[governance] Interesting News: Linkedin denies service for

[Milton L Mueller]

Fouad
This is a good example of the destructiveness of imposing a nation-state framework on Internet governance. At WSIS in 2005, when I was interviewed by Iranian IT trade press journalists, I learned about how U.S. sanctions had a negative impact on Iranian bloggers and journalists who wanted to use U.S.-based registrars or hosting sites. Many of these people were not defenders of the Iranian theocracy, quite the opposite. By disrupting these people's internet access, what legitimate policy goals was the U.S. pursuing? 

There is a disjunction between the Internet-using public and the governmental layer of politics. Obviously there is dual use and overlap among the communities, but the notion that we can punish a government by strangling its Internet users is not a very intelligent one, especially when the internet users might do more to open up the country. 

--MM

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fouad Bajwa [mailto:fouadbajwa at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 8:48 AM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Subject: [governance] Interesting News: Linkedin denies service for
> countries under US trade sanctions
> 
> Hi All, I picked this news item up from a US based Arab oriented
> service called Meedan.net but some members on the governance list
> might want to dig a bit deeper into this issue of Internet
> Authoritarianism:
> http://beta.meedan.net/index.php?page=events&post_id=274105
> 
> Linkedin denies service for countries under US trade sanctions
> 
> Linkedin, the business social networking service, blocked out all
> users from countries under US sanctions claiming that their services
> are subject to export and re-export control laws and regulations. This
> includes the sanctions programs maintained by the Treasury
> Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. According to an email
> from the company's customer service, linkedin states: "We do not allow
> member accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea,
> Sudan, or Syria."
> 
> An issue that emerges from the above news is that are the people under
> a governance system not accepted by an influential country that has a
> major stake in the Internet infrastructure allowed to use that
> technology to come out of their grave state of affairs enabled by the
> Internet?
> 
> --
> 
> Regards.
> --------------------------
> Fouad Bajwa
> @skBajwa
> Answering all your technology questions
> http://www.askbajwa.com
> http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
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