# Track 05: Sources -- Persistent Information Channels

> GitHub Account Reinstatement: newsletters, podcasts, conferences, communities, datasets for tracking GitHub policy, open-source governance, and platform ban/appeal dynamics.

## Source Manifest

| source_id | url | bucket | last_checked | author/host | one-line note |
|-----------|-----|--------|--------------|-------------|---------------|
| T05-S001 | https://github.blog/news-insights/policy-news-and-insights/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); policy blog covering trade controls, transparency reports, sanctions updates |
| T05-S002 | https://github.blog/changelog/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); daily changelog of platform feature and policy changes |
| T05-S003 | https://github.blog/security/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); security news for developers including account security |
| T05-S004 | https://securitylab.github.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Security Lab | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); vulnerability research and advisories |
| T05-S005 | https://transparencycenter.github.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); transparency data on appeals, reinstatements, government takedowns |
| T05-S006 | https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/other-site-policies/github-and-trade-controls | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); official trade controls policy page |
| T05-S007 | https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); public repository of government takedown notices |
| T05-S008 | https://github.com/github/dmca | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); public repository of DMCA takedown notices |
| T05-S009 | https://github.com/github/transparency | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); structured transparency report data (CSV) |
| T05-S010 | https://www.eff.org/deeplinks | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Electronic Frontier Foundation | vendor docs (作者一手); DMCA, platform rights, digital sanctions coverage |
| T05-S011 | https://pluralistic.net/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Cory Doctorow | vendor docs (作者一手); daily blog on platform governance, enshittification, tech policy |
| T05-S012 | https://nadia.xyz/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Nadia Asparouhova | vendor docs (作者一手); open-source governance, maintainer economics, platform dynamics |
| T05-S013 | https://heathermeeker.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Heather Meeker | vendor docs (作者一手); Copyleft Currents blog on open-source licensing |
| T05-S014 | https://openssf.org/newsletter/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | OpenSSF / Linux Foundation | vendor docs (协会); monthly newsletter on open-source security policy |
| T05-S015 | https://sanctionlaw.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Erich Ferrari | vendor docs (作者一手); OFAC sanctions blog by former OFAC practitioner |
| T05-S016 | https://www.ferrariassociatespc.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Ferrari & Associates | vendor docs (律所); OFAC compliance, licensing, delisting |
| T05-S017 | https://www.gibsondunn.com/practice/sanctions-and-export-enforcement/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Gibson Dunn | vendor docs (律所); sanctions enforcement trends, webcasts, client alerts |
| T05-S018 | https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/aof/sanctions | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Hogan Lovells | vendor docs (律所); Sanctions Navigator, export controls updates |
| T05-S019 | https://changelog.com/podcast | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Adam Stacoviak & Jerod Santo | vendor docs (作者一手); weekly open-source podcast, frequent GitHub guests |
| T05-S020 | https://podcast.sustainoss.org/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | SustainOSS | vendor docs (协会); open-source sustainability and governance podcast |
| T05-S021 | https://github.com/readme/podcast | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub / The ReadME Project | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); official GitHub open-source podcast |
| T05-S022 | https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Saron Yitbarek / Red Hat | vendor docs (供应商); open-source history and governance podcast |
| T05-S023 | https://darknetdiaries.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Jack Rhysider | vendor docs (作者一手); cybersecurity stories, occasional platform/account security episodes |
| T05-S024 | https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | SE Daily team | vendor docs (作者一手); 134+ open-source episodes covering GitHub ecosystem |
| T05-S025 | https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Jonathan Bennett / Hackaday | vendor docs (作者一手); FLOSS Weekly, now continued at Hackaday |
| T05-S026 | https://githubuniverse.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); annual flagship developer conference |
| T05-S027 | https://fosdem.org/2026/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | FOSDEM org | vendor docs (协会); largest European open-source conference, free |
| T05-S028 | https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Linux Foundation | vendor docs (协会); Open Source Summit NA + EU |
| T05-S029 | https://allthingsopen.org/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | All Things Open | vendor docs (协会); annual open-source conference Raleigh NC |
| T05-S030 | https://kaiyuanshe.cn/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | 开源社 Kaiyuanshe | vendor docs (协会); COSCon organizer, zh-CN open-source community hub |
| T05-S031 | https://news.ycombinator.com/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | Y Combinator | UGC; GitHub policy changes routinely reach front page |
| T05-S032 | https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Community | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); official community forum, suspension/appeal threads |
| T05-S033 | https://www.reddit.com/r/github/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | Reddit | UGC; account suspension experience sharing |
| T05-S034 | https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | Reddit | UGC; open-source governance and policy discussions |
| T05-S035 | https://dev.to/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | DEV Community | UGC; developer experience posts on GitHub suspensions |
| T05-S036 | https://lobste.rs/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | Lobsters | UGC; curated tech link aggregator, GitHub policy threads |
| T05-S037 | https://www.v2ex.com/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | V2EX | UGC; zh-CN developer forum, active GitHub ban/appeal discussions |
| T05-S039 | https://segmentfault.com/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | SegmentFault 思否 | UGC; zh-CN developer Q&A community |
| T05-S040 | https://www.oschina.net/ | reference | 2026-05-23 | 开源中国 OSCHINA | UGC; zh-CN largest open-source tech community, Gitee parent |
| T05-S041 | https://ofac.treasury.gov/specially-designated-nationals-list-data-formats-data-schemas | verified_primary | 2026-05-23 | U.S. Treasury / OFAC | SDN list data downloads, machine-readable sanctions data |
| T05-S042 | https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/ | verified_primary | 2026-05-23 | U.S. Treasury / OFAC | Sanctions List Search tool with fuzzy matching |
| T05-S043 | https://lumendatabase.org/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Berkman Klein Center, Harvard | vendor docs (协会); DMCA takedown transparency database |
| T05-S044 | https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05489 | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | Academic researchers | vendor docs; "The Impact of Sanctions on GitHub Developers and Activities" paper |
| T05-S045 | https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/acceptable-use-policies/github-appeal-and-reinstatement | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-23 | GitHub Staff | vendor docs (GitHub 一手); official appeal and reinstatement policy |

