Stephen Gornick (OP)
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October 09, 2012, 07:52:26 PM |
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As Inflation Rages In Iran, Bitcoin Software Not Available by Jon Matonis The regular people of Iran have had access blocked to certain open source software sites for downloading applications such as Bitcoin.
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The 20-month-old blockade hasn’t been instigated by Iran’s mullahs but by the U.S.-led embargo which prohibits certain persons from receiving services via open source hosting sites.
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Forget about the mere difficulties of obtaining and trading bitcoin for national fiat currency in Iran — without the client software, they are not even there yet.
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Source code can also be distributed in text-based form like a PDF or scanable book which is what MIT did for Phil Zimmermann and later what 70 international volunteers did for the PGPi Scanning Project in 1997.
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More and more, the Bitcoin Project is starting to look like the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) secure email program with each passing day. - http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/10/09/as-inflation-rages-in-iran-bitcoin-software-not-available |
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beckspace
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October 09, 2012, 08:00:43 PM
Last edit: November 30, 2012, 11:33:15 PM by beckspace |
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Shit. This is serious. I can't imagine an embargo like this. To be unable to download open-source software? In this days and age, unacceptable.
Is there a simple way to download Bitcoin behind great firewalls? Chinese hackers could help Iranians in this issue.
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Stephen Gornick (OP)
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October 09, 2012, 08:03:20 PM |
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Forget about the mere difficulties of obtaining and trading bitcoin for national fiat currency in Iran — without the client software, they are not even there yet. On a related note: Now that there is a 100% Farsi translation of MultiBit I have improved the right-to-left layout.
It is not perfect but I think it is now usable.
Screenshot in Farsi:
[...]
I plan to get this released this week.
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Realpra
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October 09, 2012, 09:02:52 PM |
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Shit. This is serious. I can't imagine an embargo like this. To be unable to download open-source software? In these days and age, unacceptable.
Is there a simple how-to for download Bitcoin behind great firewalls? Chinese hackers could help Iranians in this issue.
I think the clients still RUN, right? Otherwise THAT is a major issue. So it's just a question of using TOR, torrents or a simple MIRROR site to get A client. For Iranians that should be like a given - you think porn is unblocked in that country? Hell being blocked there is like a seal of approval. |
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ArticMine
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Monero Core Team
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October 09, 2012, 11:11:52 PM |
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I suspect the developers have no option but to block access to avoid serious legal problems in the United States where the lead developer is based. The same would occur is many other countries for example Canada. I actually support the developers doing this for this very reason. That been said what is to prevent someone in a jurisdiction that does not have sanctions on Iran from downloading the software and then making it available via a server or bit-torrent? In the latter case for example on TPB.
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giszmo
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WalletScrutiny.com
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October 10, 2012, 03:15:22 AM |
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I suspect the developers have no option but to block access to avoid serious legal problems in the United States where the lead developer is based. The same would occur is many other countries for example Canada. I actually support the developers doing this for this very reason. That been said what is to prevent someone in a jurisdiction that does not have sanctions on Iran from downloading the software and then making it available via a server or bit-torrent? In the latter case for example on TPB.
I suspect the developers don't give a fuck as they've been ignoring my questions about this very issue since 1.3a. There are sites which are more embargo-compliant and others that are less compliant and the bitcoin project also uses Italian domains or others that would not have any legal issues linking to open source for Iranians. Actually if the USA wouldn't be scared of Bitcoin, it could use it as a weapon against Iran alongside its USD to destabilize the IRR. |
| ɃɃWalletScrutiny.com | Is your wallet secure?(Methodology)
WalletScrutiny checks if wallet builds are reproducible, a precondition for code audits to be of value. | ɃɃ |
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bigbox
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October 10, 2012, 04:07:08 AM |
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Can Iranians use the Blockchain.info wallet or is that site blocked?
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giszmo
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October 10, 2012, 04:18:45 AM |
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Can Iranians use the Blockchain.info wallet or is that site blocked?
At least instawallet is not blocked now. You can search an Iranian proxy to learn more about the funny internet for Iranians. |
| ɃɃWalletScrutiny.com | Is your wallet secure?(Methodology)
WalletScrutiny checks if wallet builds are reproducible, a precondition for code audits to be of value. | ɃɃ |
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Gabi
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If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
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October 10, 2012, 05:30:57 AM |
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This censorship is disgusting and what's even more disgusting is that it's led by US. Where is the famous american "freedom"? So much dictatorship.
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julz
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October 10, 2012, 05:50:02 AM |
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This censorship is disgusting and what's even more disgusting is that it's led by US. Where is the famous american "freedom"? So much dictatorship.
