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Iranian Players Blocked From World of Warcraft Due To Trade Sanctions

Posted by Unknown on from the overthrow-government-instead dept.

cold fjord writes "Is this the end of the world . . . of Warcraft? Maybe for Iranian gamers who are undergoing a forced morale check due to tightening sanctions cutting access to their game of choice. From the article: 'Iranian players of "World of Warcraft" ... have found themselves frozen out by Blizzard Activision Inc., the American company behind the game. Iranian role playing enthusiasts have spent much of the past week peppering Blizzard's message board with complaints about how they weren't able to log on to the service — only to be told recently that U.S. law was to blame. "United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran," the company said in an email sent to players last week...'" Thanks to the sanctions, they can't get refunds either.

17 of 475 comments (clear)

  1. When I was a kid we thought America was free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I remember growing up during the Cold War, and being taught all the pro-U.S. propaganda: The Russian space program sucks. You don't need papers to travel in the U.S. unlike the USSR. U.S,. citizens were free to travel anywhere, unlike those poor Soviets. Only Poland cracked down on labor unions and dissedents. And so on.

    It was only after I grew up and learned to see through the bullshit that I realized that was all lies. We had been lied to just as much as the Soviets. The Russian space program is filled with firsts that American students never learned about (we only got the NASA stuff and a brief mention of Sputnik). You DAMN SURE DO need papers to travel in the U.S. (try getting pull over by a cop sometime and tell him you have no identification, driver's license, proof of insurance, and registration and just see what happens, or try coming here sometime to see if the cops accept "We don't need no papers, this is America!" in lieu of your passport/green card/visa). Polish labor unions weren't the only ones that got cracked down on in the 80's. And American are ABSOLUTELY NOT allowed to travel anywhere they wish (try joining your European friend on his vacation in Cuba sometime if you think so).

    And if you're American you are also prohibited from doing business with any country the American government doesn't like (which are usually the ones who dared overthrow one of the U.S.'s corrupt puppet regimes).

    Land of the free...not so much.

    1. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by masternerdguy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Completely wrong statements don't need intelligent replies. We can travel anywhere, you only need "papers" if you are operating a piece of machinery called a car. If you did public transit you don't even need that. In the USSR you could be detained for moving between zones without a good reason and the completed travel papers. The OP has no idea what he is making a comparison to. USA != USSR.

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    2. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Insightful

      American fascists wear the velvet glove only because everybody complies. Resisters are jailed, just like over there in Russia, or any where else. Don't think those gloves won't come off, if they really feel threatened.

      --
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    3. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by fustakrakich · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ah, the everlovin' anecdote! Ok I'll play. I was stopped more than once while walking down the street. I wasn't even crossing the city limits. Shall we keep going back and forth?

      As long as we comply we have nothing to fear. Ain't life grand? Now I will admit, nothing beats American TV, and some of the roads are billiard table smooth. Most buildings are straight and square. And the territory is some of the most beautiful on the planet. And the government appears to be more pragmatic, but please, don't try to tell me the system is any less corrupt.

      --
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    4. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The plural of anecdote is not evidence. I have never once been asked for identification other than when pulled over for speeding to verify I am licensed to drive and have insurance. If it's true that you have undergone the treatment you claim, but that is a huge outlier and not the norm.

    5. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by cpu6502 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The America of 2012 doesn't beat the America of 2100 if we wake-up and start demanding our rights be given back.

      There's really no excuse for a college student to be fined almost a million dollars for downloading 30 songs. There's no excuse for a facebook customer to be arrested by the FBI and indefinitely detained w/o charges just because he exercised his right of free speech online (the SCOTUS has ruled even "I'm going to kill you" is protected speech in a ruling of a black man who was arrested during a civil rights protest). There's no excuse for an American citizen and his teenage child to be executed by the president w/o their guaranteed right to a trial before a jury of their peers. There's no excuse for why elderly women are being strip-searched by SA agents at airports. There's no excuse why other SA agents are putting mothers in glass jails because they are carrying bottled milk for their children. There's no excuse for SA agents to make large-breasted women walk through a nude body scanner 3 times and then joke about it: "Don't topple over!"

      There's no excuse for why a pastor driving through California was pulled-over by DHS, ordered to get out of his car, had his windows smashed-in, and then beaten in the street. (The judge later acquited the pastor of all charges because he had done nothing wrong; did not have drugs; the dog had been kicked by the officer to make it bark.) (The judge also tried to prosecute the DHS agents too, but the president's administration has granted them immunity. Wonder why?) There's no excuse for why a man sitting in his home minding his own business suddenly has police ram down his door, and then shoot him dead. (Turns out they got the wrong house.) There's no excuse for why a granddaughter was shot and killed in a similar raid. There's no excuse for why a homeless man who was wittling wood & selling it on the street was told, "Drop your knife" and then shot a mere 1 second later.