---

## Overview by Type

### 1. Newsletters / Blogs

#### 1.1 GitHub Official Channels (Tier 1 -- Primary Signal)

**GitHub Blog -- Policy News & Insights** [T05-S001]
- URL: https://github.blog/news-insights/policy-news-and-insights/
- Frequency: Irregular (event-driven), ~10-15 posts/year on policy topics
- Audience: Developers, policy researchers, compliance teams
- ROI: **Highest** -- this is the single most authoritative source for GitHub policy changes including trade controls, transparency reports, and sanctions-related access changes
- Audience tier: Broad developer community
- Decay risk: Very low (GitHub maintains this as long as the platform exists)
- Key coverage: Trade control updates (e.g., Syria access restoration Sep 2025), transparency reports (annual), sanctions licensing announcements (e.g., Iran OFAC license), developer policy updates
- evidence: [T05-S001]

**GitHub Changelog** [T05-S002]
- URL: https://github.blog/changelog/
- Frequency: Daily (multiple entries)
- Audience: Developers tracking platform changes
- ROI: High for feature-level changes; policy changes occasionally surface here before dedicated blog posts
- Audience tier: Active GitHub users
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S002]

**GitHub Transparency Center** [T05-S005]
- URL: https://transparencycenter.github.com/
- Frequency: Updated annually with full-year data; most recent = 2025 full year
- Audience: Policy researchers, journalists, compliance professionals
- ROI: **Critical** -- only source of quantitative data on appeals, reinstatements, government takedowns, and DMCA actions
- Sub-pages: appeals/ (reinstatement data), government/ (takedown data)
- Structured data repo: github/transparency (CSV downloads) [T05-S009]
- Audience tier: Specialized (policy/legal)
- Decay risk: Low (institutional commitment to transparency reporting)
- evidence: [T05-S005, T05-S009]

**GitHub Trade Controls Documentation** [T05-S006]
- URL: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/other-site-policies/github-and-trade-controls
- Frequency: Updated as policy changes (event-driven)
- Audience: Developers in sanctioned/restricted regions, compliance teams
- ROI: **Critical** -- the definitive reference for which regions/individuals are restricted and why
- evidence: [T05-S006]

