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Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries

By | May 22, 2009, 9:00am PDT

Microsoft is confirming that it is cutting off Windows Live Messenger service for users in five countries that are “subject to United States sanctions.”

As reported first by LiveSide.net earlier this week, “users in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea can no longer IM with Windows Live Messenger.”

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the move on May 21:

“I can confirm the report on LiveSide is correct. Microsoft has discontinued providing Instant Messenger services in certain countries subject to United States sanctions. Details of these sanctions are available from the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

Microsoft isn’t providing additional information beyond that statement. According to the Treasury Web site, the reasons for the political sanctions vary from country to country, and encompass everything from not “trading with the enemy” to trying to discourage terrorists and human-rights violators. Many of these sanctions date back eight years. So it’s unclear why Microsoft just this week removed the access of users in these countries….

On a separate — and much less dire note — I’ve been getting intermittent rogue error messages when attempting to sign into Windows Live Messenger for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I’ve gotten a message saying my password and ID are incorrect; other times, that I’m not connected to the Internet. When I’ve used Meebo to circumvent the Microsoft sign-in process, I’ve been able to use Windows Live Messenger just fine.

I’ve heard from a few other users who’ve been having Windows Live Messenger problems, too. Anyone have theories/knowledge as to what might be happening on the Live Messenger back-end? (Microsoft officials, when I asked, said they believe it’s a problem on my end. But based on what I’m hearing from others, I think there’s more to it than that.)

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Topics

Sanction, Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
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0 Votes
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Way to go Microsoft!!!
Nacho72 22nd May 2009
So much for Obama's change with Cuba!

Now Microsoft is joining the embargo!

Liveside was quoting Messenger Support blog and now that Microsoft posting has been removed/edited.

Check Liveside again for an update
0 Votes
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Knowlege as to what is happening?
xXSpeedzXx 22nd May 2009
It's Microsoft, when isn't a MS product having issues? I
have had several issues with live services lately, on
multiple computers, including use of the IE. Constantly I
have been getting "Diagnose Connection" buttons, click
them comes back with no problems found, refreshes then
works. Fire off IE and FF at the same time, FF gets to
the page, IE gets the diagnose button.. if that just
isn't screwy.
0 Votes
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Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
ejhonda 22nd May 2009
We were right in the middle of planning a.... uh, never mind.

wink
0 Votes
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Because we all know that state secrets are
chrome_slinky@... 22nd May 2009
always first passed by MSN Messenger. Spying wasn't truly spying until the advent of IM.

This is simply stupid. It does nothing but bring more enmity, and disengers a company who really doesn't need anymore bad will toward it.
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Wow
Xentrax 22nd May 2009
People over the world tend to forget that MS is an American company after all.


I kind of love what Microsoft does with .Net and I even like Vista OS (over XP, Linux Ubuntu, or OS X). Intel, AMD, Microsoft have become companies that are very important for the world?s future but, as we could just see, these companies are controlled by US government.

And now we have Microsoft that is also participating in the future war against Iran.

Today, when Europe can consume Iranian oil without US permission, European courts can do different things like asking another American company - Intel to pay $1B in fines! Iranian oil is the only source of European energy supplies that is left uncontrolled by US. If the war in Iran begins, I think, there will be no more objections against using Microsoft documentation formats by European governments let alone paying $300M in fines for Media Player in Windows.

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Sorry not quite right
Aussie_Troll 23rd May 2009
"Iranian oil is the only source of European energy supplies that is left uncontrolled by US. "

sorry but what about that huge gas pipeline coming down from Russia ?

You know the one they turned off recently, the russians turned it off, not the US.

Why should the EU need to get permission from the US to do anything ??

North korea needs to be cut off in total from the internet, no so sure about Cuba though. Im sure there are alot of xpats from Cuba that would like to communicate with the US, but there are a couple of million different ways they can do that.

Look up the country that ICQ comes from !!! happy
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To whose benefit?
Kaiwai 24th May 2009
To whose benefit is it to isolate these countries - isolation ultimately
pushes the people into the arms of the very dictatorships that you're
trying to kick out of power. Forcing these countries to open up is what
will under mine the power structure - not isolation.
0 Votes
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ICQ or Jabber
Xentrax 24th May 2009
Yeah, Iranian people should not be very happy about using ICQ. wink

Jabber-based IM has just got more points.


Russian gas is a small part of European energy supplies, but Iranian oil is really the major part of European energy safety so placing it under US control would put US in position to ask anything from Europe.

By the way, I'm from Russia and you know what - all those gas pipelines, you are talking about, are controlled by US via Ukrainian and Polish governments. Moreover, any attempts by Russia, Germany, and France to build 2 alternative pipelines are prevented by US allies in Europe. Even participation in reconstruction of Ukrainian gas pipelines is not allowed to Russia. This year US ally ? Ukraine requested gas literally for free from Russia. There is a confirmed (by international auditors) fact that US ally - Ukraine shut down gas transit into Europe BEFORE Russia shut down gas intended for Europe. There was not a word of that in WSJ or CNN. It all has so changed since 20 years ago, when soviet media were telling lies and there was no Internet to find out the truth, and today when WSJ and CNN tell lies but nobody cares.
0 Votes
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I've been having issues too
tryonQc 22nd May 2009
Me and my friends have "new" issues with messenger too, some at home some at work. Sometiems all the " check box" are green but it still doesn't connect untill minutes later. Other times some messages get through others don't and I receive minute/hours later "notification that you received messages when disconnected".

