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Social Fixer Falls Victim To Facebook Legal Threats
rueger writes "The author of the very excellent Social Fixer browser plug-in is bowing to legal threats from Facebook and removing the core functionality that made his tool so great. I like Social Fixer a lot. It makes Facebook at least three or four times more usable. The author, Matt Kruse, says 'Any threat of legal action is a big deal. I am a one-man operation. If I were sued for whatever reason, I would find it very difficult to defend myself, even if it was without merit. I would be risking my personal life to maintain a tabbed news feed for users. As much as I'd like to be your Robin Hood, I just can't do that to my family.' Bizarrely, when he asked Facebook why they don't also threaten Ad-Block, the Facebook rep claimed to have never heard of it." Kruse has some surprisingly nice things to say about his interaction with Facebook, too. Reader Daniel Dvorkin points out this commentary at BuzzFeed which points out Twitter's similar policies.
It started as a GreaseMonkey script, why can't that particular functionality be open sourced? The few times a month I'm forced to go on Facebook I make sure my Social Fixer is up to date, especially since I want to be signed out of chat automatically. Having all the games and apps on a separate tab is nice too. - HEX
Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
I didn't jump on this fast enough--is there a way to get a fully functional copy now?
It cost less than $50 to form an LLC in my state, which insulates your personal assets from business ones.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Whoa, that name was oddly familiar, and then it hit me - he ran the first ray-tracing competition, back in the great POV-Ray era.
http://www.mattkruse.com/raytracing/?bwf0d=12778
If they don't know what AdBlock is...wow, that's just sad.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
As if we really needed another one. What a joke of a company.
Without those features, his extension is useless to people who might have contributed money and he is going to end up having to get a real job again.
Based on the products they put out, I don't think it's equal. Some significant functionality appears to have never been tested. It's probably patented, though.
Don't mention what the fuck it does or anything.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Why is he surprised? This dev created a tool that manipulates FB's core features (even if only on the front-end) - sure, it is used by a niche slice of users, but its a threat that FB understandably tries to marginalize, if not ericadate. Instead of anonimity and silent work, SocFixer's dev made his person public, he even contacted and taunted FB (while crying loud to its users through in-app messages) - he still naively believes that his public outcry and a few thousand users would push FB to continue to let him propagate this hack right on a FB page. I absolutely love Social Fixer and respect Matt Kruse's work, but his irresponsibility in not being anonymous with this type of project will now probably kill this great tool.
I use Social Fixer all the time and while I haven't used any of the exotic features like tabbing that people are so enamoured with, I can see how they could be a great boon to some users. But I feel that Kruse is being naive in asking people to respond to his comments about Social Fixer and Facebook's demands. When his Social Fixer page was eradicated, he and his admin staff were suspended by Facebook. By venting their spleen on his current page, users are identifying themselves and do you really think Facebook will think twice about deleting a couple of hundred or thousand of disgruntled people? Of course not. Thats why I don't reply to the Social Fixer forums on Facebook. God knows who is monitoring the conversations!
My web domain.
Clearly justice is denied when one party can use the threat of a lawsuit to compel another to capitulate, simply because they can't afford to defend themselves. Everyone knows it works this way. Why don't more people object?
"It makes Facebook at least three or four times more usable"
You know what makes Facebook more usable? Not using Facebook.
Yes, I just burned Karma.
First they create an API to help engender an ecosystem that attracts developers to improve the platform and thus bring in more users. Then after the ecosystem is established and FB goes IPO for billions they start pulling the rug from underneath the third-party developers that helped get them there. FB deserves a fate worse than MySpace.
QUIT USING FACEBOOK!!!
i dont have a facebook account, no twitter account. no myspace account, i refuse to sign up to some lamer social network and spill my guts about my personal life to the world, if you knew my real name and googled it you wont find any information about me, no photos of me, because i refuse to upload that information to the internet, you have to learn to use the internet without letting the internet use you
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
The solution to this is obviously to avoid facebook/twitter and all that shit like the plague.
