from the the-cloud-is-safe-data-storage-for-everybody dept.
When the cloud apps are the only thing accessible, then your access is no longer yours. And, apparently, you will simply be cut off. No refunds of any kind. So, no more photoshop for you in that country. From Ars:
Adobe is deactivating all user accounts in Venezuela, saying that the action is necessary to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The action affects both free and paid accounts. In an FAQ titled "Adobe compliance with US Executive Order," the company explained yesterday why it is canceling its Venezuela-based customers' subscriptions:
The US Government issued Executive Order 13884, the practical effect of which is to prohibit almost all transactions and services between US companies, entities, and individuals in Venezuela. To remain compliant with this order, Adobe is deactivating all accounts in Venezuela.
The story is also on the Verge.
Using SaaS, PaaS and IaaS is painful if you are on the wrong side of the line. What happens if you turn on your computer in Venezuela, but are not from there? Will you be blocked too? And, who is next? Eventually, you may (will) become a bargaining chip in a fight that is not yours, just because you use a cloud service.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:31PM (10 children)
We should immediately end all such sanctions. They inevitably harm the people who can least afford it (and who are least to blame for whatever justifications are given,) and simply lead to more war, more destruction, more misery.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Touché) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:44PM (1 child)
Look, if we don't Sanction Venezeula, how are we going to punish their citizens for not backing our coup?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:26AM
Cut off their Facebook?
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:51PM (6 children)
If they can afford Adobe products, this is definitely not harming "the people who can least afford it".
The moment a war is started over Adobe products is the moment the governments involved are overthrown for stupid crap like that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:06PM (1 child)
If they are able to be cut off from their products then it is likely their cloud offerings, which range from $10-$30 per month in the US last time I checked. One might indeed have a small business built on the back of Adobe software, like a gig job like photography or something more creative like graphic design and be able to afford the software costs and yet be small enough that their loss spells disaster. There might be alternatives, too, but that wouldn't make up for the inconvenience factor.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:32AM
Or 600/yr prepaid per seat
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:27PM (3 children)
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/05/01/40000-dead-venezuelans-under-us-sanctions-corporate-media-turn-a-blind-eye/
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:48PM
Maybe America needs to starve more Venezuelan people and withhold more medicine from their children. That will for sure change their minds about how great it is letting Americans choose Venezuela's government for them.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:56PM (1 child)
Wow, what a completely unbiased article so full of specifics.
And here I was thinking most vzla imports were going the black market route due to their currency being worthless. Trump is such a genius at securing borders, he must have ended their smuggling too.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday October 09 2019, @04:39AM
Unbiased articles are rare than hen's teeth if you haven't noticed. This is a reasonably respectable left-wing outlet, but if you don't trust their report (or find it lacking in specifics) why not take 10 seconds to track down their source? Plenty of info in the article to do that with.
But fine, you're partisan, you won't read it from a left-wing rag. Here's a conservative source to corroborate. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trumps-cruel-venezuela-sanctions/
The basic fans are plain to everyone outside of the Media-state-industrial complex bubble, right or left.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:27PM
And an example of how these sanctions are particularly stupid: The Venezuelans likely to be using Adobe products are the richer Venezuelans, and on average richer Venezuelans tend to be supporters of the US-backed Juan Guaido. It's not even hitting the people the folks in Washington and Langley VA want to hurt.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:34PM (3 children)
It would be a shame if you turn on your computer in a non-USA country and it only loads a blue screen of... COVFEFE
(Score: 5, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:05PM (2 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:08PM (1 child)
Or could hire out to a nation who is politically sympathetic and has the experience and resources.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:07PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:09PM
When the US throws its weight around by pressuring US companies to exact revenge on its political enemies, ultimately all it serves is to undermine the cloud's credibility (and rightly so: it's the stupidest, most easily avoidable single point of failure in the history of single points of failure), the credibility of US companies, and the credibility of the United States as a reliable country to deal with.
Stupid, stupid move. All companies from countries that aren't firm friends of the US will take heed and move their cloud business needs out of the US, or if they're smart enough, forgo the cloud altogether. In the end, the losers are US companies, and the US itself.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by shortscreen on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:10PM (3 children)
Someday, when Venezuela is no longer in the crosshairs, will anyone there be dumb enough to give their money to Adobe again?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:56PM
will anyone there be dumb enough to give their money to Adobe again?