**GitHub Appeal and Reinstatement Policy** [T05-S045]
- URL: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/acceptable-use-policies/github-appeal-and-reinstatement
- Frequency: Updated as policy changes
- Audience: Suspended/restricted users
- ROI: **Critical** -- defines the 6-month appeal window, reinstatement vs. appeal distinction, and process
- evidence: [T05-S045]

**GitHub Community Discussions** [T05-S032]
- URL: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions
- Frequency: Continuous (user-generated)
- Audience: Developers seeking peer support for suspensions
- ROI: High -- real-time signal of suspension waves, appeal timelines, and GitHub Support responsiveness
- Note: Not an official support channel; GitHub staff occasionally respond but resolution happens through support tickets
- evidence: [T05-S032]

#### 1.2 Open-Source Governance & Digital Rights (Tier 2 -- Context Signal)

**EFF Deeplinks Blog** [T05-S010]
- URL: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks
- Frequency: Multiple posts per week
- Audience: Digital rights advocates, developers, policy researchers
- ROI: High -- covers DMCA enforcement (including GitHub-specific cases like youtube-dl), platform rights, sanctions impact on tech access
- Key precedent: EFF's intervention in the youtube-dl DMCA takedown (2020) led to GitHub policy changes on Section 1201 claims [T05-S010]
- Audience tier: Policy-oriented developers
- Decay risk: Very low (EFF is a decades-old institution)
- evidence: [T05-S010]

**Pluralistic (Cory Doctorow)** [T05-S011]
- URL: https://pluralistic.net/
- Frequency: Daily
- Audience: Tech policy enthusiasts, anti-monopoly advocates
- ROI: Medium-high -- covers platform governance, enshittification, tech sanctions (e.g., ICC/Microsoft Office 365 cutoff). Not GitHub-specific but provides structural analysis of platform power that directly applies to understanding GitHub suspension dynamics
- Audience tier: Intellectually engaged tech community
- Decay risk: Low (prolific individual author with 20+ year track record)
- evidence: [T05-S011]

**Nadia Asparouhova (nadia.xyz)** [T05-S012]
- URL: https://nadia.xyz/
- Frequency: Irregular (~5-10 essays/year)
- Audience: Open-source maintainers, governance researchers
- ROI: Medium -- foundational thinking on open-source governance, maintainer economics. Less directly about account bans but provides essential framework for understanding platform dependency risks. Author of "Working in Public" (Stripe Press) and the Ford Foundation "Roads and Bridges" report
- Audience tier: Senior open-source practitioners
- Decay risk: Medium (individual author; output has slowed since leaving GitHub)
- evidence: [T05-S012]

**Copyleft Currents (Heather Meeker)** [T05-S013]
- URL: https://heathermeeker.com/
- Frequency: Irregular (~monthly)
- Audience: Open-source licensing practitioners, legal teams
- ROI: Medium -- covers licensing controversies that can trigger GitHub enforcement actions. General Partner at OSS Capital. Author of "Open Source for Business"
- Audience tier: Legal/compliance professionals
- Decay risk: Low (established expert with ongoing practice)
- evidence: [T05-S013]

**OpenSSF Newsletter** [T05-S014]
- URL: https://openssf.org/newsletter/
- Frequency: Monthly
- Audience: Security-focused open-source developers, supply chain security teams
- ROI: Medium -- covers security policy that intersects with GitHub account security (e.g., 2FA mandates, supply chain attacks). Recent coverage includes EU Cyber Resilience Act guides and Security Slam 2026
- Audience tier: Security-focused developers
- Decay risk: Low (Linux Foundation-backed)
- evidence: [T05-S014]

#### 1.3 Sanctions Law Channels (Tier 3 -- Legal Context)

**SanctionLaw.com (Erich Ferrari)** [T05-S015]
- URL: https://sanctionlaw.com/
- Frequency: ~2-4 posts/month
- Audience: Sanctions compliance professionals, affected individuals/companies
- ROI: High for understanding OFAC enforcement trends that directly affect GitHub trade controls. Ferrari has 17+ years OFAC experience, frequently cited by CNN, NYT, WSJ, Forbes
- Audience tier: Legal/compliance niche
- Decay risk: Low (active practitioner)
- evidence: [T05-S015]

