Microsoft this week decided to turn off its Windows Live Messenger service for five countries: Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan, and North Korea. All five of these countries have a few things in common, but the one that apparently concerns Microsoft is that the US has put embargoes on each of them. Users in these countries get the following error: "810003c1: We were unable to sign you in to the .NET Messenger Service." The user is not informed as to the actual reason for the block. Currently, it's not clear how broad the block is or how long it will last.

A possible workaround for this issue is actually quite simple (though I have heard it hasn't worked for everyone). Using the same credentials you use for Windows Live Messenger, login to account.live.com, click on Registered information, and under Home location change your "Country/region" to anything that isn't one of the five countries listed above (and preferably that speaks a language you understand). I believe that Messenger first looks at your account information (as opposed to using your IP address) because this lets Microsoft make decisions like this one at the account level as opposed to the application level. Restart Messenger and the problem should be fixed. If you are experiencing this problem, let us know in the comments if this worked, or if you have discovered something else that does.

This issue is a very odd one: it's not clear that Microsoft was ordered to make this change, so what made the company decide that US-embargoed countries aren't worthy of Messenger? Why now? To my knowledge, other Microsoft applications and websites still work (and if they don't, it likely isn't Microsoft doing the blocking), so what makes Messenger special? It's actually quite disappointing that a large company as influential as Microsoft would make such a controversial move: Messenger is a medium for communication, and the citizens of these countries should not be punished from such a basic tool because the US has problems with their governments' policies.

I was hoping to get more insight from Microsoft, but unfortunately, "due to US economic sanctions," all a Microsoft spokesperson could send over to Ars was the following statement: "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."