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Apple

Apple Bans Iran from the App Store (bleepingcomputer.com) 58

Iranian users have not been able to access Apple's App Store all day today, in what appears to be a ban put in place by the US company. From a report: According to reports and sources who spoke with Bleeping Computer, the ban appears to have been put in place earlier today, around noon, GMT. Users were not able to connect to the Apple App Store to install or update applications. When visiting the App Store, they were instead greeted with the message "The App Store is unavailable in the country or region you're in." This ban appears to be IP-based. Meysam Firouzi -- an Iranian security researcher -- told Bleeping Computer that he successfully connected to the App Store while using a VPN, despite having Iran-related details set on his account.
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Apple Bans Iran from the App Store

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Just when I wanted to install Iran on my iphone.

  • Not first post (Score:4, Interesting)

    by FormOfActionBanana ( 966779 ) <slashdot2@douglasheld.net> on Thursday March 15, 2018 @05:32PM (#56266715) Homepage

    I think this is kind of standard for businesses that have a stake in the United States. Tech companies I have worked for have restrictions from making sales to Iran or North Korea. Isn't there an embargo? It changes almost every year it seems.

    Question from me is, how did Apple EVER be able to make sales to Iran?

    • Question from me is, how did Apple EVER be able to make sales to Iran?

      1. Go to Ebay or whatever online store
      2. Buy iPhone and Ship to Iran / somewhere close to Iran
      3. Collect iPhone and Go back to Iran
      4. ????
      5. iPhone in Iran

    • by jrumney ( 197329 )

      Question from me is, how did Apple EVER be able to make sales to Iran?

      Under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (20 July 2015) the sanctions on Iran were partially lifted. The US has its own sanctions which remained in place, but as a company registered as tax resident in Jersey, I guess Apple thought they could avoid that. But under the current US regime they are having second thoughts.

    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Sanctions are against the government not the people. no where does it mention you can't sell goods to people from Iran, you couldn't do business with Iranian government, which by the way some of it was lifted in 2015 (Boeing selling airplanes to Iran is one example of US companies doing business with Iran). These are just voluntarily douchey moves by companies which usually happens when they are trying to score some points with the government for other purposes.
  • youâ(TM)re

    Look, I don't like the idea of a website like Slashdot banning anyone, because for the most part the moderation system works and it's entertaining to see what people have to say. And that has nothing to do with the fact that my own incredibly high karma has made me the most beloved Slashdot commenter four years in a row.

    But for chrissake, can we please block anyone who posts shit that looks like this? I don't even want to know how come your apostrophes end up looking like your cat sat on yo

    • I don't even want to know how come your apostrophes end up looking like your cat sat on your keyboard. Knock it the fuck off.

      youâ(TM)re

      I've found that when I post from my phone that's what comes up. Frustrating, but hardly the fault of the user.

      • Seriously. Smartphones with full-up web browsers have been around over a decade. And unicode has been a thing for just HOW long now? I'd be embarrassed to be a Slashdot developer... or staffer of any kind... what with 1990s-esque deficiencies like this. It make me wonder, just where Slashdot spends its income. They're certainly not spending their money on writing, editorial, or operations staff. And I guess not on developers (or good developers anyway) either.

        • Yes, for over a decade. Why is Apple unleashing this crap only in recent times?

          • by Anonymous Coward

            1. This not recent. It's been a problem here for years.
            2. It's not just Apple. It happens with many Android phones.
            3. It's neither Apple's not Google's fault. Go to just about any other site and you won't see this. The blame is purely with slashdot and janky AF codebase that they don't seem to want to be bothered to keep up to date.

        • Re:Enough! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Goragoth ( 544348 ) on Thursday March 15, 2018 @07:51PM (#56267235) Homepage

          What baffles me the most is the fact that we know that there is a unicode whitelist. I get that allowing all of unicode causes all sorts of issues, but why is it so hard to add the few smart quotes to the whitelist? That alone would solve most of the problems. If you then add like maybe 5-10 other common used unicode characters to the list and it would probably fix 99% of the remaining problems. Is it really that hard?

      • I've found that when I post from my phone that's what comes up. Frustrating, but hardly the fault of the user.

        I disagree. If you're posting to Slashdot from your fucking telephone, you don't deserve to be here.

        If God meant for us to use Slashdot on a fucking telephone, He'd have created a fucking Slashdot app.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      The problem is with slashdot not with the poster.

      • The problem is with slashdot not with the poster.

        Then why am I able to post 'all ' the ' fucking ' apostrophes ' I want without making a mess of it?

    • If 4chan can wordfilter any of the digits between 0 and 9 to "OVER 9000", then surely slashdot can wordfilter "â(TM)" to an apostrophe. it's not rocket science, people. it doesn't need hydrazine.

  • by tonywong ( 96839 ) on Thursday March 15, 2018 @06:01PM (#56266811) Homepage
    But they'll never ban iRack.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcjLEwZqcQI
  • But how about Iran before Iraq?

  • I am surprised Apple did business in Iran before. I thought there was an US embargo on Iran that prevented it.
    • Nah, we have the latest and greatest even before average joe does in the US.
      It's just 10 to 20% more expensive most of the times.
      Some dev kits and stuff are more expensive though.
  • People who our governments say are our enemy, Chinese, Iranians, Russians. You know... and you know what, they are just like us, BUT now we get to talk to them... and maybe even make a friend or 2.... :)
    • by stooo ( 2202012 )

      yeah, but it seems you won't be able to talk to them via your eyephone.
      Take a samsung instead.

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