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Dear dev, Please disregard the message above. USA and Europe too are forbidding you to sell to Iran and a couple of countries. Google is doing you a favor by b

Dear dev, Please disregard the message above. USA and Europe too are forbidding you to sell to Iran and a couple of countries. Google is doing you a favor by blocking traffic out of the box. If they didn't do it, you would most likely have to block it yourself. There are official documents listing items and services you're not allowed to provide with how many years of jails you're risking. Just because you don't know about them and don't care won't be worth squat as a defense when the police will come knocking on your company's doors.

smnrchrds 7y ago
Google is not blocking access to Google Search, or Gmail, or Calendar, Drive, Photos, Maps, etc. Only access to dev tools (e.g. Android Tools) is blocked. I am not a lawyer, but my understanding, based on the actions of companies with larger legal teams than most companies have employees, is that only a tiny portion of the apps need to be blocked in Iran to be compliant with the sanctions. Simplenote (hosted on GCP) is inaccessible in Iran while Google Keep is accessible, not because of sanctions but because Google's company policy blocks access to anything on GCP. I am sure the Simplenote dev would not be in jail had he chosen to host on Azure.
- user5994461 7y ago
  Quick rule of thumb, as soon as you're dealing with any payment or physical good, you're in quasi certain prohibited territory. That goes for EU countries too that could be considered somewhat chilled in comparison to the US. Hence all businesses should be blocking Iran really, contrary to what you are implying... unless you have a magic business that sells nothing and earns no money. A note taking app might just fly, or not.
  - smnrchrds 7y ago
    Based on the actions of large US tech companies, as described above and in my other comment [0], I believe the rule of thumb is "Don't take Iranian money." If you are blocking access to a free-to-use service or the free tier of a paid service, you are using a stricter blocking scheme than seems to be required based on the actions of legally-savvy tech companies. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20494402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20494402
    - user5994461 7y ago
      At this point, you clearly show that you have no understanding of export regulations or sanctions, and you're basically arguing that there can't be any because you've seen a well known company not block all access outright. Get legal advise if you run a business. Don't do legal based on a hunch or an internet discussion.
      - miracle2k 7y ago
        It'd be pretty sad state of affairs if I had to hire a sanctions lawyer (they are a fair amount more expensive than regular ones) so I can sell, say, icon packs on the internet, but fortunately, that is not the case. The reason Google's GCP block is outrageous is that they are on a mission to become one of the backbones of the internet, and as such, they are on a mission breaking the internet in US sanctioned countries. You defend this based on the largely misguided notion that US sanction law is so aggressive and unpredictable, that anyone one running a website would be better off with an auto-block of those countries, or risk his freedom. In reality, the lack of such an auto-block from currently much larger providers (by multiples), and a lack of enforcement actions that could have been prevented by such a block, would tell us that this is FUD.
NullPrefix 7y ago
Outsourcing legal choices to google and others? In that case you better integrate real tightly with GCP so that nothing will work if GCP does not work. Or else... Or else some Iranian, by accident, might find your endpoint that just happens to load. What then? You hope he does not rat out your company to the feds? >Just because you don't know about them and don't care won't be worth squat as a defense when the police will come knocking on your company's doors.
aaomidi 7y ago
What's wrong with you?
- tuesdayrain 7y ago
  He believes that his advice will prevent some developers from suffering serious legal consequences. I see nothing wrong there. Feel free to provide the right information if you think he's incorrect.
  - cyphar 7y ago
    Sanctions are applied by the US and it's allies. There aren't Iranian laws stopping you from selling things to or using services from the US or its allies.

smnrchrds 7y ago

Google is not blocking access to Google Search, or Gmail, or Calendar, Drive, Photos, Maps, etc. Only access to dev tools (e.g. Android Tools) is blocked. I am not a lawyer, but my understanding, based on the actions of companies with larger legal teams than most companies have employees, is that only a tiny portion of the apps need to be blocked in Iran to be compliant with the sanctions. Simplenote (hosted on GCP) is inaccessible in Iran while Google Keep is accessible, not because of sanctions but because Google's company policy blocks access to anything on GCP. I am sure the Simplenote dev would not be in jail had he chosen to host on Azure.

user5994461 7y ago
Quick rule of thumb, as soon as you're dealing with any payment or physical good, you're in quasi certain prohibited territory. That goes for EU countries too that could be considered somewhat chilled in comparison to the US. Hence all businesses should be blocking Iran really, contrary to what you are implying... unless you have a magic business that sells nothing and earns no money. A note taking app might just fly, or not.
- smnrchrds 7y ago
  Based on the actions of large US tech companies, as described above and in my other comment [0], I believe the rule of thumb is "Don't take Iranian money." If you are blocking access to a free-to-use service or the free tier of a paid service, you are using a stricter blocking scheme than seems to be required based on the actions of legally-savvy tech companies. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20494402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20494402
  - user5994461 7y ago
    At this point, you clearly show that you have no understanding of export regulations or sanctions, and you're basically arguing that there can't be any because you've seen a well known company not block all access outright. Get legal advise if you run a business. Don't do legal based on a hunch or an internet discussion.
    - miracle2k 7y ago
      It'd be pretty sad state of affairs if I had to hire a sanctions lawyer (they are a fair amount more expensive than regular ones) so I can sell, say, icon packs on the internet, but fortunately, that is not the case. The reason Google's GCP block is outrageous is that they are on a mission to become one of the backbones of the internet, and as such, they are on a mission breaking the internet in US sanctioned countries. You defend this based on the largely misguided notion that US sanction law is so aggressive and unpredictable, that anyone one running a website would be better off with an auto-block of those countries, or risk his freedom. In reality, the lack of such an auto-block from currently much larger providers (by multiples), and a lack of enforcement actions that could have been prevented by such a block, would tell us that this is FUD.

NullPrefix 7y ago

Outsourcing legal choices to google and others? In that case you better integrate real tightly with GCP so that nothing will work if GCP does not work. Or else... Or else some Iranian, by accident, might find your endpoint that just happens to load. What then? You hope he does not rat out your company to the feds? >Just because you don't know about them and don't care won't be worth squat as a defense when the police will come knocking on your company's doors.

aaomidi 7y ago

What's wrong with you?

tuesdayrain 7y ago
He believes that his advice will prevent some developers from suffering serious legal consequences. I see nothing wrong there. Feel free to provide the right information if you think he's incorrect.
- cyphar 7y ago
  Sanctions are applied by the US and it's allies. There aren't Iranian laws stopping you from selling things to or using services from the US or its allies.