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Spain and GitHub Are Blocking an App That Helped Protesters Organize – Slashdot

九月 30, 2019 - MorningStar

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Spain and GitHub Are Blocking an App That Helped Protesters Organize - Slashdot

Spain and GitHub Are Blocking an App That Helped Protesters Organize (vice.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the tussle-continues dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: People are rioting in the streets of Barcelona. For the last month, hundreds of thousands of people have joined demonstrations in Spain to voice their objection to the jailing of Catalan separatist leaders and support Catalonian independence. As with almost all modern activist and public protest movements, activists are using social media and apps to communicate with and organize public actions. But this week, in a move that puts the Spanish government on par with censorship-heavy places like China and Russia, the country requested that Github block access to one of those apps, by revoking local access to its Github repository. Github, which is owned by Microsoft, complied with the order.

According to Spanish news outlet El Confidencial, last week the government ordered takedowns of websites and app made by Tsunami Democratic, an activist group organizing protests in the region. To try to keep access to the app download alive, Tsunami Democratic moved the .apk file to Github. But the government shut that down, too, blocking the site in Spain. Motherboard tested the download using a VPN, and the Github repo was blocked from Madrid. It’s still accessible from the US. Currently, a version of Tsunami Democratic’s website (but not its Github repo) is up.

Spain and GitHub Are Blocking an App That Helped Protesters Organize

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  • by Nocturrne ( 912399 ) writes: on Thursday October 31, 2019 @12:00PM (#59366358)

    Western politician criminals are learning from China. If we don’t stand up and fight for our rights, they will soon be taken from us.

  • by ethanms ( 319039 ) writes: on Thursday October 31, 2019 @12:04PM (#59366378)

    From TFA (summary):

    “Tsunami Democratic moved the .apk file to Github. But the government shut that down, too, blocking the site in Spain”

    Sounds like the government blocked Github?

    • FTFS:

      But this week, in a move that puts the Spanish government on par with censorship-heavy places like China and Russia, the country requested that Github block access to one of those apps, by revoking local access to its Github repository. Github, which is owned by Microsoft, complied with the order.

      So yes, the government blocked Github.

      • I agree.
        Barcelona has been trying to leave Microsoft behind for years. Now Microsoft has closed GitHub’s door on Barcelona’s fight for freedom from Moncloa.
        My paranoid Spidey sense is tingling. Considering Microsoft’s tainted history, could this GitHub abuse foreshadow even more odious things to come for open source?

        —
        Under capitalism, man exploits man; while under socialism just the reverse is true.
        John Kenneth Galbraith

        • The one-world government is putting itself together quite deliberately as we all, very kindly, worry about it. It begs the question: Is this all bound to happen eventually or not?

          But don’t worry, the one-world government will quickly fade, if it does make it to an established state-of-being. One can already see the tell-tale signs of corporations acting as countries do now (each corporation has it’s own mottoes, credences and philosophies). So all that’ll change is that, rather than countries having issu

  • It’s sad to see my fears realized. Of course Microsoft has no business being allowed to acquire GitHub. It’s a damned shame too, GitHub was a great resource, now it’s toxic property.

    • I’ve been ignoring it… but I suppose I need to start planning to move. I guess self hosted GitLab will do eventually.

    • Other than Github’s original owners not doing any business in Spain, do you have any reason to think they would not have complied? Do you have an irrational hatred of MS, or do you hate all multinationals?

      • Microsoft’s anti-competitive actions and harms perpetuated upon the free market in the software industry over the course of decades speak for themselves, and neither Gates nor Microsoft have been held to account for their harms. It seems only natural that they’ve graduated or transcended from operating systems and groupware and now expanded their game to helping the oppressors of liberal democratic and human rights movements. If Catalonians feels disenfranchised, then let them be free. They’ll still be a vi

        • If Catalonians feels disenfranchised, then let them be free. They’ll still be a vibrant part of the European Union, what’s the issue here?

          That won’t happen instantly or automatically. They’ll have to go through the same accession process as any other country wanting to join the EU (as will Scotland if they ever decide to declare independence from the UK).

    • what are you talking about

      github always followed the law when a court said “take it down”

      all companies do

      • github always followed the law when a court said “take it down”

        According to the summary, the Spanish government “requested” that they take it down.