**Ferrari & Associates** [T05-S016]
- URL: https://www.ferrariassociatespc.com/
- Frequency: Event-driven client alerts
- Audience: Parties needing OFAC compliance, licensing, or delisting
- ROI: Medium -- practical guidance on OFAC licensing process (relevant for GitHub users seeking trade controls exemptions). Located across the street from the U.S. Treasury
- Audience tier: Legal professionals and affected parties
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S016]

**Gibson Dunn -- Sanctions and Export Enforcement** [T05-S017]
- URL: https://www.gibsondunn.com/practice/sanctions-and-export-enforcement/
- Frequency: Quarterly webcasts + event-driven alerts
- Audience: Corporate compliance, Fortune 500 companies
- ROI: Medium -- annual "Sanctions and Export Enforcement Trends" webcast is a definitive survey. Team includes former OFAC, DOJ, and BIS senior officials. 2025 report noted 8 of 14 OFAC enforcement actions were Russia sanctions violations
- Audience tier: Senior corporate/legal
- Decay risk: Very low (AmLaw 100 firm)
- evidence: [T05-S017]

**Hogan Lovells -- Sanctions** [T05-S018]
- URL: https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/aof/sanctions
- Frequency: Event-driven alerts + Sanctions Navigator tool
- Audience: Multinational corporations, financial institutions
- ROI: Medium -- provides Sanctions Navigator digital tool for assessing sanctions risks. Covered Syria sanctions lifting (OFAC GL 25, May 2025) and Commerce EAR easing (September 2025)
- Audience tier: Senior corporate/legal
- Decay risk: Very low (global law firm)
- evidence: [T05-S018]

---

### 2. Podcasts

**The Changelog** [T05-S019]
- URL: https://changelog.com/podcast
- Frequency: Weekly
- Audience: Open-source developers, engineering leaders
- ROI: **Highest among podcasts** -- longest-running open-source podcast, frequently hosts GitHub employees and open-source governance leaders. Recent episodes cover AI-driven development, developer tooling, and open-source sustainability
- Audience tier: Broad developer community
- Decay risk: Very low (running since 2009)
- evidence: [T05-S019]

**Sustain (SustainOSS)** [T05-S020]
- URL: https://podcast.sustainoss.org/
- Frequency: Biweekly
- Audience: Open-source maintainers, funders, researchers
- ROI: High -- directly covers open-source governance, funding, and sustainability. Episodes on Ethereum governance coordination and structural inequities in open-source directly parallel GitHub platform governance issues
- Audience tier: Open-source maintainers and funders
- Decay risk: Low (community-backed)
- evidence: [T05-S020]

**The ReadME Podcast / The GitHub Podcast** [T05-S021]
- URL: https://github.com/readme/podcast
- Frequency: ~Monthly
- Audience: Open-source developers, GitHub ecosystem participants
- ROI: High -- official GitHub podcast covering maintainer stories, community building, open-source in regulated environments. Recent episodes cover Kubernetes scaling, non-code contributions, and developer happiness
- Audience tier: GitHub ecosystem
- Decay risk: Low (GitHub-backed)
- evidence: [T05-S021]

**Command Line Heroes** [T05-S022]
- URL: https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes
- Frequency: Seasonal (81 episodes over multiple seasons)
- Audience: General tech audience interested in open-source history
- ROI: Medium -- covers open-source history and governance themes. Useful for understanding the ideological foundations of open-source movements
- Audience tier: Broad tech audience
- Decay risk: Medium (appears to have ended active production; archive value)
- evidence: [T05-S022]

**Darknet Diaries** [T05-S023]
- URL: https://darknetdiaries.com/
- Frequency: ~Monthly
- Audience: Cybersecurity enthusiasts, general tech audience
- ROI: Low-medium -- occasionally covers account security, platform security incidents. Not GitHub-specific but provides context on how platform-level security decisions affect individual users
- Audience tier: Broad security-curious audience
- Decay risk: Very low (highly popular podcast)
- evidence: [T05-S023]

**Software Engineering Daily** [T05-S024]
- URL: https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/
- Frequency: Daily
- Audience: Software engineers, tech leaders
- ROI: Medium -- 134+ open-source episodes covering GitHub ecosystem, maintainer programs, AI agents. Episode with Abby Cabunoc Mayes (GitHub Open Source Maintainer Programs) covers sustaining healthy open-source projects
- Audience tier: Software engineers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S024]

