We ran a piece on this on Tuesday -- not sure if Global Voices' post had any impact here, but some hours afterword, they removed the block for Syria, under OFAC's exception for "support of nongovernmental organizations’ activities in Syria, particularly as they pertain to increasing access to education"
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2014/01/29/coursera-blocked-in-syria-by-us-sanctions/ I don't know the rationale for offering this exception for Syria but not for the other sanctioned countries. We are keen to raise more awareness about this in the coming months. Does anyone on this list have contacts at Coursera that they would be willing to share? Would be great to talk to them about it as well. On Thu Jan 30 07:10:31 2014, Joanne Michele wrote: > I'm forwarding the letter from my professor to the Constitutional > Struggles in the Muslim World class (how lovely for those very same > students to get kicked out in the last week of the course). > > He makes it clear that Coursera had no control over the decision, but > I read it as if they knew it was coming. I am disappointed that they > haven't publicly fought for their students, though maybe that's > forthcoming due to all of the attention. > > I'm also curious as to what the list thinks of his suggestions for > proxies, especially what Colin and others think of the future risks to > students in Iran. > > Thanks, > > Joanne > > Dear All, > > I write this email under protest and with a considerable degree of > anger and sadness. Few things illustrate the bone-headedness, > short-sightedness, and sheer chauvinism of the political structure of > the United States better than the extent to which its ideologues are > willing to go to score cheap domestic political points with narrow > interests in the pursuit of a sanctions regime that has clearly run > its course. > > You might remember the Apple ad from a few years back, in which the > company proudly announced that their machines were now so powerful > that they fell under export restrictions: "For the first time in > history a personal computer has been classified as a weapon by the US > government ..." > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4dDuocAXTY > > Well, that was a tongue in cheek quip at their Wintel competitors, but > a few years after that same company decided that also an iPad > apparently could now a weapon, in a rather cowardly anticipatory > cow-tow to an ever expanding and aggressive sanctions regime, when > they stopped selling any of their products to anyone who happened to > SPEAK Persian in their stores (the company has since lifted that > idiotic policy): > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18545003 > > But you will now be interested to hear that also my course (and > anything elseCoursera offers) has been classified, if not a weapon > that could be misused, then at least a "service" and as such must not > fall into the hands of anybody happening to live in the countries that > the United States government doesn't like. I have thus been informed > that my students in Cuba, Syria, Sudan and my homeland will no longer > be able to access this course. I leave it to you to ponder whether > this course is indeed a weapon and if so against what and what > possible benefit the average American citizen could possibly derive > from restricting access to it. > > Be this as it may, I invite those students affected to use services > such as hola.org <http://hola.org/> or VPN routers to circumvent these > restrictions. > > Let me reiterate that I am appalled at this decision. Please note that > no-one atCoursera likely had a choice in this matter! > > At any rate, rest assured that these are not the values of the > University of Copenhagen, of its Faculty of Law, and most assuredly > not mine! > > Let me end on a personal note: as a recipient of a McCloy Scholarship > created to foster trans-Atlantic friendship and as someone who spent > some of his most formative years in the United States, I have to admit > that I am worried about the path this country is descending to. > Blocking teaching (and medicine) from people whose government one > doesn't like is a fallback into the darkest hours of the last century. > As my teacher at MIT, Prof. Stephen Van Evera would have told the > people responsible for this: your mothers would not be proud of you today. > > Your instructor, > > Prof. Dr. Ebrahim Afsah > Faculty of Law > University of Copenhagen > > PS: Below an excerpt of the communication I received from Coursera; I > know from previous engagements that there is absolutely nothing they > can do in the current legal climate in the United States: > > "As some of you already know, certain U.S. export control regulations > prohibit U.S. businesses, such as Coursera, from offering services to > users in sanctioned countries (Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria). The > interpretation of the export control regulations in the context of > MOOCs has been