Iran, you better run - .ir hosting in US ILLEGAL PART 2 - embargo breakers
- Thread starter drmike
- Start date
Time for me to disable those usage stats!
Not that I'm hiding anything, but I'd rather keep client data private...
IIRC Sanctions were lightened with Iran earlier this year and selling digital goods is legal as long as its not B2B related.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/everything-from-iphones-to-vpns-can-now-be-legally-exported-to-iran/
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1961.aspx
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/everything-from-iphones-to-vpns-can-now-be-legally-exported-to-iran/
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1961.aspx
I saw this and asked if cPanels policy still stood, which it does and is now more of a company policy that a requirement.
Yeah I just read that arstechnica article too, I've been trying to do some research on related embargoes but I would like to know what cPanel's legal team comes up with for an answer before I would want to touch any customer from Iran at this point, be it for any form of service, cPanel or not.
I guess just going by cPanels non updated TOS, it looks like "export or re-export to Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Sudan or to any country subject to relevant trade sanctions." there are several other countries which could possibly land you in jail, hefty fines etc.,
Studied a few other gov't websites too, but felt like I would need to hire a legal team just to know what the hell was what.
EricGregory
New Member
^^What he said. Always better to play it safe. Whatever gain you may realize will be negated by the headache of dealing with any government entities.
DomainBop
Dormant VPSB Pathogen
I'm lazy so I'll repost the LET post I made in May when the sanctions were lightened.
http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/10839/services-to-iran
TL;DR you can host a strictly personal blog that is owned by an Iranian national but all commercial sites that are owned by Iranian nationals are still forbidden. Selling .ir domain names, and hosting .ir domains is also still forbidden--the sanction easing didn't apply to domain names.
Based on this document:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/internet_freedom.pdf
It appears we can sell VPS and web hosting to Iranian persons, just not domains.
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/internet_freedom.pdf
It appears we can sell VPS and web hosting to Iranian persons, just not domains.
drmike
100% Tier-1 Gogent
Re-read that document.
Legalese is a mOtherfncker. That document is pretty clear to someone like me who has spent decades deciphering such bullsh!t.
Page 1, Paragraph 2,
"... provided that such services are publicly available at no cost to the user..."
That right at the get go says these exemptions are NON COMMERCIAL in nature. Meaning, no corporate use, no business hosting and no accepting payments from Iranian folks.
Page 1, Paragraph 4, (speaking on same authorizations under 560.540 of Iranian Transactions Regulations)
"... This section does not authorize ...
(4) the direct or indirect exportation of web-hosting services that are for purposes other than PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS..."
(my emphasis on PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS)
So no, this document says selling dedicated servers, accepting money for peering, selling VPS, selling cPanel, selling anything basically is prohibited.
HOWEVER, you can create a site called colocrossinglovesiran.com and give away free forums, free file storage, free email, etc. to Iranian citizens.
Don't quote me, but this clarification matter as I recall was the result of entities like email hosts, Google, Yahoo, etc. asking the Treasury for clarification so as to not run afoul of the regulations. All the entities are "free" services or perceived to be (i.e. they aren't in the hosting package sales sector).
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It was my understanding that section III stated that specific fee-based services could be exempted from the embargo and that web hosting was listed under such exemption. Each of the three sections lists off different forms of acceptable exports.
I could be wrong... this is probably something for the EFF to look into.
I could be wrong... this is probably something for the EFF to look into.
drmike
100% Tier-1 Gogent
It's unlikely, unless recent activity to loosen sanctions allows something new. Spirit of the regulations were to prevent any commerce activity that would benefit any business in Iran and especially to prevent benefit by the Iranian government.
Over the years (since the 1970's) many folks have asked for clarifications for all sorts of things from the Treasury. Like most laws, the legalese simply sucks. Nested gotchas of logic that make any programmer cringe.
Humanitarian and albeit free has pretty much been the only real exemption to any data service or related offering. Offering such would minimize to some extent popularity of competing service/offering in Iran which is consistent with spirit of the regulations.
I'd be glad to see something that contradicts with what I've said though.
To recap what I've said prior and probably elsewhere, if you get caught violating the embargo, your ass is grass. The Treasury can be as nice or as heavy handed as they like. Penalties aren't clear and enforcement is rather arbitrary. How heavy? Well messing with the Treasury in such a way is much like intentionally stiffing the IRS.
the good thing about this sanctions is that is made us very creative
for example i think now we know more than paypal stuffs about paypal
we also host thousands of cpanel servers in iran without any problem
just run a VPN server in europe/US and tunnel from hypervisor/HW router/router VM/VM to that server and connect the tunnel just for a moment after restarts to enable the cpanel to validate the license and then disable tunnel (also you should block cpanel license server in your regular network)
I think cpanel will not going to like this because with this method you can even use single license for multiple servers! because all of them will use same IP to validate the license (the IP of VPN server)
for example i think now we know more than paypal stuffs about paypal
we also host thousands of cpanel servers in iran without any problem
just run a VPN server in europe/US and tunnel from hypervisor/HW router/router VM/VM to that server and connect the tunnel just for a moment after restarts to enable the cpanel to validate the license and then disable tunnel (also you should block cpanel license server in your regular network)
I think cpanel will not going to like this
because with this method you can even use single license for multiple servers! because all of them will use same IP to validate the license (the IP of VPN server)
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I don't really understand people who try and boast about circumventing policies and laws.
You want a medal for it?
You want a medal for it?
DomainBop
Dormant VPSB Pathogen
The legality or illegality of an action is relative to where you call home. If he's in Iran then he's not circumventing any policies or laws that apply to him because he is only subject to Iranian laws and regulations.
The sanctions against Iran aren't an Iranian law and therefore Iranians aren't breaking any laws in their country if they find ways to circumvent the sanctions .
Plus, Iran and the US have no official copyright relations so US copyrights don't mean squat in Iran and (published) US software and other US copyrighted works can be legally copied in Iran (and likewise Iranian copyrights don't mean squat in the US and Americans are free to make copies of published Iranian copyrighted works).
In this case I was simply referring to the policies set by companies in order to protect their own interests. I mean if you get around another company's policies I guess good for you? But advertising it and boasting about it I don't understand.