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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.

10 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 JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are a lot of factual problems with your statements. I'm not going to list all the Soviet space accomplishments I learned about in school, because that's likely a function of specific school one went to and how much detail on the space program one had. But let's look at your other claims.

      First of all, the US has not (until very recently in some states like Arizona) been a papers-please state, that is a state where the police can just stop you on the street and ask for your ID and other paperwork. 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.

      Second, it is possible to travel to Cuba and has been for over a decade, and in fact it just got easier about a year ago. http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/travel/at-long-last-legal-trips-to-cuba.html. Even in years where it has been difficult, a minimum of around 50,000 Americans traveled there has been around 50,000. Moreover, there's a very large difference between it being difficult to travel to a specific country and making it nearly impossible to travel to most of the planet. Remember the Berlin Wall at all? People were shot trying to flee as a regular occurrence. The US may do nasty things sometimes to keep people out, but they aren't threatening their own citizens to keep them in.

      None of this is to say that the US is perfect. There are serious problems with civil liberties. And in many ways they've gotten much worse in the last decade. But that doesn't mean it is at all like how things were in the Soviet Union.

    2. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      America may not have all the freedoms I'd like, but it sure as hell beats any other place on this planet!

      Often quite literally!

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

      >>>I recently crossed several state borders without being stopped by police for papers. So no, we are not the USSR.

      It all depends WHICH states and of course timing. A few years ago I was sightseeing the perimeter of this country. I had no problems in the north, no problems along the west coast, and no problems along the southern border until I decided to go see the Gulf of Mexico. On my way back the DHS pulled me over and demanded to search my car. No warrant. Just a demand. I refused. So they detained me for an hour in the hot summer sun, giving me a nice sunburn, and then finally said, "The judge refused to give us a warrant. You can go." And I'm not the only one..... there are lots of similar incidents documented, with video, on youtube. Including cases where people were drug from their car and beaten. There's no reason for the police to detain a tourist for an hour w/o cause. The Supreme Court has already ruled, again and again, that such detainments are a violation of the 4th amendment but the DHS and Executive Branch doesn't give a shit. ("The justices made their ruling. Now let's see them try to enforce it.")

      --
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    4. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by cornjones · · Score: 5, Interesting

      yeah, i remember hearing all that bullshit about russians having to wait in line for food, paying outlandish prices for western goods like jeans and vcr's b/c they weren't available there, being afraid to speak out b/c the police would throw them in jail and afraid their neighbors would turn them in as dissidents if they weren't seen vocally espousing their true loyalty.. I always assumed it was completely biased propaganda in a cold war US vs THEM style.

      Fast forward 20 years. I married a Russian woman and learned that what was happening was generally much _worse_ than what I had been taught. Just recently read Archipelago Gulag which again confirmed this for me. What I was hearing about russia wasn't nearly as bad as Russia really was.

      Now, I don;t like the direction American laws and politics are heading one bit, and I will continue to fight against the tide. But false equivalences like the parent post show nothing so much as a lack of perspective...

    5. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Informative

      So what was it that the USSR did exactly? I don't mean in Berlin near the wall, I mean in Moscow or Stalingrad or a Russian city with russian citizens, not conquered and occupied territory.

      In the papers context, anyone authorized (police, KGB, GRU, etc.) could stop citizens at any time and ask for their papers, that included identification information, where they worked, etc. and could ask them why they were they were, what they were doing etc. Failure to cooperate was a crime. And this was frequently used and moreover was used to intimidate groups they didn't like. For a personal example, I know someone who grew up near Moscow in the 1970s who had become interested in Judaism. She joined a group of people who were reading and studying old texts. After a few months, it reached the attention of the government, and one time they went to their regular meeting, she was stopped by KGB people and asked where she was going, and told that it was an unwise thing to do. At the next meeting, they were raided and all arrested. She served a few months in jail and upon being released couldn't get any jobs. In the US, nor in most of the Western world do things like that happen. The USSR wasn't just bad compared to the US, it was bad compared to most civilized countries.

      I'm perfectly fine with flying pretty much anywhere in the world, but I won't currently fly to the U.S..

      Sure, the current restrictions on flying are stupid, petty and deeply inconvenient. If I were not a US citizen I'd probably not be that inclined to fly here either. But that goes to the "things aren't perfect and have gotten worse" matter, not to any sort of comparison with the USSR.

    6. Re:When I was a kid we thought America was free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      NO! You cannot be detained in the U.S. just for not having ID. You are simply wrong.

      The U.S. also does not have any requirements for exit. Airlines will check that you have a passport so that you can get intothe country you arrive at. But the U.S. has no exit restrictions at our borders. You are free to leave.

      Actually, there are currently 24 states (that's roughly half of the US) that have "Stop and Identify" laws.

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_identify_statutes

  2. 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.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
    1. 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: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?

    --
    Help I am stuck in a signature factory!