Sure. A small discount for the first three months, and they'll jump right back into the jaws of death.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:49PM (1 child)
Someday, when Windows is no longer in the crosshairs, will anyone there be dumb enough to give their money to M$ again?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Tuesday October 08 2019, @11:18PM
The analogy is breaking down, but considering that people are giving money to MS while Windows 10 exists, it's hard to imagine what else could dissuade them.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:26PM (1 child)
... Is that Adobe seems quite willing to cave on this. No lawsuit against the government for restraint of trade? (Acknowledging that such a suit might be moot. Or moat. Or something.) At any rate, isn't this Trump flexing the same bureaucratic muscles that he believes authorized his ordering American businesses to consider alternatives to China? (International Emergency Economic Powers Act - wasn't that what he cited for that too?)
And yes, a great object lesson in why not -As-A-Service.
First they cut off the Venezuelans, but I didn't object because I wasn't part of an illegitimately-elected regime.
Then they cut off the Chinese, but I didn't object because I was in support of the Trade War.
Then they cut off the Ukrainians, but I didn't object because corruption corruption corruption.
Then they cut off m:WL$KTJOP@$(@$^*(WEHPTPWLTH
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:28PM
.....NO CARRIER
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @07:56PM (1 child)
So, using a VPN, or Tor, will solve the problem? Or are they tying this to payment methods and physical addresses associated with user accounts? Those can be updated too...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @09:08PM
I'm assuming the account holders foolishly told them their real country of origin when creating the account, but little things like which country the banks the account fees originate from might be a wee giveaway..
Besides, moot point in the long run, as it's not as if there's a lack of Adobe products out there in torrentsville..I'm sure the Venezuelan courts will be really happy to hear future copyright cases from Adobe bleating on about the use of shonky versions of their software there..
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:17PM (2 children)
If only Americans could be so lucky! Banned by the evil Adobe corporation! https://www.cnet.com/news/russian-crypto-expert-arrested-at-def-con/ [cnet.com] Kind of like Sony, you do something like this once, and you are outed forever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @11:20PM (1 child)
Remember when everyone had to change their Sony Playstation account password because of a breach? I couldn't log on to change my password, the password reset wouldn't send me the email code, and Sony support said "you'll have to create a new account, we can't help you recover your account". F***ing lost everything.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:03AM
Was thinking more of the root kit on the optical media. If you were still a customer after that, during the breach, well, not much anyone can do to help you.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday October 08 2019, @08:25PM (6 children)
Soylentnews servers on are hosted somewhere on Linode network, which spans AS3595, AS36351, AS63949, AS6939, AS15830, AS8001, AS2516. Most of those reside in USA.
Linode HQ itself is based in Philadelphia, PA.
Will SN comply with said Executive Order too? Well, it does not matter. If not, Linode itself surely must comply.
Now the real question: will SN provide some workaround for Venezuelan people to enable access to site, say, via said AS15830, which resides in GB?
Talks are cheap. Deeds are what forms the reality.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday October 08 2019, @10:30PM (5 children)
As a personal favor, please give the SN Tor site a try and post back what you find, I'm not in a context I can do it myself now.
A search landed me on this one: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/03/31/0855241 [soylentnews.org]
Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday October 09 2019, @04:09AM (2 children)
While technically Tor surely could be used as an alternative routing, it and any similar method of providing a service to Venezuela from USA will still be a breaking the law, which obviously may have legal consequences for any person involved, especially in a culture where rule of law is a worshiped totem. That's why it is necessary to relocate servers to another country, if wishing to continue providing a service to a U.S.-sanctioned one.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 09 2019, @04:35AM (1 child)
True in regards with Adobe.
Looking into the specifics [wsj.com] it seems that the embargo is economic in nature.
I'm no so sure the embargo applies to S/N but... IANAL. Does allowing the Venezuelan people to participate into a "news aggregation forum" qualify as "engaging in business or [etc]"? Pretty sure S/N does not send any money or other kind of economic support to Venezuela.
Let's put it in another way: do NYTimes and/or FauxNews implement Internet blocks for traffic coming from Venezuela? Because sure as death and taxes, these two do run a for-profit business centered on providing "first hand news and commentaries" in the first place, it's their business raison d'être. If they don't risk anything allowing Venezuelans access to their sites, I reckon S/N is safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Arik on Wednesday October 09 2019, @06:20AM
Awwwww <3
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @10:50AM (1 child)
You can find the S/N .onion links on https://7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion/about.pl [7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion]
ATM, the main site is: http://7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion/ [7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion] and it's functional (albeit a bit slow from where I am)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 09 2019, @11:01AM
Well, posting the parent comment from the Tor browser 8.5.5 (without being logged-in - what's the point of using Tor if you login anyway?) resulted in:
I reckon our super-intelligent Terrific Minion Buzzguard may need to investigate.
