[rsync]

"They went the extra distance to get a permission/license from the US government specially to offer full Github to developers from Iran."

Wait, that's a thing ?

We get a signup from Iran about once every month and I always, apologetically, send a personal note saying that I wish we could provide service to them but ...

You're saying rsync.net can legally provide service to Iranians with ... some paperwork ?

[dharmab]

It would take some intensive lobbying:

> And separately, we took our case to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the US Treasury Department, and began a lengthy and intensive process of advocating for broad and open access to GitHub in sanctioned countries. Over the course of two years, we were able to demonstrate how developer use of GitHub advances human progress, international communication, and the enduring US foreign policy of promoting free speech and the free flow of information. We are grateful to OFAC for the engagement which has led to this great result for developers.

[saurik]

There are standing "general" licenses for any product / company that is doing certain activities and "specific" licenses granted to individual companies. I believe GitHub managed to get a general exemption for anyone providing source code hosting? The general idea is that there are things that the US government wants people in Iran to be able to do as it would help their fight rather than hurt it. This page has the list of general licenses:

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/...

[thrwn_frthr_awy]

They are a trillion dollar company which spends ten million dollars a year on lobbying for reasons like this.

[ya3r]

Definitely a thing.

Regarding the cost, it might be more than "some paperwork".

[AriaMinaei]

Iranian dev here. I can tell you if a company goes the extra mile to provide services to us, the reason is almost always that they just care. It's not a marketing tactic. You have to care if you go through all that trouble. And there is very little publicity to these acts. No one is going to notice it but us. They only do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

[rvnx]

They also went the extra-mile to block Iranian developers, they didn't have to do so much police, and probably tried to buy their redemption. For example, in theory Hackernews should block Iranians, but they will probably pretend not to be aware and won't actively chase them.

[ralph84]

Compliance with US export controls and sanctions isn't optional. That some companies are less diligent about it than others doesn't change the compliance requirements, and people can and do regularly go to prison for willful violations.

[IlliOnato]

And if GitHub did not block Iranian developers _before_ it obtained the exemption, it would be in violation of sanctions, which carries both criminal and pretty much unlimited financial charges.

I don't know whether HN violates sanctions, but comparing to GitHub HN is very, very small fish. The chances that GitHub would swim under the radar were pretty slim.

Really, "this company obeys the law, so it is evil" is lame.

[mschuster91]

> They also went the extra-mile to block Iranian developers, they didn't have to do so much police, and probably tried to buy their redemption.

US sanctions, even the threat thereof, are serious business. To this day, US nationals or US tax persons are having a really hard time finding a bank in Europe that is willing to deal with them because many banks don't want any exposure to the US FATCA they can avoid.

I had an ex-girlfriend who was born in Germany to US and Greek parents. Quite the shitshow with paperwork.

[zerkten]

I'm curious how they discover this if they are trying to stay so distant from US authorities. If you have EU citizenship which is what I assume here then presenting the Greek passport and supporting local documents isn't enough? Or, is it the case that something local like a missing local tax number, or even an accent telegraphed the situation.

With the US, it feels like everything is much more uniform with the tie back to a federal social security number. The SSN is universally requested for many types of financial and insurance setups.

[jhugo]

Every bank I've opened an account with in recent years has asked multiple specific questions about any ties to the US during the account opening process. One even asked if I'd ever had a US telephone number or mailing address.

[geomark]

In some places the family name tips them off. Like here in Thailand a Thai woman who is married to a westerner and has his last name will have to fill out a form stating whether or not they are a US person.

[mschuster91]

On bank forms you are asked to provide all your citizenships, tax IDs and explicitly if you are an "US person" covered by FATCA.

Lying on these forms is punishable under our AML/KYC regulations and exposes you to civil liability for damages.

[jeromegv]

Lying to your bank is typically not a good strategy when it comes to compliance. You can get asked on a form and if you lie, they have a very good case later on to close your account.

[pgeorgi]

That works exactly as long as such an US-aligned company doesn't enter the spotlight in some sanctioned entity related trouble.

Had friends working export compliance for a larger US IT company, and they once (temporarily) blocked a larger shipment to the (British) Royal Air Force because some bozo abbreviated them as "RAF" - which, obviously!, refers to the (German) Red Army Faction, a left-extremist terrorist cell that wasn't relevant for more than 10 years at that point (and wouldn't know what to do with high performance computers, anyway).

Better safe than sorry, otherwise you mess up one day, come back to the HQ on the next and all that's left is a brand new parking lot.

