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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?"

36 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 msclrhd · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ah, this is a trademark issue, not a "we don't want the script modifying our site" issue.

      I can kind of see this for "Facebook", but then the developer is not creating a "FaceBook2" or "NewFaceBook" site that competes with Facebook.

      Like others here, I don't see Fluff Busting (FB) being a trademark infringement though. If it is, it is rather tenuous.

    5. 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.

    6. Re:No... by dindinx · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      Hum, this would make IE illegal too!

      --
      DindinX
  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. I didn't even know about greasemonkey until today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to install it now.

    Thanks for bringing this to script to my attention, Facebook!

  6. 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.

  7. Thank you Facebook by mukund · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You don't let me export my data directly. You play games threatening to disable my account if I try to export the data by using a 3rd party script. Your employees are able to access my private information easily. I just hate logging into your website these days.

    I'm going to delete my Facebook account. I can hear how my friends are doing by calling them once in a while.

    --
    Banu
    1. 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
    2. Re:Thank you Facebook by cbope · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Whatever you do, don't delete your account. That just gives FB a snapshot of your current profile to keep for all eternity. If you want FB to keep as little data on you as possible, it's really quite simple although it requires patience. Gradually remove all information and apps from your FB profile, in the end leave only the bare minimum that's required to keep the profile alive. Then leave it that way for a while, at least a year or two. Then delete the account.

      FB can't possibly keep backups of every state of your profile and eventually they will be overwriting your older data with your updated and reduced profile footprint. Eventually this means they will have little data on you. Do it gradually, so it does not trip un-known snapshots of your profile which might be saved for longer.

    3. Re:Thank you Facebook by lena_10326 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Gradually remove all information and apps from your FB profile, in the end leave only the bare minimum that's required to keep the profile alive.

      I remember watching a video of a Facebook developer giving a presentation on their data storage architecture. I can't find the video, but the gist of it was that they use a homegrown flat file structure for archiving data which includes image data. External to the archives is an index which points to offsets into the archive files. New data is appended at the end and deleted data gets dereferenced, so the deleted data still resides inside the archive. The developer even mentioned that it was possible to recover the deleted data and then proceeded to speek a little on the privacy concerns because technically the data persists forever because they don't run jobs to condense the archives. This is non-intuitive to even well informed users.

      --
      Camping on quad since 1996.
    4. Re:Thank you Facebook by DMiax · · Score: 4, Funny

      And if you can get people off of slashdot too, we'll get humanity on Mars in a couple of weeks as a bonus.

    5. Re:Thank you Facebook by paziek · · Score: 5, Informative

      Thats weird. Here in Poland you can ask company/whoever to delete your personal data and they have to comply. And I mean DELETE, not stop displaying. It means no backup, not on paper, not anywhere.
      If you don't comply with such request, you will be forced to stop using ALL your personal data storage, in with case if Facebook had (they do?) some data center in Poland, they couldn't use it anymore, at least not for personal data.

      Seems like a common sense for me, keeping snapshots of personal data even tho that person doesn't want you to? What the shit?

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

    1. Re:What about NoScript? AdBlockers? by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Informative

      No distribution is happening, which means no copyright infringement is taking place.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
  10. Re:But Facebook lets you block App stories by AmigaHeretic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah, or you can also just use:

    http://lite.facebook.com/

    I don't get why they care if THEY themselves offer so many ways to avoid all that crap.

  11. 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.
  12. Re:EULA by jpate · · Score: 4, Funny

    um, there is a continent populated entirely by children?

  13. What threat? by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative

    The link in the Slashdot article links to a blog which links to a Facebook page which links to an ad-heavy web site and a Twitter log. Nowhere is the actual "legal threat" defined.

    If the legal threat is real, post it to Chilling Effects.

    1. Re:What threat? by Little_Professor · · Score: 5, Informative

      They aren't making him remove the script. The summary (and the script's author's site) are misleading.

      This is purely a trademark issue. Initially the guy called his script Facebook Purity, a clear violation of FB's trademark. He changed the name to Fluff Buster Purity but also still markets it as F***B*** Purity, which is again a violation of Facebook's trademark, albeit a little more tenous.

      If he just changes the name to something else there will be no issue. Noone is forcing him to take down his script, he just has to rename it to something that doesn't violate Facebook's trademark. Facebook are being no more evil than the Mozilla corporation who tightly control the Firefox trademark, even though the software itself is open source (hence Iceweasel etc and other silly names for adaptations of the software).

  14. What's the point of this script? by iJusten · · Score: 5, Informative

    Facebook has inbuilt "ignore this"-feature. Every post has an X on the top-right corner, click it, and you can choose do you want to ignore application or the user who spams your newsfeed (in case you don't want to lose him/her from your friendlist). I did this months ago, and since then I've forgotten that Mafia Wars even exist.

    --
    Chronologically late.
    1. Re:What's the point of this script? by ZxCv · · Score: 5, Informative

      FB Purity blocks entire categories of posts: all application posts, 'x became a fan of y' posts, and others.

      Facebook's built-in hiding is done on a app-by-app and person-by-person basis. So every stupid new app that comes out has to be hidden individually.

      --

      Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
  15. or Free software fundation take over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    FSF could take over his legal cost. And then facebook is fucked, because the publicity combined with the probability that FSF would not drop the issue, would force them to accept and put them in a bad light. The question is could in such a case the FSF try to get the judge facebook to pay for their lawyer cost if facebook lose, which they would do.

    1. Re:or Free software fundation take over by Jesus_666 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually it seems that the case is entirely about him using their trademark in the name of his script (which is why it has been renamed now). The EFF would just shrug and tell him that a) they're within their rights to defent their trademark and b) they actually don't even have much of a choice about it.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  16. Right idea... by Raptor851 · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  17. Is it even needed? by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Informative

    Facebook makes it easy to block applications - when a Farmville/Mafia wars post appears in your intray you just say "block this application" and you'll never see it again.

    --
    No sig today...
  18. Re:EULA by caluml · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then we talked about other Facebook games, games for the Wii and how his dog ate the sensor bar, talked about MMOs a bit (He'd never played one, didn't really "get" them, eh, whatever) and then HIS boss came in the room and we talked about work stuff because lunch was drawing to a close.

    This is interesting! Do you have a Twitter feed I can subscribe to?

    --
    Get your own free personal location tracker
  19. Re:EULA by e2d2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I used to run with a real gang. We used Face-Mash. the hot social networking system built around drugs, guns, and alcohol. It brought us all together to enjoy our common bond - beating people close to death, robbing, stealing, etc.

    So yeah, I can see how it could be compared to Facebook.