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Comment by garply | Hacker News Reader

I don't see this as any more troubling than the fact that Google turns over my email if the US government demands it for a lawsuit.

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My understanding is that Google will only turn over email with a court order, not just because the secret police want to go on a fishing expedition through ALL the email accounts to line up candidates for torture and extra-judicial killings.

not much chance of you being tortured or killed for the content of your email though.

While I get the sentiment - if you operate in a country you need to follow the laws of the land no matter how you might personally view them - the reality is that this action might have actually killed people. Even if it didn't do - do you think that in that position yourself you could have said with a clear conscience: "nothing bad will happen to these people" if I give out their details?

I didn't think US companies were supposed to operate in Iran in any case.

For almost a year, Yahoo stopped accepting new e-mail registrations from Iran [1], but I'm told they didn't touch existing accounts. Last August they started accepting new registrations again [2]. I think sanctions wouldn't be any issue because no money changes hands? That was apparently Google's position.

[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/07/yahoo_google_microsf...

[2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/yahoo_microsoft_iran...

Hmm.. Maybe because the US government isn't likely to imprison or torture you if you claim the elections were rigged?

The laws of a religious dictatorship doesn't count for anything - you can and should break them.

I'm sure you have a point to make, but I downvoted you because it is very poorly made and just seems like some kind of bad sarcasm. Please expand on your statement...

The point was basically this: The US, while far from perfect, gives people a fair trial, in front of a jury of their peers to laws made by elected representatives that answer at least partly to their constitutions but a constitution and bill of rights prevent this from turning completely into a tyranny of the majority. This gives the laws and system of justice some moral weight.

In Iran you would be hanged simply because you don't believe in Islam, or think women should have equal rights.

This means that there should be no more respect for laws made by Iran than for the average street bully.

"In Iran you would be hanged simply because you don't believe in Islam, or think women should have equal rights."

I challenge you to provide a single reference for any of the above alleged "hanging" offenses. (You will be held to your statements of fact regarding "believe" and "think".)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07...

I invite you to do a web search for "Bahá'í Iran".

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