ambiguous up until now, and we had been operating under > one interpretation of the law. Last week, Coursera received definitive > guidance indicating that access to the course experience is considered > a service, and all services are highly restricted by export controls. > In particular, the notion of “services” includes offering access to > human grading of quizzes and assessments, peer-graded homework, and > discussion forums. Regrettably, Coursera must therefore cease offering > MOOC access to users in certain sanctioned countries in order to > ensure compliance with these U.S. laws and to avoid serious legal > ramifications." > > PPS: I don't think it is very constructive to voice your opposition > to Coursera, as they can't do anything about it anyway. If you feel > you must voice your discontent, direct it at the political > representatives who are responsible for this situation, i.e. your > congressman or -woman if you are a US citizen or the local US > representation if you are not. > > > On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Collin Anderson > <col...@averysmallbird.com <mailto:col...@averysmallbird.com>> wrote: > > For what it is worth, I have an appreciation for the manner that > Coursera proceeded with this, being that they have been open about > the process that led to the restriction, that they are apparently > reaching out to bloggers, and since they seem to be pursuing a > legal remedy. That is far better than some companies, whose new > product launches are followed by a need to check if its even > available in sanctioned countries or who still won't take action > even when their product was specifically named in a Treasury > Department document (I hate you Adobe). On top of that, their > announcement essentially instructs the public to use a VPN and to > not give them reason to know about location -- that's imperfect > yes, but it was respectful. > > > On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 8:26 AM, Collin Anderson > <col...@averysmallbird.com <mailto:col...@averysmallbird.com>> wrote: > > My hypothesis has been that Coursera, in the midst of raising > venture capital funds, had a broad compliance risk evaluation > and this was raised by outside counsel. Based on their > blogpost, I suspect they took voluntary action and then > reached out to State (or vice versa), who likely informed them > of the Syrian General License and are probably working on > specific licenses for other countries (this will take months > in the best case). While no one would ever likely go after > Coursera for continuing the way things were, no one would ever > advise them to ignore legal concerns either. Myself and > others read into the Iranian and Sudanese exemptions as > liberally as we can, and it was clear that this was an > unfortunately reasonable interpretation. The law simply has > not anticipated the rise of virtual, for-profit, > non-accredited, non-degree-granting educational institutions; > as such, it falls outside of General Licenses 1 (Sudan) and E > (Iran). Hopefully, what will come out of this mess is a new > General License, which was the reaction to problems on sport > exchanges with Iranian officials last summer, since MITx has > been pulling similar moves lately as well. > > > On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 8:10 AM, Rich Kulawiec <r...@gsp.org > <mailto:r...@gsp.org>> wrote: > > On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 12:17:00PM +0000, Amin Sabeti wrote: > > The main point is Coursera has done something that it's > not legitimate. > > They were (apparently) forced to do this. It's not like > Coursera > staff woke up one day and suddenly decided to block those > countries > because they had nothing better to do. Please read: > > > > http://hummusforthought.com/2014/01/29/us-bans-students-from-blacklisted-countries-from-getting-a-free-education/ > > ---rsk > -- > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on > Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you > moderated: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by > emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu > <mailto:compa...@stanford.edu>. > > > > > -- > *Collin David Anderson* > averysmallbird.com <http://averysmallbird.com> | @cda > | Washington, D.C. > > > > > -- > *Collin David Anderson* > averysmallbird.com <http://averysmallbird.com> | @cda > | Washington, D.C. > > -- > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. > Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing > moderator at compa...@stanford.edu <mailto:compa...@stanford.edu>. > > > > > -- > *Joanne Michele > * > *Advocacy & Research Coordinator and Mideast Correspondent* > *Safe World International Foundation* > * > * > *Email: > *joanne.mich...@asafeworldforwomen.org > <mailto:andrew.samp...@asafeworldforwomen.org%0d> > *Web: > www.asafeworldforwomen.org <http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/>* > > -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