Regardless, how can they sue somebody for doing a fucking greasemonkey script? "This software tinkers with our webpage" seems to be their logic. Well, so does every browser on planet earth. HTML is a declarative language, you REQUIRE a user agent to interpret your webpage. Essentially, you are telling the user "well, here is this information, and we think it should be displayed sort of like this". That's it. The user can either parse the code on his own (aka just read the source), or write some code to do it, or use somebody else's code to parse it. How are the actions performed by this script any different from what any browser does?
If you publish a website, everytime it's displayed, you are acting as GUESTS in my computer, no the other way around, and you'll play by my rules.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Okay, where is the most effective place to send hate mail or equivalent to Facebook? As many of you know, FB is almost impossible to contact directly or actually speak with a live person despite them employing thousands of them. Even their telephone number only leads you to a number of different messages and voice mail boxes that appears to mostly be dead-end bit buckets.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Nice guy.
I worked at Hostgator a couple of years ago, and he had performance issues with his server with us. The problem he had with his website is he was sending all communication, even non-critical stuff, over SSL. The software was evening making SSL checks for updates. Once I explained to him that he shouldn't have it check for updates via SSL (could still do the actual update via SSL), he intended to disable that. Looks like it worked out for him.
The power of herding users is being bought from power-users by corporations (for the cost of nice cushy jobs, salaries and stocks).
by making Facebook "3-4 times more usable", it reduces the time people spend stuck with burdensome Facebook advertising and workflow to access desired material. In other words, it reduces Facebook's revenue for advertising from those links and burdensome clickthroughs. _Of course_ they object, and _of course_ they feel he's in violation of his terms of service or even more severe contract violations for interfering with what they try to sel to the advertisers and customer tracking companies, who actually pay Facebook's bills.
Why is there surprise that Facebook's legal staff and management would threaten the tool author over this?
I remember Kruse being very dismissive then.
Also FB Purity is a much better extension.
http://www.fbpurity.com/
Facebook's motto seems to be Let's Be Evil. Time after time, what they do is really not friendly, not nice, not fair, not good. It's evil and based on my experiences with them, I'd say they like it that way.
"No good deed ever goes unpunished."
The lesson here is not to do nice things for scum.
In other, much older words,
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."
Matthew 7:6
What else can I say . . . .
I was using the FB Unseen plug-in to avoid notifying friends when I had "seen" their message, because I may occasionally want to browse my notifications at 3AM but that doesn't mean I want to make an announcement about it. "Hey guess what everyone, I had a sleepless night last night! Queue the insomnia questions!"
Unfortunately it looks like FB Unseen just got hit with the same legal threats. And the author updated it to just disable and uninstall itself! Guess I will have to find something else to do during those bouts of insomnia.
It's been a while since this quote was apropos:
The tighter you grip, the more systems slip through your fingers.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The problem he had with his website is he was sending all communication, even non-critical stuff, over SSL.
Everything after the user has logged in is "critical" by this definition. Otherwise, Eve can clone the user's session cookie with tools similar to Firesheep.
I explained to him that he shouldn't have it check for updates via SSL
Without SSL, a man in the middle can lie that no updates are available and proceed to exploit the client's unpatched software. The only way I can think of to authenticate the presence or absence of updates without SSL is some ad-hoc way of signing timestamped responses from the update server.
The same is true for any extension that changes core functionality of a website. I've been back and forth with people about blocking ABP, and a few sites that iframe my sites and the consensus has been that blocking these things outright may do more damage from a PR point of view than any economic value gained by doing so.
There are specific sites that ABP generally wrecks the revenue stream to a large degree, and to those sites I invite you to block ABP use the same way I did, by grabbing their blacklists and putting the blacklisted css components into the content stream (and rotate them.) This forces the user to have to turn ABP off to view the site.
A lot of people sympathise with Matt but tell him with the Facebook imposed restrictions, Social Fixer will be useless, and they'll stop using it altogether. Which I think is what Facebook wants.
Maybe he should make his own damn social network. Seems like he has a better idea about what people want from one.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It's anyone's RIGHT to disallow what comes in OUR homes via browsers (& that's the case here) on BANDWIDTH WE PAY FOR (which ads rob & even infect via malscript in ads - & it's happened lots over time) - plus stopping being "tracked" (stalked) & yes, sold - PERIOD!