        Also, according to the summary, the Spanish government “ordered” Github to take it down.

        This is clearly a case of journalistic incompetence, but it isn’t clear it was a “request” or a “demand”, or maybe one after the other. Who knows?

        Vice.com needs to screen their writers for English language literacy.

      • All companies comply with foreign demands? “GitHub is an American company…” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub) GitHub is under no obligation to comply with the oppressive foreign diktats. What’s the higher EU legal authority have to say about the member state’s request, anyway? Let’s hear it from a US court, first.

  • Github is a company, and is free to choose who they do business with.

    It’s not like they are censoring the app – the term censorship is only used when a country does it. If they want to make the app available, the people of Spain are free to set up their own hosting servers. Github is not preventing them from doing that.

    You wouldn’t want private companys to be forced into doing business with someone, would you? This is a perfectly legitimate business decision.

    Github can choose which apps to host, and which a

    • by alvinrod ( 889928 ) writes: on Thursday October 31, 2019 @12:20PM (#59366450)

      It’s a little more muddy than that. The Spanish government ordered a take down. It’s not any different than the U.S. government ordering a website to take down a copy of a movie that’s been declared as being in violation of the law.

      So this is a case of either the company complies with that law (which people may disagree with) or they themselves become law breakers and criminals in the country. If they don’t have any actual presence in Spain they can always tell the government to go pound sand, because a website outside of a particular country’s jurisdiction has no reason to abide by that country’s laws. Of course the government can always demand that ISPs block access to that website in response.

      I don’t think anyone would harp on YouTube overly much when they are forced (or rather choose to comply with the law) to take down a video uploaded by someone who lacked the permission to do so. Instead we argue about the government’s copyright laws being bad or overly restrictive. I think that the real issue is that Spain has some unjust laws and if GitHub has any corporate presence in the country they do have some obligation to follow the laws of that country. There are people who similarly complain about multinational companies trying to dodge taxes in countries where they’re located, so if they have to follow those laws should we expect them not to follow others?

      The reality is that it’s messy. Arguments surrounding it are likely to be as well.

      • What law was being broken? Being requested to take down a site doesn’t mean you are breaking the law, it means the government doesn’t want the site up.

    • Github is a company, and is free to choose who they do business with.

      Not if they ever try to do the same thing against Hong Kong rioters [cnn.com]…

      Oh, under the western Standard of Double, those Hong Kong youngsters doing the exact same things [scmp.com] as

      People are rioting in the streets of Barcelona.

      should not be labeled rioters, they should be called freedom fighters [theverge.com].

      I have to apologize now or will be called a Chinese troll in no time.

    • can care about those choices

    • > (That’s the argument, isn’t it? Did I get it right?)

      No, it’s not, in my opinion.

      > the term censorship is only used when a country does it

      The *first amendment* says the US government shall not infringe freedom of speech. The first amendment shouldn’t be confused with censorship. They are related; they are not the same thing. The first amendment makes it *illegal* for the government to engage in censorship. A private company can legally engage in censorship. It’s still censorship – its just legal.

    • No. It isn’t OK. It might be legal, but it isn’t OK.

  • by Retired ICS ( 6159680 ) writes: on Thursday October 31, 2019 @12:06PM (#59366392)

    “the country requested that Github block access to one of those apps, by revoking local access to its Github repository. Github, which is owned by Microsoft, complied with the order.”

    So in the very same sentence it is both a request and an order. So which is it, a request or an order?

    The referenced letter posted to Github appears to be a “request” and not a lawful “order”, although it is accompanied by a “warrant” to collect information.

    I am not familiar with Spanish law, however, it looks to me like the police are doing a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” under colour of law and Microsoft (the spineless shits that they are) are “going along with it” even though no lawful process has been served.

    • Actually, the request comes from the “Audiencia Nacional” , a branch of the judicial that investigates major crimes against the state ( terrorism, drug dealing, etc) and acts as last appeal on cases against the state( Similar to the Supreme Court in USA)

      The order comes from a judge since they are investigating the organization for terrorism ( Which i think is a bit overreaching) but the thing is this is technically not the Goverment ( executive branch) but a judiciary order

      Seems the closure of the github si

      • In Spain, the Judiciary isn’t a part of the government?!

