupid. Sorry if this is unkindly and defeatist for you.

Exactly, want to do something? Complain to your government representatives, not Gitlab.

Second order thinking means both tactics have value and merit, right? If not, I am open to hearing why.

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