Tools like Kruse's, AdBlock, Ghostery, Request Policy, NoScript, & even hosts (which I use) aren't "hacking facebook" server-side either They're clientside,& in your home - Not theirs. What's next? Harassing DNS server makers? DNSBL's do the same, so can PAC files too!
(Even IF a "terms of service" says "YOU MUST VIEW OUR ADS" the way ads are's like saying "Rape me, give me AIDS, & sell it to everyone too" - fuck that: It's MORE than potentially imperilling folks & they can't force it legally!)
FACT: I've beaten gov't. on much the same to a BIG "payola" so, who's facebook by comparison? Nobody!
(Yes - It's ENTIRELY doable when you're right - Especially w/ juries as I had - Was told "you can't win" but I did).
---
* Wish I could've armed Kruse w/ tons of valid FACTUAL data backing ALL of what I said from experts in the security community & FAR more!
They'd laugh 'fakebook' outta court after a deluge of historical SOLID undeniable proofs to my statements I'd provide him even though he makes a competitor of sorts to what I'd done too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4305133&cid=45048427
( /. delayed this 2nd reply ONLY today from me after the link above for 5++ hrs., longest ever - gee, wonder why? NOT!)
APK
P.S.=> Unless the justice system's a mockery? No way'd "fakebook" would win & they'd be countersued + lose - this shows how greedy "Herr Judenberg" is to the point of desperation - no money can fix THAT face (& apparently he's trying to 'squeeze the eagle on a quarter till its feathers fall off & it screans' to do so) & he's gotten even uglier w/ this antic - his kind always destroys themselves everywhere they go, thru history...
... apk
It's funny enough that facebook can't possibly access your "other" messages without forcing you to install facebook messenger (which end up being viewable in the facebook app itself), but you can't turn off notificatinos permanently on facebook messenger. Any time you click the box which says "turn off notifications" instead of just doing it , it says "okay, we'll turn off notifications for 8 hours and then turn them back on automatically for you"
wtf??
Talk about dirty pool.
Luckily newer versions of android allow you override this and just stop receiving all notifications from an app permanently.
Examples of this working are x264, libavcodec and mplayer, for example. All of these probably break large numbers of patents and are quite high profile and I'm sure they are a thorn in the side for the video and audio format cartels. But they are doing just fine, and have been doing so for a long time. If they had been closed one-man projects by somebody in the USA, they life expectancy would probably be much shorter.
I don't see any advertisement on facebook at all, and I'm just using Adblock Edge + the rule facebook.com##div[class="ego_column"]. SocialFixer does more than just block advertisements, but if all you want is to get rid of then adblock already does a very good job at it.
Blocking on higher levels has some advantages too, though. For example blocking individual HTML elements. On facebook, I've needed this block facebook.com##div[class="ego_column"] to get rid of the last half of the advertisements. You're right that Adblock Plus sold out. That's why it was forked. I use the fork called Adblock Edge.
Using it may be illegal, especially if you're facebook user and accepted their TOS, which may forbid it. But writing software and distributing it without having a contract with facebook, should not be subject to anything facebook can do?
And in source code form, it think, it was proven that its free speech.
It's anyone's RIGHT to disallow what comes in OUR homes via browsers (& that's the case here) on BANDWIDTH WE PAY FOR (which ads rob & even infect via malscript in ads - & it's happened lots over time) - plus stopping being "tracked" (stalked) & yes, sold - PERIOD!
Tools like Kruse's, AdBlock, Ghostery, Request Policy, NoScript, & even hosts (which I use) aren't "hacking facebook" server-side either They're clientside,& in your home - Not theirs. What's next? Harassing DNS server makers? DNSBL's do the same, so can PAC files too!
(Even IF a "terms of service" says "YOU MUST VIEW OUR ADS" the way ads are's like saying "Rape me, give me AIDS, & sell it to everyone too" - fuck that: It's MORE than potentially imperilling folks & they can't force it legally!)