**FLOSS Weekly (now at Hackaday)** [T05-S025]
- URL: https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly (archive); continued at hackaday.com/floss
- Frequency: Weekly (750+ episodes from 2006-2023 at TWiT; continuing at Hackaday)
- Audience: FLOSS enthusiasts
- ROI: Low-medium -- broad open-source coverage. Primary value is historical archive. Moved from TWiT to Hackaday in 2024 under host Jonathan Bennett
- Audience tier: FLOSS community
- Decay risk: Medium (platform transition)
- evidence: [T05-S025]

**ALC Beijing Podcast** (zh-CN)
- URL: https://willemjiang.github.io/ (host blog); Apple Podcasts
- Frequency: Irregular (~20 episodes)
- Audience: zh-CN Apache community members
- ROI: Low -- narrow focus on Apache projects, not directly relevant to GitHub account issues but covers zh-CN open-source governance perspectives
- Audience tier: zh-CN open-source practitioners
- Decay risk: High (irregular production)

---

### 3. Conferences / Industry Events

**GitHub Universe** [T05-S026]
- URL: https://githubuniverse.com/
- Frequency: Annual (October, San Francisco)
- Audience: Developers, tech leaders, security professionals, GitHub customers
- ROI: **Highest among conferences** -- flagship GitHub event where major policy changes are announced. Universe 2025 (Oct 28-29) introduced agent orchestration. Universe 2026 (Oct 28-29) opens with expanded formats including "Ship & Tell" for startups
- Audience tier: Broad GitHub ecosystem
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S026]

**FOSDEM** [T05-S027]
- URL: https://fosdem.org/
- Frequency: Annual (January/February, Brussels)
- Audience: Open-source developers worldwide (8000+ attendees)
- ROI: High -- largest European open-source conference. Free to attend, no registration. FOSDEM 2026: Jan 31 - Feb 1, 1216 speakers, 1079 events, 71 tracks. Includes legal/licensing devrooms where platform governance is discussed
- Audience tier: European and global open-source community
- Decay risk: Very low (running since 2001)
- evidence: [T05-S027]

**Open Source Summit (Linux Foundation)** [T05-S028]
- URL: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/
- Frequency: 2x/year (NA + Europe)
- Audience: Enterprise open-source professionals, maintainers
- ROI: High -- includes OSPOCon (open source program offices), OpenGovCon, 225+ sessions across 15 tracks. OSS NA 2026: May 18-20, Minneapolis. OSS EU 2026: Oct 7-9
- Audience tier: Enterprise and institutional
- Decay risk: Very low (Linux Foundation-backed)
- evidence: [T05-S028]

**All Things Open** [T05-S029]
- URL: https://allthingsopen.org/
- Frequency: Annual (October, Raleigh NC)
- Audience: Open-source practitioners
- ROI: Medium -- 150+ sessions across 20 tracks including Community Leadership Summit and Inclusion & Diversity. ATO 2026: Oct 18-20
- Audience tier: U.S. open-source community
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S029]

**COSCon (China Open Source Conference)** [T05-S030]
- URL: https://kaiyuanshe.cn/events/coscon
- Frequency: Annual (December, varies by city)
- Audience: zh-CN open-source developers and enterprises
- ROI: High for zh-CN context -- 10th edition (COSCon'25) held Dec 6-7, 2025 in Beijing. Theme: "Open Source, Open Intelligence." Includes sessions on OpenChain copyright/regulatory risk management for 2026 -- directly relevant to GitHub policy compliance
- Audience tier: zh-CN open-source community
- Decay risk: Low (growing; 10 consecutive years)
- evidence: [T05-S030]

---

### 4. Communities / Forums

**Hacker News** [T05-S031]
- URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/
- Frequency: Continuous (real-time)
- Audience: Technologists, founders, developers
- ROI: **Highest among communities** -- GitHub policy changes consistently reach the front page. Key threads include: "My GitHub account has been restricted due to US sanctions as I live in Crimea" (2019, id:20531039), "GitHub blocked me and all my libraries" (2020, id:22593595), "GitHub blocks entire company because one employee was in Iran" (2021, id:25644056)
- Audience tier: Global tech-literate audience
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S031]

