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Facebook Goes After Greasemonkey Script Developer

Posted by timothy on from the you-must-enjoy-our-obnoxious-messages dept.

palmerj3 writes "The popular Facebook Purity greasemonkey script (now renamed Fluff Buster Purity) has been used by thousands to rid their Facebook feeds from the likes of Mafia Wars, Farmville, and other annoying things. Now, Facebook is threatening the developer of this script. Does Facebook have the right to govern their website's design and functionality once it's in the browser?"

16 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. No... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No. They don't...

    1. Re:No... by JWSmythe · · Score: 5, Insightful

            You have to consider the American legal system. After they're done threatening legal action, then they'll drag him into court. It won't be a one-hearing thing either. It'll span years. They may get a court order that he can't develop nor distribute such software until the conclusion of the case.

          Say he wins in court. He can continue to distribute his software. That's assuming he can afford legal representation for that long. Most normal people can't financially handle a prolonged court case, so even if he started fighting it from the start, he'd run out of funds and do exactly what they tell him to.

          If he loses in court, it'll cost him an absolute fortune. They can hire better lawyers, and keep it tied up in court for years. Ok, now he has to stop distributing in the future (since they probably got the court order to not distribute for the duration of the court case, he'll be faced with fines, and probably Facebooks legal fees.

          So his choices are to stop, and accept it, or to fight it and spend every penny he has in court.

          Someone like Facebook doesn't mind spending the money to drag it through court. It's "encouragement" for others not to do the same thing.

       

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    2. Re:No... by cbope · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Mod parent up. This is precisely what is wrong with the American legal system. Even if you do no wrong, companies and corporations can drag you through the legal system and exhaust any funds you have trying to defend yourself.

      Even. If. You. Have. Done. Nothing. Illegal.

      Rampant abuse by shady lawyers doesn't help either, since they get paid no matter who wins a case.

    3. Re:No... by msclrhd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Also, if Facebook wins, it will set a precedence. It will mean that potentially, anything that modifies a website from what the website author produces will be illegal.

      This means all greasemonkey scripts and AdBlock Plus/other ad blocking technologies as these modify a sites look from what is intended.

      It may also be applicable to mashup sites that take content from other sites and combine it, although this is different to the above, so would need to be tested in court.

      It could also mean that developers are less likely to innovate in these areas for fear of being sued. There is always the possibility of being sued, but having this as a precedence would increase that chance.

      There are some options, though.

      If I were the developer, I would seek help from the FSF and/or try to find a lawyer willing to do the case pro-bono.

    4. Re:No... by Saint+Fnordius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree. Facebook doesn't really have a claim of infringement, any more than Paramount has a claim against the book "The Science of Star Trek". It refers to the protected name without claiming ownership or competing in the same market. All the site and the script comments need, really, is a disclaimer that it is not in any way associated with Facebook or their related properties.

      Facebook already got Streisanded here. By grasping at the only available straw (the name), they've helped the script get noted by the Slashdotters, and it will be impossible to stop now. Even if the original script site is ordered removed, multiple branches will be created, since they can't forbid the underlying code.

  2. No by Raleel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry, you distributed content, we can throw it in the trash if we like

    --
    -- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
    1. Re:No by Tanuki64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sorry, you distributed content, we can throw it in the trash if we like

      This is common sense. Not much worth in court.

  3. look what they gone and done by Dayofswords · · Score: 5, Insightful

    here comes the Streisand effect

    --
    Someday we'll hit the human carrying capacity. And the band will just play on.
    1. Re:look what they gone and done by Asmor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed. This is officially the first thing that's ever made me want to install Greasemonkey.

  4. Of course not by afidel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course they don't, but it doesn't matter because the developer can't possibly afford to defend himself so he'll comply because it doesn't matter if you're right if you're homeless. I wish judges were a little more liberal with SLAPP summary judgments against litigious corporations.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  5. It's no problem... by iztehsux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't see how this is any different than running noscript, or redirecting entries in your host file to 127.0.0.1... Even if this does go to court, I doubt Facebook would come out on top. Explaining to someone how browser content can be modified on the fly using GreaseMonkey might be a little tricky. No harm, no foul. Good luck Facebook, you money-hoarding bastards.

  6. Re:I didn't even know about greasemonkey until tod by Raxxon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Had GS installed, but hadn't seen this script.

    Thanks EffBee for letting me know about the script that keeps all your spam harvesting shit-ware out of sight.

  7. What about NoScript? AdBlockers? by rhythmx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can I not telnet to facebook.com on port 80 and make a request by hand? Sorry, but their copyright ends after they distribute a URI over HTTP. What I do with the response is my prerogative. My browser does anything it wants to with your data... even if I'm not using a browser to connect to tcp/80 at the time.

  8. Re:Thank you Facebook by mdm42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you'll find yourself with a shitload of newly free hours in the day in which you can do all sorts of stuff. Write a book. Write some free software. Learn a new language. You'll amaze yourself with just how much you can achieve in just one hour extra a day.

    --
    New mod option wanted: -1 DrunkenRambling
  9. Re:EULA by 25thCenturyQuaker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I have an actual web site if anyone wants to contact me."

    So, what's the name of that site, mate? Anonymouscowardnumbersixpointeightthreebillion-giveortake.com? Sorry, Captian Luddite, but you're confusing the medium with the content. I'm 50 years old and have prodigiously developed abilities with Google Fu. After over a year of badgering to join Facebook—which I countered with arguments similar to yours, such as:

    • "I've been online and had my own sites and blogs and photosharing galleries for over a dozen years...why can't all these people find me !?"

    —I finally relented. Since doing so about a year ago, I've reconnected with a ton of old friends I couldn't find any other way.

    As a shining example, two of us had an idea to start an ACTUAL website to gather material on musicians & bands we knew from our area, and from days and decades gone by. Despite sending tons of emails, and making tons of phone calls pleading for friends to get on board with the idea, nobody wanted to go to the trouble of contributing to it. I was even offering to send out pre-paid mailers for them to send me stuff to scan and audio/video material to digitize. It was just too much trouble for them

    So, my friend and I started a Facebook group hoping to create a historic record of bands, clubs, & musicians from the Central Pennsylvania area, and in less than 2 months 360+ old friends and acquaintances have found each other again, to share hundreds of photos and stories, and to get back together to jam, or to go see each others' current bands.

    I could also regale you with tales of smaller BBQs, ballgames, golf outings and beer bashes organized and thrown, of old loves rekindled, of new jobs found, of dogs and cats saved from being euthanized, of rare car parts bought & sold, of bands booking money-making tours in markets they would have otherwise never reached, of small group renunion cruises and vacations taken, and many more.

    But apparently, you've explored it all enough to know that Facebook, MySpace and other SocNet sites are just for the pathetic, or the tech—challenged, or the kids...so good luck, and have fun with your decision to dismiss them out—of—hand. In the meantime, there are a whole shtload of us who are having tones of fun, both online and in meatspace, precisely because of them.

    --
    My Human Gets Me Blues.
  10. Right idea... by Raptor851 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wrong organization though, this sounds more like a case for the EFF. http://www.eff.org/