[toast0]

Hacker News probably falls under the general license for personal communications, etc. Github is not really personal communications, so caution is warranted, at least a bit. Rsync.net doesn't really provide personal communications either, IMHO, and it seems reasonable for them to not do business with people in Iran unless rsync.net obtains a specific license or finds a different general license they fit into.

[908B64B197]

> You're saying rsync.net can legally provide service to Iranians with ... some paperwork ?

A lot of it probably. Also, not sure how you can collect payment from these users. And keep in mind your software might end up being used by their regime for oppressive purpose.

Keep in mind the people of Iran can end these sanctions at any time. It's a personal and societal choice.

[type_enthusiast]

> the people of Iran can end these sanctions at any time

Sorry to bite on this off-topic thing... but, _how_? Overthrowing their government? I guess that would be technically true, but "at any time" seems like a weird phrase to use for that.

[908B64B197]

Yes. Just look at Libya during the Arab Spring. Democracy is never given, it is earned.

[mschuster91]

> Just look at Libya during the Arab Spring.

Iran at least has some sort of functioning government entity (which I, to be clear, absolutely despise), Libya collapsed completely as a result of Ghaddafi's (well deserved) downfall and it will likely be a hotbed of Islamist terrorism and instability for decades to come. I don't see any nation or block of nations willing to step up and do nation rebuilding in once-beautiful Libya outside of the EU financing terrorists aka the so-called "coast guard" to torture migrants - what makes you think any kind of revolution in Iran would be assisted by anyone?

The US even abandoned the Kurds ffs.

[toyg]

The Iranian system also has some democratic legitimacy. Yes, the religious authority is supreme, but it's not as overtly tyrannical as the average dictatorial regimes: the religious ruler is himself elected by an assembly (similarly to what happens with the Catholic Pope), and the secular executive branch is elected (although the religious element can pre-emptively stop pesky candidates from running altogether).

There is a good chunk of Iranian society that genuinely thinks their system is good, and it keeps the country somewhat stable in a region where such condition is not particularly common. Telling them to throw it all away by pointing at Libya is basically a cruel joke.

[mehrdada]

This characterization is ridiculous. Following the form does not make you “somewhat democratic,” nor does calling oneself Democratic People’s Republic.

In addition, “the secular executive branch” comment is flat out wrong. The executive branch and candidates for presidency are explicitly obligated to believe and follow Islamic and Sharia laws.

[908B64B197]

> There is a good chunk of Iranian society that genuinely thinks their system is good, and it keeps the country somewhat stable in a region where such condition is not particularly common.

That explains the massive exodus of talent, minds and people straight out of the country minutes after the revolution.

[kmeisthax]

Libya is actually a terrible example of this. If I recall correctly, right after the Arab Spring, their country erupted into civil war, twice, and the current ceasefire is barely a year old. The reason for this is not because they chose civil war, but because Libya and many other poor countries are stuck in a local minima of dictatorship and sectarianism.

Why? This chart should be illustrative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#/media/File:Libya_Produc...

- Dinosaur juice that we took out of the ground

- Dinosaur farts that we took out of the ground

- Dinosaur juice that we took out of the ground and then cooked

- Shiny metal that we took out of the ground

In other words, all industries that, critically, do not require the people to operate. Libya is the poster child for the resource curse. In poor countries, democracy is a dangerous boondoggle that squanders the wealth of the country, and any country with an economy shaped like this that tries democracy will be swiftly punished for their obvious flaunting of basic economics. Likewise, all of the other things you see in these kinds of countries - sectarian violence, religious and ethnonationalist conflict, and so on - are all merely part and parcel of being poor.[0]

Taking this back to Iran... the country is born out of geopolitical praxis, not a resource curse. The US tried to utterly fuck over Iran and turn it into Libya, in the name of fighting the Soviets. So at least part of the current hostility towards the US is still borne out of actual popular support. Yes, some Iranians would like to just enjoy a cosmopolitan software developer lifestyle, but those people are fewer in number compared to the people who want nothing to do with a country that has hypocritically denied it the right to self-determination. Maybe that will change, and people on both sides will forget long enough for us to normalize trade relations. But that's not a simple matter of uninstalling and reinstalling governments like they were device drivers. Plenty of Iranians still hate the US, and plenty of Americans do, too.

[0] This is also why a lot of Donald Trump voters bought into a lot of far-right racist bullshit, as well as why many poor countries see regular genocides. Because that's exactly what you promise poor people. It's far easier to make you richer than a race or religion you don't like, than to make you richer overall.

[shabazahmed]

I wouldn't say never. ex Bhutanese Democracy[1] was given by the monarchs though lot of population wanted the monarch to continue. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_democracy

[hni]

Never given; but taken, sometimes.

[_pmf_]

Is this satire?