I think the 'famousness' of American freedom is more for internal consumption. |
@electricwings BM-GtyD5exuDJ2kvEbr41XchkC8x9hPxdFd
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kiba
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October 10, 2012, 06:16:24 AM |
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This censorship is disgusting and what's even more disgusting is that it's led by US. Where is the famous american "freedom"? So much dictatorship.
Dictatorship or scared off their pants Americans? |
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julz
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October 10, 2012, 06:18:49 AM |
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This censorship is disgusting and what's even more disgusting is that it's led by US. Where is the famous american "freedom"? So much dictatorship.
Dictatorship or scared off their pants Americans? Dictatorship is so much easier when it's 99% self-policed. ChillingEffects! |
@electricwings BM-GtyD5exuDJ2kvEbr41XchkC8x9hPxdFd
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marcus_of_augustus
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Eadem mutata resurgo
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October 10, 2012, 06:57:16 AM |
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Therefore, the export control determination has to be made by the project’s registered administrator on SourceForge, which for Bitcoin is lead developer Gavin Andresen Well, I imagine Matonis is a little conflicted at this point, given that he is sitting on the board of The Bitcoin Foundation alongside the chief dev who has blocked Iranians from downloading the software .... seems like there might be a case for a hidden service on Tor mirroring bitcoin "official" repo. |
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Foxpup
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Vile Vixen and Miss Bitcointalk 2021-2023
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October 10, 2012, 07:18:50 AM |
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Therefore, the export control determination has to be made by the project’s registered administrator on SourceForge, which for Bitcoin is lead developer Gavin Andresen Well, I imagine Matonis is a little conflicted at this point, given that he is sitting on the board of The Bitcoin Foundation alongside the chief dev who has blocked Iranians from downloading the software .... seems like there might be a case for a hidden service on Tor mirroring bitcoin "official" repo. The developers don't have a choice. Bitcoin uses strong cryptography, which, for reasons which don't really make sense, is legally classified as a military weapon under the Wassenaar Arrangement, and therefore illegal to export to "certain" countries. Simply making the source code available for download worldwide is legally equivilant to selling bombs to Iran. As fucked up as the law is, it must be obeyed if you want to avoid being jailed for arms trafficking. |
Will pretend to do unspeakable things (while actually eating a taco) for bitcoins: 1K6d1EviQKX3SVKjPYmJGyWBb1avbmCFM4I am not on the scammers' paradise known as Telegram! Do not believe anyone claiming to be me off-forum without a signed message from the above address! Accept no excuses and make no exceptions! |
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giszmo
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October 10, 2012, 01:13:27 PM |
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Now would be a great time to be offering bitcoin services in Iran (and to be in the paper recycling business).
 lol |
| ɃɃWalletScrutiny.com | Is your wallet secure?(Methodology)
WalletScrutiny checks if wallet builds are reproducible, a precondition for code audits to be of value. | ɃɃ |
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phatsphere
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October 10, 2012, 01:31:17 PM |
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don't overestimate this. western propaganda is probably exaggerate the inflation and the biggest censoring mechanism is still behind our ears.
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ArticMine
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October 10, 2012, 06:27:34 PM |
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I suspect the developers have no option but to block access to avoid serious legal problems in the United States where the lead developer is based. The same would occur is many other countries for example Canada. I actually support the developers doing this for this very reason. That been said what is to prevent someone in a jurisdiction that does not have sanctions on Iran from downloading the software and then making it available via a server or bit-torrent? In the latter case for example on TPB.
I suspect the developers don't give a fuck as they've been ignoring my questions about this very issue since 1.3a. There are sites which are more embargo-compliant and others that are less compliant and the bitcoin project also uses Italian domains or others that would not have any legal issues linking to open source for Iranians. Actually if the USA wouldn't be scared of Bitcoin, it could use it as a weapon against Iran alongside its USD to destabilize the IRR. If this is a concern why not simply download the source code and binaries and put them on a server not affected by this issue. This is after all the whole point of Free Software / Open Source software. The developers do care which is why the software was released under a Free Libre Open Source software license. |
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teamhugs
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October 14, 2012, 05:40:47 PM |
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The bitcoin devs aren't really involved here, other than their choice of sourceforge for hosting. Sourceforge is blocking Iran and other sanctioned countries to minimize any legal risks with the US government. I'm willing to host a mirror of bitcoin.org+binaries in Iceland, if only there was some easy way to mirror the site. wget -u is a crappy way to do a mirror. rsync would be great.
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