U.S. tech firm blocks Iranians from accessing its website

TEHRAN, Aug. 28 — The U.S. technology company, Nvidia
Corporation, continues to block Iranian internet users from accessing parts
of its website, Financial Tribune daily reported on Monday.

The software download page of Nvidia.com does not allow Iranian IP
addresses to access updated software. The site now says “403 —
Forbidden.”Nvidia’s another website, geforce.com, is also blocked to
Iranian web users. That website says “access denied” followed by a message
saying “the request was blocked by the security rules.”When the user
contact the company’s online help service to ask why Iranians have been
suddenly banned from using their software, Nvidia responded that “we regret
to inform you that Geforce NOW and Geforce Experience is not available in
embargoed nations.”Prior to Iran’s international nuclear deal in 2015,
several software companies in the United States and Europe blocked Iranians
from accessing downloads.

However, since then several companies quietly removed restrictions on
Iranian Internet users.Nvidia’s measure comes just days after Apple began
removing Iranian applications from its iOS application store.On Thursday,
Apple removed Snapp, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber that is popular in
Iran, from its app stores. That was followed by the removal in recent weeks
of apps for food delivery, shopping and other services.In a message to
Iranian developers whose apps were affected by the ban, Apple said, “under
the U.S. sanctions regulations, the app store cannot host, distribute or do
business with apps or developers connected to certain U.S. embargoed
countries.”

In January, Apple shut down a number of Iran-based iOS apps from the app
store, including online e-commerce service Digikala.”Since Apple takes a
cut of all app store purchases, sales from Iranian apps generate revenue
and are thus in violation of U.S. law,” Apple said.In response, Iran’s
minister of telecommunication and information technology said Friday that
his country would legally sue the decision by Apple for removing Iranian
apps from its app store.Apple holds 11 percent share of the Iranian
cellphone market, however, it has not observed the Iranian consumer rights,
said Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi. – XINHUA