        • In Spanish media and common talk “Goverment” is just the executive branch ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Spain ) . The Judiciary is part of the state and the administration but not of the goverment. This might lead to misleading translations on the international media.

          Of course it is much more complicated but, in principal, the judiciary is an independent branch of the state. You gain access by passing an examination of your knowledge of the countries law and then the judiciary has its own se

    • I’m not sure that that would work as a generalization, but I can assure you that THIS is not the case.

      This people is fighting to break Spain’s sovereignty that correspond, by law, to ALL Spanish people, not only to catalan people.

      I doubt that most countries in the world will do something different in the same circunstances, including U.S.

      This is not “lack of democracy”. Independence movement is a collision between the original group and the group that want to be apart (grabing ownership of things that befor

    • Now now, modding down if you disagree is not very virtuous or progressive.

  • Can someone modify f-droid so it can pass apps phone-to-phone with no download?

  • No word on why the apk couldn’t be downloaded from an app store in the first place? Did Google or Apple censor them first?

    • “Peaceful”. Yeah, sure. Burn trashcans, stop traffic, destroy roads…

      These people are a bunch of liars.

      • People != “Tsunami Democratic”.

        If you read my post and the link I have shared, you can easily see that it has not been inspired by the censored app. If you read the whole telegram channel, you’ll see that the there’s no call to violence ever. But yeah, you need to check the info by yourself, don’t let anybody, even me, digest and regurgitate it for you. Go straight to the source

        No roads have been destroyed.

        Yes, trashcans have been burnt. Yes, traffic has been stopped. Is that the threshold to consider someb

        • Adif denounced sabotage against the railway system… Just saying…

          • Your point being…?

            • “No roads have been destroyed.”

              Might be a little misleading

              • And how are they equal? And how does that make anybody a terrorist? And how does it relate to Tsunami Democratic and Github?

                Again, read the info by yourself. Telegram posts are accessible to everybody.

                Man, discussing with somebody who refuses to read the publicly available info is exhausting…

  • But for good or for ill I favor Catalonian independence.

    When I see Spanish police beating peaceful protesters on my TV I sympathize with the the independence movement.

    And they have a really cool anthem:

    A Sound Of Thunder – Els Segadors (The Reapers) (Live Pro Shot) [youtube.com]

    Catalunya triomfant
    our land will be bountiful again
    so destroy the enemy
    their conceit has sentenced them to death.

    Pretty catchy tune.

    Bon cop de falç!

    • First they tried to do a referendum that would be acceptable to Spain, but Spain said no.
      Then they organize their own referendum, and Spain sends the police to try to block the vote.

      I don’t see what other option the Catalan people now have but to revolt. They tried all the peaceful ways to express their democratic opinion.

      The problem is the Spanish constitution itself, which is anti-democratic by saying that any region wanting to get out of Spain as to the the approval from the rest of the country. Spain co

    • by radja ( 58949 ) writes:

      there’s a problem with the catalonian indepence though: to gain indepence, the spanish constitution needs to be changed. I’m pretty sure there are democratic ways to do that in Spain (I’m not spanish), but a referendum in Catalunya is not it.

      • by Teun ( 17872 ) writes:

        It’s a couple of centuries ago (1581) when The Netherlands was also under the reign of the Spanish king.
        Because, among others, the mainly protestant Dutch were pissed off by their Roman Catholic overlords they wrote a declaration of independence from Spain and ended up in an 80-year war of independence.
        The result was freedom for the Dutch.

        Nearly 200 years later this document became an example for the US Declaration of Independence.

      • by Talla ( 95956 ) writes:

        there’s a problem with the catalonian indepence though: to gain indepence, the spanish constitution needs to be changed. I’m pretty sure there are democratic ways to do that in Spain (I’m not spanish), but a referendum in Catalunya is not it.

        The oppressor always makes it impossible for the oppressed to gain independence legally, nothing new here. The Catalonians have tried to obtain it for 500 years. The civilized way is to let the minority of Catalonians have a referendum over whether they want independence, not asking the majority of fascists decendants in Madrid if they want to continue ruling over the Catalonians.

