Posting Publicly Available URL Claimed a "Hack"

Urban Strata writes "Popular mobile phone community HowardForums.com is being hit with take-down notices from MobiTV. At issue is the fact that a HowardForums community member uncovered a publicly accessible URL for MobiTV's television stream. This URL is not encrypted or authenticated in any way, and yet MobiTV sent site owner Howard Chui a cease-and-desist letter for hosting a forum with the public URL, claiming that doing so is equivalent to hacking their service."

Comments

Lawyer fees

[FatAlb3rt]

I wonder how much their lawyer bills each time he has to send out a C&D for posting a link to qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd.

Sekrit Government Haxx0ring

[KublaiKhan]

Lookit me! I'm hacking the pentagon! And the CIA! And the FBI!

Hold on, one moment--someone's knocking.

Re:Sekrit Government Haxx0ring

[eln]

I would say I'll visit you in prison, but I'm not allowed to travel to Cuba.

On the bright side, I hear the conditions there aren't so bad. Rumor has it that they'll give you all the water you can drink, even if you're not thirsty!

Time to change your sig

[Itninja]

So I guess this means /.ers will now change their sig from 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 to qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd....

Re:Time to change your sig

[MBGMorden]

Why change when you can have both!!!!?!?!!

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[alexhs]

There is nothing wrong with visiting a publicly available URL. No exceptions. I guess you never stumbled upon a goatse or tubgirl publicly available link, then :P

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Captain Splendid]

Is it wrong to walk into a gym

FAIL. This is slashdot, you're supposed to make car analogies.

Re: Do it up like Julius Baer and Wikileaks!

[Bovius]

A recipe for misdirection:

* 1 link to "private" content
* 1 cup TinyURL(c) brand address shortening
* 2 lbs. unauthorized access
* 1 content owner
* An army of lawyers

Preheat oven to "Litigation". Route link through address shortening. Mix with unauthorized access, and let rise until content owner exclaims "IT IS TEH HAXORZ!1". Apply army of lawyers liberally to TinyURL for providing access to content. Place in preheated oven and bake until lawsuit reaches a golden brown. Cool before serving.

(Note: Recipe not tested.)

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[MobileMrX]

Is it wrong to walk into a car?

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Intron]

The best part of the cease-and-desist exchange was this:

"Originally Posted by mobitv
The url "qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd" is not publicly available, nor is it posted anywhere on our website for viewers to access. The only way to access the links is through this url, and the only way to obtain this url is through hacking/debugging."

mobitv posted their "secret" URL in a message on the forum. So much for the trade secret claim.

Give me a break!

[Babu 'God' Hoover]

If you don't want people looking at your naked ass all day, put your pants on in the morning.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Blkdeath]

Say someone opened a large facility next to an interstate with restrooms and vending machines, named it

... say someone took a bad analogy and stretched it even further, charging an arbitrary fee to read it ... would you be opposed to gay marriage?

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Anarke_Incarnate]

Getting something you should not, and for free, is stealing? Wow, I hope you kept the receipt for that law education. You need a refund.