On the matter at hand, I find it unbelievable that a service provider give access or not to some couttry. Sites like hulu are doing it too and it's really against the Internet philosophy ... shame on microsoft.

Thanks for keeping us inform on the sitaution.
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They might as well cut it off here too....
storm14k 22nd May 2009
...the service is rather worthless.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
saeedsadsad 22nd May 2009
I'm from Iran and i Can't access to live messenger!
I don't know what people at Microsoft think!
but I'm sure this work can make more hate between us and it's apparently against the way Bill Gates thinks!
0 Votes
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Obviously
LiquidLearner 23rd May 2009
if you're from Iran, losing access to Live Messenger is what's going to send you over the edge... Before, when you could access Live, you were okay with Americans, didn't hate us at all. But now that Live is gone, the infidels must pay!
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Re:Obviously
saeedsadsad 23rd May 2009
it's very interesting!USA attacks many countries for democracy!when we have problems here,many Americans cry for death of democracy!but they simultaneity help the dictators!here many people use Yahoo Messenger,But this Microsoft action is against about what US government pretends!
We have many problems so we don't want add another!(such as hating the others!).but be sure your government isn't honest.
0 Votes
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I agree
Kaiwai 24th May 2009
The US aligns itself with Egypt and Saudi Arabia and excuse their non-
democratic systems and yet are happy to lecture Iran on the virtues of
democracy. Maybe the US should get their priorities right before
lecturing the world on the virtues of democracy.
0 Votes
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well...
Average-IT-Guy 27th May 2009
Egypt and Iran don't have oil do they?

Unless the US can get something from the country they are not interested. I mean. Look a Zimbabwe for example. On one gives a hoot baout the troubles they've had because there's nothing to be gained from sorting that country out.

At least in Iraq they found WMDs though...

...oh....
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
Pferox69@... 23rd May 2009
How is this going to effect communications home for our troops in some of these areas?
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
ak87 24th May 2009
Good job for Microsoft, now they need to do it to china who have hackers constantly trying to break in to government servers. We as Americans and American companies need to ban together and stop dealing altogether with countries like iran, china, north korea and such. Heck have MSFT take it a step further and have computers with Windows in those countries just completely erase all data on those HDD or hold the data hostage until those governments agree to co-operate with the U.S. and U.N. You wont have government change with out the people being provoked into taking action, look at history, U.S., soviet union then the modern russian government, dictatorships in cuba and nk, all the governments came to power because the people wanted a new government and if it takes MSFT holding data hostage or wiping out HDD in those nations then they should do it.
0 Votes
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Worst thing to do! Wrong way! Will get exactly the opposite!
jrojas@... 25th May 2009
Bad, bad, bad... Come on, Microsoft (and US goverment) *had* some control over what was going on. They *had* access to chat transcripts! Now those criminals will move into the dark and start to use other messaging solutions!

If Microsoft wants to help terrorists, that't the way to go! I cannot understand some people posts here!

And on those countries like Cuba, where people who had Messenger had a way to tell others what was going on, please, their little free expression channel is over!

I don't understand the logic behind it!

Wrong way!
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
olddogv 25th May 2009
I have not found any need, and very little use for,any of the Windows Live suite. They (the ones with any use at all) seem to be clumsy to set up, less secure, and more prone to error than their open-source or free counter parts. And IE 8 seems full of problems on both XP Pro and Vista. On both I had to revert to IE 7, though no problems with IE 8 on the RC of win 7. I got Thunderbird and Instantbird on that. All work fine. So let'em turn off Live messenger, unless thy can evesdrop onour enemies with it.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
gary@... 25th May 2009
I understand the sanctions and the reasonsa for them from a US Government perspective... but Microsoft has effectively cut off thousands of people from the outside world and I think that's appauling.
0 Votes
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My kneejerk reaction...
Edouin 26th May 2009
...was to applaud MS for backing up the US Government. But then a little bell began ringing in my head. How do dissidents communicate with each other now? Twitter? Create a revolution in 140 characters?

Many people have escaped these countries and now live in North America or a Western European country, but now have no contact with their families in their home countries.

MS has virtually closed the door on any US Gov't super secret intellgence gathering operation within those countries as well - I think that hiding plain-coded messages in streams of civilian traffic is one of the best way's to get information in and out of a country. Now that door is closed too.

Good move Microsoft. What next, stopping Update Tuesdays as it is against someones' Religion? Stay out of politics! (oh, and Religion!)
0 Votes
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M$ & US foreing policy stink
pradacr@... 26th May 2009
How would you feel if you are a honest citizen from those countries?
0 Votes
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How about Yahoo Messenger?
Shimmey 27th May 2009
As everyone knows, Yahoo Messenger could communicate with MSN well.
The users in that 5 countries can try to use Yahoo Messenger instead.
They will not lose all their contacts in MSN by this way.
So, only sanction is useless.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft cuts Windows Live Messenger access for users in five countries
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Now i am primarily reebok jerseys fairly refreshing to wp. but that which you publish on this country vast internet log is absolutely superb and specifically useful.

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