FACT: I've beaten gov't. on much the same to a BIG "payola" so, who's facebook by comparison? Nobody!
(Yes - It's ENTIRELY doable when you're right - Especially w/ juries as I had - Was told "you can't win" but I did).
---
* Wish I could've armed Kruse w/ tons of valid FACTUAL data backing ALL of what I said from experts in the security community & FAR more!
They'd laugh 'fakebook' outta court after a deluge of historical SOLID undeniable proofs to my statements I'd provide him even though he makes a competitor of sorts to what I'd done too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4305133&cid=45048427
( /. delayed this 2nd reply ONLY today from me after the link above for 5++ hrs., longest ever - gee, wonder why? NOT!)
APK
P.S.=> Unless the justice system's a mockery? No way'd "fakebook" would win & they'd be countersued + lose - this shows how greedy "Herr Judenberg" is to the point of desperation - no money can fix THAT face (& apparently he's trying to 'squeeze the eagle on a quarter till its feathers fall off & it screans' to do so) & he's gotten even uglier w/ this antic - his kind always destroys themselves everywhere they go, thru history...
... apk
why not make your own facebook instead ! could be a nice challenge, after all at some point this is what Linus did. He couldn't afford a UNIX system, he built one. You've already attracted much attention from the community, you sure will find supporters.
They could just disable the app, right? Why bother with legal threats?
Everything else: stop pontificating. It's a free platform, they can do what they like with it.
I read Matt Kruse's blog post last night. Then I read the BuzzFeed story. I think Facebook is using Social Fixer as a test case. If they can successfully shut down apps like Social Fixer while mostly ignoring user complaints, they can become more like WalMart and less like...um....I can't think of a company or product that hasn't gone this route. I guess this is happens to all successful companies or brands. Apple's shine is definitely off since Jobs passed away. The biographies and commentaries about him aren't what I would call glowing. They read more like MSNBC criticizing Democrats, or FoxNews criticizing Republicans. You get the picture.
I think this is what happens to great, popular, or successful brands. The question is, will we look back on Facebook the way we now look at GM?
Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
They have threatened the creator of F.B. Purity (a mozilla plugin). I think they'll have a more difficult time actually legitimizing their claim, as this is a plugin that runs on the customer's system, which FB cannot, ever, claim ownership over. But they will probably try! And yes, the article about his experience is valid - why not go after Adblock? Can you imagine. The risk there is legal precedence, which I don't believe really exists concretely (yet. But someone could add here to correct me). If they brought this legal action through the courts and a decision were made in favor of the user (the desktop), that affects everyone. I'm sure this isn't the last of this!
"A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
(That's exactly what I did w/ what you already have via hosts w/ less complexity + room 4 breakdown & tightly integrated to IP stack - browsers addons do a STUPID opposite by comparison w/ added complexity + slowing up slower usermode apps in browsers & they do far less!)
---
10 things hosts do AdBlock can't - 4 added speed, security, reliability, & anonymity (i.e. -> ubiquitous versatility vs. INTENTIONALLY default crippled functionality):
1.) They don't block rogue DNS malware makers use - hosts do.
2.) They don't block known sites/servers of malware/malicious scripts - hosts do.
3.) They don't speed up FAVORITE sites - hosts do
4.) They ONLY work on Mozilla products (browser/email), hosts work on ANY webbound app & multiplatform.
5.) They can't protect external to FireFox email programs, hosts do (OUTLOOK, Eudora, etc.)
6.) They can't blow past DNSBL's - hosts do.
7.) They can't avoid DNS requestlogs - hosts do.
8.) They can't protect vs. DOWNED or "DNS-poisoned" redirected DNS servers - hosts do.
9.) They don't protect vs. "FastFlux" botnets - hosts do
10.) Hosts = EASIER to self-manage: Textfile edit!
---
A.) Hosts operate LONG before REDUNDANT plugins (& ON MORE + do more)
B.) Plugins slowdown browsers (a message passing fact) - Stack a few up & see. Hosts, don't + operate in a far faster ring of privelege operation (ring 0/rpl 0/kernelmode, not slower ring 3/rpl 3/usermode as browsers & their addons do) starting up w\ OS + IP stack.
