Hacker News Reader

Comment by killerstorm | Hacker News Reader

Businesses exclude people all the time. E.g. many videos are geoblocked, and there's no way to view or purchase them in some countries.

Here are some other examples: I can use free version of Google Colab from Ukraine, but I can't pay for Pro version. (I can pay for Google Cloud, though.)

OpenAI blocks API dashboard access to IP addresses from Ukraine. (But it is OK if I use VPN LOL.)

So it seems blocking ppl is the norm. I guess "diversity and inclusion" is mostly about social topics within US, not about not excluding people.

View on HN

In general it's about not accidentally excluding people. All the cases you propose are deliberate blocks for various (mostly legal) reasons. The deliberate blocks are considered in the review, and as long as there is a sound business case for launching with the exclusion, it goes ahead.

You're running into US sanctions issues (Crimea), not woke Google policy.

Doesn't matter. Also sanctions are not against Ukraine, that would be stupid.

> Also sanctions are not against Ukraine, that would be stupid.

The sanctions explicitly include Ukraine, due to financial entanglements between Ukrainian and Russian corporations[1].

[1]: https://www.state.gov/ukraine-and-russia-sanctions/

Your link:

> authorizes sanctions on individuals and entities

> a number of Russian and Ukrainian entities

> sanctions on individuals and entities

> impose sanctions on those persons

etc...

Your claim:

> The sanctions explicitly include Ukraine

Your claim is false by your own "evidence". The sanctions are not on Ukraine, they are on a few people in Ukraine.

I went over the link and it does not explicitly include Ukraine. Instead it explicitly lists out the specific individuals and entities subject to the sanctions in this incredibly long and detailed list:

https://www.treasury.gov/ofac/downloads/sdnlist.txt

All your link does is reference the rationale for why certain individuals and entities are part of the SDN list, namely violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but no where in anything you've linked to does it state that Ukraine is in general subject to sanctions.

All you did was read the page's url and take that to mean Ukraine is sanctioned. That's 100% false, which you can see by reading the page's contents.

Cry in Haiti

Reply on news.ycombinator.com