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Business Communication Service Slack, in Compliance With US Regulations, Broadens Ban on Users in Sanctioned Nations (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tough-luck dept.

Earlier this year, business communication service Slack began to block users in Syria, Iran, and select other embargoed countries to comply with U.S. regulations. This week, the company has broadened the scope of the ban by blocking some users if they have moved from or visited any of the sanctioned nations in recent years. From a report: The company began to face a backlash early today after several users complained that their Slack accounts had been deactivated and that they never received a formal warning from the company. Part of the problem, as Sarah Shugars, a PhD candidate at Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, pointed out, is that some users have been blocked even if they have been living in the United States for a number of years.

3 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Crap by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Slack began to block users in Syria, Iran, and select other embargoed countries

    I hadn't really been worried about terrorism before, but now that Slack is no longer wasting the time of a whole lot of people in these countries I am deeply concerned.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Re: They say problem, I see solution. by edris90 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, they would simply create a side chanell by which to transfer records and reciepts. After all that's all that money is records and receipts exchangeable for goods and services. as long as you can physically move goods and perform Services you can bypass popular forms of currency and still operate. Terrorists are created by the government's they oppose. They are a natural reaction to oppression. Terrorists and freedom fighter mean the same thing. Distinguishing difference is which side conflict you are rooting for.

  3. Re:Whats's wrong withe email/IRC ??? by tepples · · Score: 2

    Whats's wrong withe email/IRC

    Let me count the problems that Discord and Slack solve compared to a basic IRC server:

    • Common IRC servers have no persistent log capability, meaning a user misses messages sent to a channel while the user is offline. I'm not aware of an IRC server distribution that includes a bouncer as a standard feature.
    • Common IRC servers have no attachment filedrop for use by logged-in users. Instead it has DCC, which is one-to-one and doesn't work through NAT.
    • Common IRC servers have no link summary bot. Instead, if someone includes a URL in a message, users are expected to click through without looking at what it might be.
    • To my knowledge, IRC has no concept of belonging to a channel group, whose members share privileges over all channels in the group. This is a "workspace" in Slack or a "server" in Discord.