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Disclaimer: I work for Coursera as a Software Engineer. We have already lifted restrictions for Syrians as the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) has a ge

Disclaimer: I work for Coursera as a Software Engineer. We have already lifted restrictions for Syrians as the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) has a general license for educational content (Syria General License No. 11A) issued. We are working with the State Department and OFAC for licenses or exemptions for the other affected countries and we hope to get the remaining blocks lifted soon. More info at http://blog.coursera.org/post/74891215298/update-on-course-accessibility-for-students-in-cuba http://blog.coursera.org/post/74891215298/update-on-course-a...

k-mcgrady 13y ago
Great to hear you're working on fixing on this!
sentenza 13y ago
This is good. I hope you manage to do the same for Iran, Cuba and so forth. Education is just too important, and there is a net gain for the US from giving out these opportunities. Somebody learning on a US-centric english-language site is likely to be an Americophile. Should you get nowhere regarding Cuba and Iran, it might not even be too bad to forward a link to this discussion to sympathetic people at the State Department. I think we have a nice tech-community oppiniometer and some interesting talking points here.
1337biz 13y ago
I was wondering about the consequences of breaking the restrictions, e.g. how severe are the penalties? I would love to read that as a headline in a newspaper "US Gov. sues free education provider for educating people in x".
- riggins 13y ago
  wikipedia's not the best source but from my limited experience this is in the right magnitude, with the key thing being $55k per violation. That can add up quickly depending on how its interpreted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_C... Criminal penalties for violating the embargo range up to ten years in prison, $1 million in corporate fines, and $250,000 in individual fines; civil penalties up to $55,000 per violation.
eponeponepon 13y ago
Obviously it's easy to hypothesise; however, if I were in your shoes, I would like to think that I would simply refuse to cooperate, and I can't help but feel that would be the more effective course of action, since there's probably no technical obstacle to serving packets to these countries. Like others, though, I'm glad to hear you're doing something about it. Well done.
riggins 13y ago
Understand if you can't discuss but my inference was that this was triggered by Coursera accepting money for their classes. Under the law, certain aspects of Coursera’s course offerings are considered services and are therefore subject to restrictions in sanctioned countries Is that the case?
- frankchn 13y ago
  We unfortunately cannot accept payment from students in these countries but we were advised recently that even providing free educational content as a service would fall under export control regulations.

k-mcgrady 13y ago

Great to hear you're working on fixing on this!

sentenza 13y ago

This is good. I hope you manage to do the same for Iran, Cuba and so forth. Education is just too important, and there is a net gain for the US from giving out these opportunities. Somebody learning on a US-centric english-language site is likely to be an Americophile. Should you get nowhere regarding Cuba and Iran, it might not even be too bad to forward a link to this discussion to sympathetic people at the State Department. I think we have a nice tech-community oppiniometer and some interesting talking points here.

1337biz 13y ago

I was wondering about the consequences of breaking the restrictions, e.g. how severe are the penalties? I would love to read that as a headline in a newspaper "US Gov. sues free education provider for educating people in x".

riggins 13y ago
wikipedia's not the best source but from my limited experience this is in the right magnitude, with the key thing being $55k per violation. That can add up quickly depending on how its interpreted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_C... Criminal penalties for violating the embargo range up to ten years in prison, $1 million in corporate fines, and $250,000 in individual fines; civil penalties up to $55,000 per violation.

eponeponepon 13y ago

Obviously it's easy to hypothesise; however, if I were in your shoes, I would like to think that I would simply refuse to cooperate, and I can't help but feel that would be the more effective course of action, since there's probably no technical obstacle to serving packets to these countries. Like others, though, I'm glad to hear you're doing something about it. Well done.

riggins 13y ago

Understand if you can't discuss but my inference was that this was triggered by Coursera accepting money for their classes. Under the law, certain aspects of Coursera’s course offerings are considered services and are therefore subject to restrictions in sanctioned countries Is that the case?

frankchn 13y ago
We unfortunately cannot accept payment from students in these countries but we were advised recently that even providing free educational content as a service would fall under export control regulations.