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Google Releases Software To Iran

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the zomg-they-can-see-your-house dept.

eldavojohn writes "After working closely with US officials following the lifting of export restrictions, Google has announced that their Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome are now available for download in Iran. US sanctions once prevented this but now Google has created versions of its popular software that block all Iranian government IP addresses from utilizing them — thus satisfying the new restrictions."

4 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Home of the Free by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I always love a government that tells me where I can and can't travel, where I can and can't sell my stuff, who I can and can't talk to--then proceeds to bad-mouth everyone else for not being free enough. Even when I was a kid and everyone was chiding the Ruskies with the "Papers please" and "In Russia you can't travel around or say whatever you want without government permission" I was stuck with the hypocrisy. Try telling the next cop who pulls you over that you don't need to show him your papers and see what happens. Try to take a vacation to Cuba sometime and see how free you are to travel anywhere. Try to export your software (or any other goods) to a country the U.S. doesn't like at the moment (i.e. countries who won't play ball) and see who comes knocking on your door.

    What if the Google guys legitimately believe that the Iranian government is running a peaceful nuclear program and is being unfairly targeted by a hostile U.S. ally (Israel)? Not saying this is the case, but shouldn't they still be able to sell them non-weapon/non-military software if they want to? That's hardly an unreasonable "freedom" in a country that holds itself as a bastion of both personal freedom and glorious capitalism.

    Maybe I would see it differently if the U.S. were actually at *WAR* with Iran. But if the criterion is "any country we don't like today," then exporting any product must be a goddamn nightmare for any international corporation.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Home of the Free by conspirator57 · · Score: 5, Informative

      apparently you are either woefully uninformed or have a very selective memory regarding US government behavior.

      our government has tortured people to death very recently. some of them we knew to be innocent. we have partnered with governments every bit as hateful as iran to outsource even more torture (Egypt as an example.) take your strawmen elsewhere

      --
      "If still these truths be held to be
      Self evident."
      -Edna St. Vincent Millay
    2. Re:Home of the Free by conspirator57 · · Score: 4, Informative

      given that the US is directly responsible for the deaths of well over 100,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 10 years alone, i think that you are the one employing moral relativism.

      --
      "If still these truths be held to be
      Self evident."
      -Edna St. Vincent Millay
  2. Re:Ummmm ... by somersault · · Score: 4, Funny

    In recent news, the Iranian government have moved to telecommuting until they figure out what a proxy is.

    --
    which is totally what she said