      There's no excuse for why a black mother had her child taken from her, because she refused to give the kid Ritalin medicine (the judge found her innocent as well & is pressing charges against the CPS). There's no excuse for why an environmentalist living in the Arizona and "off the grid" had his brand-new house condemnded & demolished and replaced with a shopping mall. There's no excuse for why a WW2 vet living alone and miding his own business had police break into his house & demand to see the basement. They found a garden there with grow lights, declared the grow lights illegal (they aren't), and then kicked the guy out of his home. Followed by demolishing it. Followed by another new mall.

      I could go on and on for the next HOUR of your time. There's no excuse for Any of these things to occur in the U.S.A. and if they do occur, then the mistake should be reversed and the police prosecuted. In some cases it is, but in 99% of the cases the police have immunity from their crimes. So much for the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, or the protection of law from abuses of power by agents of the government.

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    6. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by tnk1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anecdote? I just drove through 4 states this weekend and back again without being asked for papers. I do it every few months. I've never, ever, been stopped. Hell, I didn't see a single cop in the entire state of Pennsylvania, and I drove for hours through it. Are you seriously suggesting that having a driver's license and maybe being pulled over for speeding is like Soviet travel restrictions?

      In the USSR, you simply could not travel between zones without an internal passport and and permission. It wasn't a matter of maybe being stopped, you would be arrested if you tried, and it you were really unlucky, you'd be talking to the KGB about what you were trying to do. There would be no "maybe" or having to be "caught" or "stopped". The police would be informed of your attempt as soon as you tried to buy a ticket or leave the local area and you'd be taken immediately into custody simply for trying to travel. No excuses about terrorism or contraband or anything. There was no "corruption" involved. It was simply illegal to travel without papers, full stop.

      That is not, and has never been the United States. Attempts to even suggest the cases are similar are hyperbole at best.

    7. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by Hatta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The difference with cars is that you need a license to drive a car. Comparing that to what the USSR did is just not accurate.

      The problem is that the authorities can always come up with some bullshit legalistic explanation like that. Excuse, after excuse, after excuse, carving out holes in our rights until the constiution looks like swiss cheese.

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    8. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by dwillden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Thank you for not buckling under and defending our rights. It was inconvenient, but only by standing up to them are we going to get the judges pissed enough to order them to stop these illegal detentions.

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  2. It was even available to begin with? by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the hardline stance in Iran, I would think all western games would be banned for being un islamic in the first place.

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    1. Re:It was even available to begin with? by jkflying · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Perhaps it's not quite as bad there as you've been led to believe?

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  3. Stupid by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm always shocked at just how much American culture has spread world wide. And the thing is - it often works in our favor. Iranian kids playing WoW can't in any way benefit Iran that I can think of, but has multiple benefits for the U.S. Someone from the gov should be on the horn right now getting those accounts reactiviated.

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    1. Re:Stupid by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree completely. If you want to undermine a theocracy, trade sanctions that hurt the people and not the leaders aren't the way to do so. The best way is to give their people tools to share information. Spend 1% of the current US 'defense' budget on FTTH for Iran, and not only will those seeking to overthrow the government have better tools at their disposal, but it's harder to convince someone to kill themselves for a spiritual cause when tons of HD porn is just seconds away.

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    2. Re:Stupid by RogueyWon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, I doubt that Blizzard's actions are related to any recent change of policy by the US Government. Rather, it's about companies looking differently at how current policies might be applied in the wake of the HSBC case that's running at the moment (which may or may not be a piece of Wall Street protectionism).

      I can't prove it, because obviously they'll have updated their registration systems now, but I'd be prepared to bet that Blizzard have never allowed the registration of accounts (or at least the purchase of games or subscriptions on accounts) where the customer identified themselves as being from Iran. They - and quite a lot of other companies - would have been operating on the principle that this was enough to get them legally in the clear against charges of dealing with regimes subject to sanctions.

      The HSBC case has shown (among other things) that getting customers to tick a box certifying that they aren't from such a country is not, in fact, enough to prevent you from having to answer some fairly scary questions. I suspect Blizzard have just looked at their legal risk register and decided that they need to move to an IP-blocking system. So it's not actually a change of policy by either the US Government or Blizzard - but rather a change in approach and methodology.

    3. Re:Stupid by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      how about we we spend that money on FTTH to US residents first. Oh wait that would be socialism

  4. Oh great by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The US has just pissed off a few hundred more Iranians. Ahmadinejad couldn't be more happy.

  5. Re:I dunno about that by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When you register with Blizzard, part of the information that's required is the country you reside in. The question in my mind is whether "Iran" was ever on the list and - if it was - whether you were able to register an account and purchase games if you set that as your answer.

    If - as is quite possible - the only way to register an account in Iran was to pretend to be from somewhere else, then even in the absence of sanctions, Blizzard could probably just shrug, say "TOS violation" and refuse a refund.