**GitHub Community Discussions** [T05-S032]
- URL: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: GitHub users experiencing account issues
- ROI: **Critical** -- primary venue where suspended users share experiences, appeal timelines, and outcomes. Recent threads document Syria sanctions appeals (Discussion #166160), month-long appeal waits (Discussion #160383), and suspensions without notification (Discussion #191244)
- Note: GitHub staff occasionally respond but cannot resolve suspensions through this channel
- Audience tier: Affected GitHub users
- Decay risk: Very low (GitHub-maintained)
- evidence: [T05-S032]

**Reddit r/github** [T05-S033]
- URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/github/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: GitHub users
- ROI: Medium -- peer support for suspended accounts, experience sharing
- Audience tier: General developers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S033]

**Reddit r/opensource** [T05-S034]
- URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: Open-source advocates
- ROI: Medium -- discussions on platform governance, GitHub alternatives, sanctions impact
- Audience tier: Open-source enthusiasts
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S034]

**DEV Community (dev.to)** [T05-S035]
- URL: https://dev.to/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: Developers
- ROI: Low-medium -- occasional first-person account of GitHub suspensions (e.g., "I got suspended on Github" by vikyw89), but lower density of relevant content vs. HN or GitHub Community
- Audience tier: Junior to mid-level developers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S035]

**Lobsters (lobste.rs)** [T05-S036]
- URL: https://lobste.rs/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: Curated tech community (invite-only)
- ROI: Medium -- higher signal-to-noise ratio than HN for GitHub governance topics. Discussions on "Ditching GitHub," "How GitHub monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem," and open-source coordination failures
- Audience tier: Senior developers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S036]

**V2EX** [T05-S037]
- URL: https://www.v2ex.com/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: zh-CN developers
- ROI: **Highest among zh-CN communities for this topic** -- multiple active threads on GitHub account bans with detailed appeal walkthroughs. Key threads include: t/817831 ("V 友救命 github 账号被封了"), t/1138112 ("记录 Github 账号意外被封后恢复"), t/836086 ("GitHub 无预警突然封号"), t/836499 ("分享下我 Github 被封的经历")
- Audience tier: zh-CN developers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S037]


**SegmentFault 思否** [T05-S039]
- URL: https://segmentfault.com/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: zh-CN developers (10M+ registered)
- ROI: Low -- Q&A format; some GitHub account-related questions. Founded 2012, acquired by ONES in 2022. Open-sourced their Q&A software as Apache Answer
- Audience tier: zh-CN developers
- Decay risk: Medium (post-acquisition trajectory unclear)
- evidence: [T05-S039]

**开源中国 OSCHINA** [T05-S040]
- URL: https://www.oschina.net/
- Frequency: Continuous
- Audience: zh-CN developers (largest zh-CN open-source community, founded 2008)
- ROI: Low-medium -- parent of Gitee (China's largest code hosting platform, 12M developers, 28M repositories). Covers open-source news including GitHub policy changes. Useful as early warning system for zh-CN developer impact
- Audience tier: zh-CN developers
- Decay risk: Low
- evidence: [T05-S040]

---

### 5. Datasets / Structured Data

**OFAC SDN List** [T05-S041]
- URL: https://ofac.treasury.gov/specially-designated-nationals-list-data-formats-data-schemas
- Search tool: https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/ [T05-S042]
- Frequency: Updated frequently (no fixed schedule; as designations change)
- Audience: Compliance teams, sanctions screening systems
- ROI: **Critical** -- the definitive list against which GitHub screens users. SDN List includes individuals and entities blocked under various sanctions programs. Machine-readable formats: XML, CSV, fixed-field/delimited files. The fuzzy-matching search tool is what GitHub likely uses (or similar) to flag accounts
- Audience tier: Compliance/legal
- Decay risk: Very low (U.S. government mandate)
- evidence: [T05-S041, T05-S042]

**Lumen Database** [T05-S043]
- URL: https://lumendatabase.org/
- Frequency: Continuous (20,000+ new notices per week)
- Audience: Researchers, journalists, digital rights advocates
- ROI: Medium -- archives DMCA takedown notices from GitHub and other platforms. Run by Berkman Klein Center at Harvard. Contains millions of removal requests. Note: access restrictions tightened in 2020 (URL redaction, email-gated single-use links)
- Audience tier: Academic/research
- Decay risk: Low (Harvard-backed)
- evidence: [T05-S043]

