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Cyber Persia

The most misrepresented and misunderstood country of the world.

by Reza Hashemi, Iran

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Facebook says no to banning Iran

Apr 25, 2009 22:08

"We have allowed, and plan to continue to allow, users to set up accounts from embargoed countries and communicate, as long as they are not engaging in commercial activities on the site," explains Facebook spokeman Barry Schnitt.

On April 23, Facebook site governance vote ended after a week in which Facebook members were able to voice their opinions as to which documents should serve as the foundation for governing the site.

The proposed document fixes most of the privacy concerns that caused the February user backlash and most members voted yes. But the new document was not just about privacy and Facebook had increased the amount of restrictions as to who can use the site.

Clause 4.3 of the proposed "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" document states "you will not use Facebook if you are located in a country embargoed by the US, or are on the US Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals".

Currently on the embargoed list is Iran, among others, and to be in compliance with US laws, Facebook needs to prohibit commercial activities from embargoed countries.

The Iranian Facebook community and media were unaware that new Facebook terms were blocking Iranians until the last day of voting when the changes were brought to their attention by a couple of active members and groups.

Thousands of Iranians rushed into voting, but the time was tight, so the proposed documents passed a 74 percent "yes" vote from 600,000 voters.

The protests continued until Facebook spokeman Barry Schnitt clarified that embargod countries are welcome as long as they do not carry out any commercial activities.

While the proposed principle 4.3 clearly states that users located in embargoed countries shall not "use" the site, now that's interpreted as "commercial activities" and Facebook's short answer to banning Iran is a "no".

Best
--Reza

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montbkk

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montbkk says...
Iran, Cuba, North Korea....I have no embargo on them or any other place where humans are found!

Apr 26, 2009 18:26

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MaryamTalak...

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MaryamTalakoob says...
I was one of the people who brought the banning and filtering to the attention of some of community and protested on the user group formed aginst section 4.3.
The afformentioned section is already in the governing document as a written form however the apolegetic clarification of the FB representative is verbal justification as well as a slight modification. Filtering regional users from joining the social network is a transgression from the very reason of global social networking. It alienates a group of people because of political motivation. Having said that, to stand in solidarity with the Iranian members and the unreasonable gesture that has come forward from Facebook's Silicon Valley corporate office, I withdrew my membership from the social network by deactivating my account. Although I live in the USA, I believe the revisions made by Facebook in the document only portrays a sense of xenophobia which has been predominantly an overture in this part of the world since the last 8 years. I sincerely hope that the new Obama Administration will bring a new breadth of open mindedness to corporate America.

Apr 27, 2009 12:14

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MaryamTalak...

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MaryamTalakoob says...
Addendum: After much rethinking, I believe the following may explain why FB has chosen to adopt section 4.3 in the revision of their governing document:
First and foremost, FB makes monetary profit by advertising. For those members who are likely targets of the web ads, it is profitable to keep them. For those members who will not be trafficking the web ads because they do not possess a charge card, it would be best to eliminate them altogether. Members in countries such as Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan or N.Korea will not be able to use Credit card on any ecommerce site. For most, they do not possess one. For example, on Amazon.com Iranian users may browse but cannot purchase any products. Now, if FB finds unprofitable to keep those members who will not do ecommerce, they will likely use an excuse such as article 4.3 to get rid of those users because it would be a liability to their profit making.

Apr 27, 2009 13:02

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About Reza Hashemi

Reza Hashemi is a Web entrepreneur.He has an engineering degree in computer hardware and a Master in computer systems and networks architecture. He has experienced a condensed history of computers, operating systems and dot com generations. In his younger days, he mastered the art of playing computer games and programming for Commodore 64 then IBM 370 mainframes with card readers in university and hooked up to the Internet via a 19.6Kbps shared connection in 1993. He is also a university instructor, IT consultant and founder/CEO/board member of a couple of e-businesses since Y2K.