      • by pjt33 ( 739471 ) writes:

        It’s possible to change the Spanish Constitution, but certain parts of it are really difficult, requiring Parliament to approve the change, then general elections and the new Parliament to still approve the change, and then a national referendum.

  • Here the government ordered (gently requested) the takedown and MS complied. While I, as an American, find that distasteful – it’s Spain’s law, they’re a sovereign country and MS must abide by the rules there. (note a VPN should be able to get around this for the time being until that’s blocked)
    In Blizzard’s case they reacted purely on the APPEARANCE of looking bad to China, unless there was some secret order. Most likely Tencent had a cow and ordered the award be stripped and the reporters fired (and p

  • by xanthos ( 73578 ) writes: <xanthosNO@SPAMtoke.com> on Thursday October 31, 2019 @01:13PM (#59366734)

    First and foremost I wish Slashdot was still about technology and not social issues because this is not a technology story. For proof, how many of you would be upset if a hosting company complied with a legal order to remove a pedo or jihadist app from its repositories? Anybody? And why is nobody complaining that this app isn’t out on Google Play? I have zero relationship with github and could care less what happens to the company, but I am sick and tired of the whining and moral outrage that always seems to accompany somebody getting kicked off (or not getting kicked off) a free to use service.

    • Why are you conflating demonstrators with pedophiles and jihadists? It is a technology story because governments are trying to stop the spread of software that is used in anti-government protests, and corporations are assisting. Eventually corporate owned services will be the ONLY services allowed and available on the Internet. It is only a matter of time.

  • I am not interested in arguing or explaining anything about this whole whatever-you-want-to-call-it. I invite anyone interested in knowing my opinion to take a look at my comments in the last article about this. Other important clarification is that this is a completely serious question and I would like it to be answered by someone really in a position to do so.

    I kind of get most of the fuzz up to certain point. You are young, you want to rebel against everything, you are edgy, you like that mixture of dan

    • Although this doesn’t probably apply to these protests: peaceful demonstrations generally do not work and are ignored. Look at all the silly “climate change” protests that go on. They are regularly ignored by people who actually matter. It is mostly just something for people to act passionate about. Then there are real protests, like the protests going on in Taiwan. Those people actually care, and the only way they see to not be ignored is through destructive violence. If you get threatened and desperate en

      • Although this doesn’t probably apply to these protests

        It certainly does not, indeed. Most of these protesters have had (and will probably continue having) lives more comfortable than mine which hasn’t been exactly too hard.

        If you get threatened and desperate enough, you would do it too. But most Westerners live easy lives, so they don’t understand.

        I kind of understand the lives and motivations of others whose lives are much harder than mine. I don’t think that I have ever implied otherwise in this or other posts. Also I have the feeling that your life hasn’t been exactly too difficult. But nothing of this is truly relevant here. Even the situation in Hong Kong, which is a pretty rich

        • by Talla ( 95956 ) writes:

          I am not critising violence against a real tyranny and when there is no other way. I am critising cool violence, exerted by a few rich kids looking for a quick rush by damaging their city and innocent citizens without knowing too well what they are doing, being the last evolution of what doesn’t really make much sense since quite a few years ago. And actually I am not even truly criticising it, I am honestly asking to one of these kids, one from inside, already in that battlefield, ideally in any of the two references which I am including in my previous post or similar ones.

          This isn’t some small rich kids quarrel, there are very real things at stake and protests with up to a million people. It has been going on for 500 years. The last time Catalonia elected a president he was tortured and killed by the fascist Franco regime, which many of the current Spanish politicians descend from.

          • by pjt33 ( 739471 ) writes:

            When did Franco kill Quim Torra? I missed that. Very appropriate for Hallowe’en, though.

  • Companies are obliged to comply with the lawful orders of government and law enforcement in the countries in which they operate – this means that at times an order will be at odds with individuals who have a problem with the government, but this does not change the compliance obligations for the companies involved. If these people had succeeded in overthrowing the government and became the new administration, then, of course, the companies involved would have to follow their rules, too. A company is also fr

  • going full Communist China on the freedom to protest.
    How very EU nation.

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