**GitHub gov-takedowns Repository** [T05-S007]
- URL: https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns
- Frequency: Event-driven (as government takedown notices are received)
- Audience: Policy researchers, press, civil liberties organizations
- ROI: High -- public archive of verbatim government takedown notices. GitHub posts these unchanged (except personal info redactions) as a commitment to transparency. Each notice includes: requesting government agency, identified illegal content, source of illegality (law/court order)
- Audience tier: Policy/legal
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S007]

**GitHub DMCA Repository** [T05-S008]
- URL: https://github.com/github/dmca
- Frequency: Continuous (as DMCA notices are received)
- Audience: Developers, legal professionals
- ROI: Medium -- public archive of DMCA takedown notices. Useful for understanding enforcement patterns
- Audience tier: Legal/developer
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S008]

**GitHub Transparency Structured Data** [T05-S009]
- URL: https://github.com/github/transparency
- Frequency: Updated annually
- Audience: Data analysts, policy researchers
- ROI: High -- CSV files covering appeals, reinstatements, government takedowns, DMCA actions. Enables quantitative analysis of trends
- Audience tier: Data-oriented researchers
- Decay risk: Very low
- evidence: [T05-S009]

**Academic: "The Impact of Sanctions on GitHub Developers and Activities"** [T05-S044]
- URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05489
- Frequency: One-time publication (2024)
- Audience: Academic researchers, policy analysts
- ROI: Medium -- empirical study of how sanctions affect GitHub developer activity. Provides quantitative baseline for understanding suspension impact
- Audience tier: Academic
- Decay risk: N/A (published paper)
- evidence: [T05-S044]

---

## Phase 2 Refinement Hints

### Cross-Source Recurring Themes

1. **Trade controls as the dominant ban mechanism**: GitHub's compliance with OFAC regulations is the single most common reason for account restrictions in sanctioned/embargoed regions. Sources [T05-S001], [T05-S006], [T05-S031], [T05-S032], [T05-S037] all document this pattern.

2. **Appeal timeline frustration**: Across communities (GitHub Community [T05-S032], V2EX [T05-S037], Reddit [T05-S033]), users consistently report month-long waits for appeal responses.

3. **VPN false positives**: Chinese developers frequently report sanctions-based restrictions triggered by VPN IP addresses routing through sanctioned regions. This is a recurring theme on V2EX [T05-S037] and GitHub Community [T05-S032].

4. **DMCA enforcement overreach → GitHub policy evolution**: EFF's intervention in the youtube-dl case [T05-S010] led to lasting GitHub policy changes. This pattern (overreach → community backlash → policy reform) repeats.

5. **Platform dependency risk**: Pluralistic [T05-S011], Nadia Asparouhova [T05-S012], and Lobsters [T05-S036] discussions on GitHub monopoly effects frame the structural risk of concentrating code hosting on a single U.S.-regulated platform.

6. **Sanctions regime evolution**: Syria sanctions lifting (2025) [T05-S001, T05-S018] demonstrates that trade controls are not static -- GitHub restores access as U.S. policy changes. Iran OFAC license is another precedent.

### Figure Candidates (for Track 04)

- **Erich Ferrari** (sanctionlaw.com) -- OFAC practitioner, public commentator [T05-S015]
- **Nat Friedman / Thomas Dohmke** -- GitHub CEOs who shaped trade controls policy [T05-S001]
- **Cory Doctorow** -- platform governance critic [T05-S011]
- **Nadia Asparouhova** -- open-source governance researcher [T05-S012]
- **Heather Meeker** -- open-source licensing authority [T05-S013]

### Tool Candidates (for Track 02)

- **OFAC Sanctions List Search** (sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov) -- check if your name triggers fuzzy matching [T05-S042]
- **GitHub Transparency Data** (github/transparency repo) -- quantitative analysis of appeal/reinstatement rates [T05-S009]
- **Lumen Database** -- DMCA takedown pattern analysis [T05-S043]
- **GitHub Appeal Form** (support.github.com/contact/reinstatement) -- the primary operational tool [T05-S045]