Let's wish him luck in his fishing endeavors: a good one may result in him getting satisfied sooner, an extremely bad one may result in getting bored, both cases should result in a quicker solution to the issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by Rich on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:00AM (1 child)
If they block Adobe products, why don't they block Microsoft products? Not much of a difference. Microsoft could either just deny activation, or, to make things stop working, like with Adobe, push an update to that effect.
It would be an interesting large scale experiment if and how Linux could take hold on nation scale. But I fear in reality, they'd give a shit about a healthy IT ecosystem and just install pre-activated, "update"-inhibiting Ukrainian pirate copies of Windows 7. Which in turn might be mysteriously hit by a wave of fitting malware. But even then, I fear, they'd rather run around like headless chicken, rather than to systematically think of solid alternatives.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:21PM
And Google ChromeBooks. Everything that's "as a service" can be shut down, and if someone in Venezuela is paying for it, it sounds like legally the providers of the "as a service" should turn it off. Adobe was the first to "blink". I wonder when the others will follow suit - or if they fear the impact to their business models more than the legal ramifications of not turning things off. Should be interesting to see what happens.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:22AM (1 child)
There are likely a lot of people here who are thinking "This is all Trump's fault, that evil, evil man, responsible for all the woes in the world!" Well, I got news for you - you know the EULA for Office 365, and probably just about every other piece of cloud software? It lets them do this, and sooner or later they're going to start pulling this on people who have WrongThink. Disagree with the wrong opinion, endorse the wrong political candidate, have a tweet from ten years ago that's no longer kosher with the narrative? Guess what happens to all of your data and communications unless you grovel for forgiveness for being "reprehensible" or "deplorable?"
I suspect a lot of people on here will fully support this, because they think that anyone who is reprehensible or deplorable shouldn't be allowed to use their computer because of irresponsibility or something like that.
That'll last until they themselves end up a reprehensible deplorable and are groveling for their account back.
Think about it before you downvote.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:33AM
One thing also worth noting - Big Tech wants you to move everything to the cloud. And with things like Windows 10 (e.g. their recent attempts to coerce people into a Microsoft account, force updates that "accidentally" reset telemetry and uninstall programs, etc...), unless you're diligently resisting, they're getting much closer to succeeding all the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:23AM (5 children)
CorelDRAW, Sketch or Affinity Designer
OR These online editors
https://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-free-adobe-illustrator-alternatives [techradar.com]
And even
Stuff like canva or genolve
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:52AM
Or they could use pirated Adobe products, like they are already doing anyway.
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:59PM (3 children)
Don't forget Krita.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Thursday October 10 2019, @04:08AM (2 children)
An excellent program worth checking out even if you do still have access to Adobe products. Not necessarily a good choice for photo editing, but it's wonderful for raster-based illustration, has some basic animation features, and keeps folding in good features from other open-source tools like MyPaint and Alchemy, especially with regard to brush engines.
Slightly different, but digikam is a very good FOSS photo management tool that bundles in its own passable basic editor that works well enough for the usual resize/crop/etc. stuff. Works well when combined with heftier software like Krita and Gimp .
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday October 10 2019, @01:25PM (1 child)
I think Krita is great. But it needs a beginner's guide. I find it has just about everything I need, but I keep getting lost in the menus -- there is just too much there. For example, I ended up lost in the smudge brush configurator when all I needed was one of the smudge brushes aleady available. Why? Because I didn't know any better.
Perhaps a beginner needs a Krita light -- or a "lite" command line option -- that uses exactly the same executable, but restricts the menu system to the tools a beginner won't get lost in.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2) by Marand on Friday October 11 2019, @04:51AM
It won't help with the menus, but you might want to look into the "workspaces" feature, which lets you save and reuse different toolbox configurations for different workflows. Might also save toolbar configurations, but I'm not certain on that; I haven't made any new workspaces in a while so I can't say for sure.
Anyway, I don't recall if it's on the toolbar by default but if you go to Settings > Configure Toolbars and choose the toolbar "BrushesAndStuff ", you can find and add the "Workspaces" action to it for easy access. That way you can build a "beginner-friendly" set of toolboxes, save it as a workspace preset, and reuse it on different systems or after configuration wipes, or maybe even distribute it to others. There aren't many presets available by default, so the devs would probably appreciate a good newbie-friendly layout if you submitted one. (Workspace configurations are found under "workspaces" directory in Krita, with extension .kws, e.g. ~/.local/share/krita/workspaces/Workspace.kws)