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Microsoft Blocks Messenger In Five Embargoed Countries

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-can-they-still-tweet dept.

Spooky McSpookster writes "Microsoft has turned off its Windows Live Messenger service for five countries: Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan, and North Korea. Users in these countries trying to log in get the following error: '810003c1: We were unable to sign you in to the .NET Messenger Service.' Why now, since this flies in the face of the Obama administration's softening stance on Cuba? This isn't the first time the US trade embargo has had questionable outcomes. US-based Syrian political activist George Ajjan created a web site promoting democracy in Syria, only to find GoDaddy blocked anyone inside Syria from seeing it. The article argues, 'Messenger is a medium for communication, and the citizens of these countries should not be punished from such a basic tool because the US has problems with their governments' policies.' What does this say for the wisdom of non-US citizens relying on US companies for their business or communication?"

2 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. is the problem really US companies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The slashdot article writes: "What does this say for the wisdom of non-US citizens relying on US companies for their business or communication?"

    It's not so much that it's a US company, but closed source product.

    Microsoft activation has disabled plenty of US citizens who upgraded some components of their hardware that WGA didn't like.

    And even if you buy from other companies you're not safe from US sabotage in closed source software. Remember the Soviet Oil Pipeline software bought from a Canadian firm - which had CIA-placed trojans in it:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_pipeline_sabotage

    If you care about your software infrastructure - make sure you have the ability to fix (or hire independent consultants to fix) your software no matter what your vendor does - whether it's something innocent like going bankrupt, or deliberately breaking your infrastructure.

  2. Don't think so by Lawand · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't think that MS really wants to lose tons of users, because I am from Syria and switching the country in my profile re-granted my access to the Messenger service.

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