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Comment by rikacomet | Hacker News Reader

This is ridiculous! What is the use of being the premier institute in the world, and do just about nothing about such a obvious immorality!?

The kids in these countries are already suffering under oppression/war/famine/ you name it.. things you won't want upon yourself, much less on your kids.I know a guy who plays a rpg with me who is from Syria, he is 14 year old, and his school is defunct. Just few months back I recommended him Coursera and EdX.. and now this..? This is shit!

Whats next? Edx, Khan Academy follow course!?

This is almost like that rule that was imposed back in 2003-2007 era.. when all rpg players with name Osama/Usama were banned, or forced to change their usernames. People who had their legimate natural name as Osama/Usama way before 9/11.

Talk about overkill!

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Actually, edX did something like this a while ago too.

edX is, however, working on opening its doors to anyone who wants to learn:

> Tena Herlihy, edX’s general counsel, said the company has since last May worked with the U.S. State Department and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and has so far applied for and received company-specific licenses for its MOOCs to enroll students in Cuba and Iran (a third license, for Sudan, is still in the works).

source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/28/state-dept-blo...

This isn't on Coursera. Take it up with your elected officials.

I would if I were in US.

If you were in the US they wouldn't listen to you either, so don't feel too bad.

Bullshit. If you work at it, you can change things. Sometimes it's not as fast, or as much as you want. And it's likely to be a lot of hard work. But you can help change things for the better.

Oh really? You can change decades-old embargo laws by writing to your elected local official? Really?

I think that's what he alludes to with "hard work" and "not as fast". If you invested huge amounts of capital and campaigning, bought advertisements, setup protests, got on the news, etc. etc. perhaps enough people might notice. Doesn't mean it's effective to write a letter.

I helped change a law in Italy despite not having a lot of money or "knowing anyone". Myself and others worked on it on and off for about two years before getting a foot in the right door.

http://www.governo.it/Notizie/Presidenza/dettaglio.asp?d=690...

We're not really satisfied with the new law, but it is a small step in the right direction, and we continue to work to improve things:

http://srlfacile.org/

It's kind of a minor issue, and low hanging fruit, but still, I'm proud of it.

You are right on about writing letters. Go ahead and do it, but know that it's not enough.

Look at the civil rights movement in the US. I'm glad they didn't just decide that, having written a letter or two, and not having seen any change, that it was impossible and to give up.

You can change things, but sometimes it's better to walk around the brick wall or climb over it, instead of having a conversation with the wall asking it to please move out of the way for you.

[Edit: Can't reply to message below so I'll clarify here - my intent was that instead of arguing with politicians, they could consider options that wouldn't even involve politicians. Coursera could close their US business and move to a country that does not have the same restrictions. Doing so may also help persuade US politicians that their policies are having the reverse impact of what they want.]

It's been hauled out a thousand times, but here it is again:

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

Now, not every issue has to be everyone's fight, and for some things for some people, maybe skirting the issue is the best bet. We all owe a debt of gratitude to those who stand and fight, though.

>Take it up with your elected officials.

Yeah, how's that working out?

But I totally agree this is not on Coursera.

>Yeah, how's that working out?

It isn't, of course. But that's not the topic on hand.

You need to do more than just vote. Voting provides one bit of information to the electoral process, and you split that one bit between all of your political convictions. Worse, most of that signal is lost in the electoral laundry.

The best info that politicians can get on this sort of thing comes from polling, and people only poll on electoral issues. If you want specific policy change you need to help bring it to the attention of elected officials and electoral candidates.

you know what?

this is actually something that we should contact our elected officials on

what has to happen here? someone at the State Department has to sign off on it?

that sounds like the sort of thing the right congressman or senator making a phone call could make happen

that also sounds like the sort of thing that many congressmen and senators would enjoy bragging about accomplishing

Please recommend your RPG acquaintance the following mooc platforms that won't have those absurd regulations:

Open2Study - Australian universities alliance MOOC platform.

Futurelearn - UK universities alliance MOOC platform.

Iversity - European coursers.

Content is still limited as these platforms are younger, but they are getting more courses and polishing their platforms.

If these services don't block students from Iran, it may just be a matter of sloppiness rather than policy. When the sanctions started, our (Europe based) university was forced to remove Iranian postgrads from sciences like Physics, presumably to prevent them from gaining access to the kind of knowledge that ends up being published in magazines if it's any good. I don't see how it could serve any purpose other than to annoy and harass.

This university wasn't based in the US, but was threatened with sanctions: US based companies and institutions would have been banned from doing business with this Europe based university if they didn't comply. The irony is that US based universities are not restricted in this manner.

> The kids in these countries are already suffering under oppression/war/famine/ you name it..

Just a nitpick. Maybe in the other three countries this is true, but Cuba is pretty well off in those respects. Especially education wise.

Cuba is not well off in (lack of) oppression.

Not at war right now, and not suffering famine, but also right now there isn't war or famine in Iran.

Iran is in a good situation also, and I think Syria was ok before the war. The problem was the oppression mostly. I've met several students from upthere. They complained about the lack of freedom but they did not about lack of education, war or famine. They were even pretty well educated.

You're clueless about what goes on in Cuba. Informers for the secret police are everywhere, nobody dares speak their mind in public. People are limited by a maximum wage. There are regular inspections of people traveling to ensure that they aren't sneaking illegal food, especially meat, around. And so on. It's as oppressive a totalitarian dictatorship as they come.

Unlike in the US, where the government doesn't spy on the citizens, everybody has free access to education, free universal healthcare, guaranteed housing and... oh wait.

If you think the way that Cuba is run is the same as the way that the US is run, there is no evidence that will ever change your mind

I don't think both countries are run in the same way, I know they are not.

What I don't know is how you inferred I did think in that way from my comment.

I don't know, could it be the way you sarcastically drew parallels between the two as if they were the same? If you had just said what you meant, instead of trying to be clever or cute, maybe there wouldn't be such room for misinterpretation.

Could be that, but that would indeed be a misinterpretation. Could also be that people who don't agree with a reasoning tend to try to twist other people's words to make their arguments look wrong.

Anyway, I'll try to be stupid and mean next time so there is no ambiguity.

Sounds fantastic. So how is it living in Cuba? When are you moving there?

Actually, other stuff came up, but after a first trip in 2003 I almost did. Got friends who went there to study and another friend who was exiled there as a political refugee.

The overkill is at the level of the US State Dept and how it implements sanctions on countries that it designates as "state sponsors of terrorism." In some ways it's better to offer education to 99% of the world instead of going to prison and offering it to no one.

If I don't remember incorrectly Khan is running on App Engine and therefore already blocked.

They restored full access for Syria.

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