On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 03:53:50PM +0300, Reco wrote: > So, dear list, > > this is just a quick followup on discrimination practices employed by > GitHub. > Today it was brought to my attention that GitHub has restricted access > to users who live in countries that have US sanctions applied - [1]. > > Therefore, if somebody is still had any doubts that GitHub does not > respect software freedoms - leave any hope. GitHub is unsuitable for > hosting free software. > Well, that's a very nice slant you put on the issue. As a public company in the US, GitHub is expected to respect US law. Certainly there are instances where civil disobedience is called for, but violating export regulations is perhaps not the best choice. Also, the article which you linked explicitly states that they are working with regulators to help them understand that GitHub providing services in sanctioned markets actually *supports* the US government's foreign policy objectives of free flow of information and free speech.
It seems like that course of action is much more likely to yield positive results and changes than GitHub deliberately disregarding US law in this case. Choosing to ignore the law would likely result in GitHub being shut down and/or executives being prosecuted. I suspect that such a loss would actually result in far less support and advocacy for software freedom than we currently enjoy. Well, it seems like I've fed the troll enough, so I'll stop now. Regards, -Roberto -- Roberto C. Sánchez
