

US sanctions lock Iranian gamers out of World of Warcraft - ValG
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-sanctions-lock-iranian-gamers-out-of-fantasy-role-playing-adventure-world-of-warcraft/2012/08/28/203aeea2-f171-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html

======
SoftwareMaven
This seems completely bass-ackwards. If we want to get Iranians to "come to
the light" that is US policy, one of the best ways to do that is to actually
have them interacting positively with people in the United States.

Furthermore, while I can (sort of) understand not having US money filter into
Iran, I can't understand why there is any problem with Iranian money filtering
into the US. Every dollar out of Iran is a dollar less the regime has to
"fight" its idealogical war.

There are days I get really tired of the letter of the law being the only
possible interpretation. When I sympathize with my Iranian brethren trying to
get into a raid because their gear is sucky blue crap, it becomes one of those
days.

~~~
eupharis
Trying to legally define what is and is not a valid financial transaction
coming in and out of Iran is a fool's errand. There's these things called
commodity markets, and most everything is a commodity (more or less liquid)
that can be bought and sold. Including WoW accounts, WoW gold, etc. If you
wanted to launder, say, oil revenues into completely respectable US financial
holdings....

And just think: due to these new restrictions, many Iranian players could get
into a whole new world of encryption, non-Iranian VPNs, non-Iranian bank
accounts, etc., etc. Which could have very positive political ramifications
for the US down the line.

Say what you will about America or Germany or whomever in the western world,
but I can still write here "Obama is an idiot" or "Merkel is a crook" or "The
American Government should be destroyed, the Constitution should be abolished,
and the ancient Corinthian Oligarchy should be enacted in its stead" or
whatever and still sleep like a babe without any fear of repercussions.

It's far from a perfect freedom, but it's better than the alternative.

~~~
derrida
On your sleep: good for you because I can't -->
[http://www.animalnewyork.com/2012/the-department-of-
homeland...](http://www.animalnewyork.com/2012/the-department-of-homeland-
security-is-searching-your-facebook-and-twitter-for-these-words/)

There are reports the TSA stopped UK citizens because of tweets mentioning
some phrases you did just then.
[http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/01/british_touris...](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/01/british_tourist.html)

Sorry about any possible disturbed sleep.

~~~
eupharis
Over 24 hours and haven't been arrested yet. Muhahaha. No one ever expects the
Corinthians.

The UK tweet thing was a crazy overreaction, yes.

In all honesty though... wouldn't you be kinda surprised if law enforcement
wasn't monitoring social media? Not looking for the super secret terrorist
cell mind you, who probably would refrain from tweeting before their grand
operation. But looking for the bat-shit loon who decides to use whatever hater
theory is au courant as pretext for their batshit loontastic ideas. E.g.,
shoebombers.

What citizens/journalists should be vigorously investigating is not whether
the social media monitoring is happening (cause it is), but whether those
Personally Identifiable Information rules are reasonable, whether they are
being followed, and just how many people are on the terrorist/drug (i.e., the
"perpetual wars" (/eyeroll) we are fighting) lists, how reasonable are the
names on those lists, etc., etc.

~~~
derrida
> how reasonable are the names on those lists

Moxie Marlinspike & Jake Appelbaum used to get the 'special treatment' at
airports that often involves detainment and interviews with more than just TSA
officers. As far as I can discern, their crime was writing software and
knowing a bit about cryptography.

Obviously Law Enforcement always monitors things to enforce the law. However,
the volume of information that is kept and retained is what the worry is. I
can't think of a historical example of a country with very extensive domestic
surveillance that has not trampled on peoples rights. If you can, I'd like to
know.

------
ChuckMcM
I wonder if anyone realizes just how severe a provocation it is to cut off a
WoW player cold turkey like that.

Seems like a pretty strange sanction though. Hopefully Iranians aren't paying
for Twitter access.

Such a strange world we live in these days.

------
belorn
"A post to Blizzard’s message board by a company employee also noted that
rules meant Iranian players would not be getting refunds.".

Isn't that the same as stealing? They are taking money in exchange for an
service they do not provide.

~~~
noarchy
There's probably something buried in the terms of use that they'll claim
allows for this very sort of scenario. If these players lived in North
America, they _might_ be able to find a legal remedy, but they're in Iran.

------
lotharbot
Two things of note:

1) This isn't a result of US law changing. This is a result of Blizzard
responding to an already-existing law which probably wasn't intended to have
this particular effect.

2) Blizzard could potentially do some real good for the world (and get some
good PR in the process.) I hope they have some sort of maneuver up their
sleeve other than just cutting off Iranian players.

------
tsotha
In other news, Iranian economy booms as US sanctions lock Iranian gamers out
of World of Warcraft...

~~~
maayank
Or youth on the streets protesting their government, after not being able to
escape anymore into a fantasy world

------
norswap
Ass move from the US government aside, what baffles me here is how uncivil
Blizzard can be.

I mean, could it really have hurt to say "we are very sorry, but we were
forced into it"?

------
gandalfar
Does this also mean that they can't play Diablo 3?

------
cloudsteam
I thought this was an onion article

I was dissapoint