---
* You're outnumbered 13++:1 (Einstein included) - despite /. delaying my reply ~5++ hrs. again!
(Nothing stops truth or myself - nothing: & neither do inferior products, OR /.)
APK
P.S.=> "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
If he cared about his family, why was he working for free for a large for-profit corporation in his spare time? Makes no sense.
obviously facebook has some mod points. Can anyone dispute this on a factual basis? The point is, Facebook likes to jerk its users around as much or more than they're trying to claim this person would be doing.
"hosts (which I use) aren't "hacking facebook" server-side either They're clientside, & in your home - Not theirs. What's next? Harassing DNS server makers? DNSBL's do the same, so can PAC files too!" - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06, 2013 @03:03AM (#45049321)
LEARN TO READ: I already addressed that much (in the bolded quote of my words above) - Which covers MY bases vs. your "so-called-'point'" & your useless reiteration of what I stated already!
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"Wow, an on-topic post by apk which doesn't appear to be the random babbling of a madman. Kudos." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06, 2013 @03:03AM (#45049321)
Says a cowardly trolling ac no balls worm trying to play "SiDeWaLk-ShRiNk of /." - minus a degree in the psychiatric sciences, a formal examination of myself, & a license to practice!
(That's ALSO libeling myself from you, troll - which of course, you realize, hence your ac post: Is your favorite color "transparent"? Must be - since I see RIGHT thru you, with ease!)...
APK
P.S.=>
"If his extension causes any change in behavior in regards to how your browser interacts with the FB servers, then they could have a case against someone who uses it." - by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06, 2013 @09:34AM (#45050453)
B.S. - What comes into ANYONE'S HOME via that browser is ENTIRELY SUBJECT to their rules & over their bandwidth they pay for that ads steal & even infect them - ads are a threat on many levels & an annoyance in screen realestate + privacy in tracking too. "Fakebook" doesn't have a case on those grounds, period (so much for "fakebook" & attorneys) - no questions asked!
Also - Say I cut out cookies/javascript on their site - that affects said interaction! So can they "sue me" on that too? Fuck no -.face facts: You're TOO STUPID to even BEGIN to *try* to "f" w/ me, on any level!
... apk
Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C & load w/ OS + 1st net request resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):
---
APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
(Benefits hosts files provide on numerous levels for speed, security, reliability, & anonymity = in link above)
---
* "A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
---
A.) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Foxes guard a henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4127345&cid=44701775
B.) Hosts add reliability vs. downed DNS & protect vs redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3985079&cid=44310431 w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,
C.) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed DNS or vs. Kaminsky vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).
---
"Less is more" = GOOD engineering!
(Vs. slowing down SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE in addons which slow them down more: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts - A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself)
APK
P.S.=> "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk
"A fool makes things bigger + more complex: It takes a touch of genius & a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Einstein
(That's exactly what I did w/ what you already have via hosts w/ less complexity + room 4 breakdown & tightly integrated to IP stack - browsers addons do a STUPID opposite by comparison w/ added complexity + slowing up slower usermode apps in browsers & they do far less!)
---
10 things hosts do AdBlock can't - 4 added speed, security, reliability, & anonymity (i.e. -> ubiquitous versatility vs. INTENTIONALLY default crippled functionality):
1.) They don't block rogue DNS malware makers use - hosts do.
2.) They don't block known sites/servers of malware/malicious scripts - hosts do.
3.) They don't speed up FAVORITE sites - hosts do
4.) They ONLY work on Mozilla products (browser/email), hosts work on ANY webbound app & multiplatform.
5.) They can't protect external to FireFox email programs, hosts do (OUTLOOK, Eudora, etc.)
6.) They can't blow past DNSBL's - hosts do.
7.) They can't avoid DNS requestlogs - hosts do.
8.) They can't protect vs. DOWNED or "DNS-poisoned" redirected DNS servers - hosts do.
9.) They don't protect vs. "FastFlux" botnets - hosts do
10.) Hosts = EASIER to self-manage: Textfile edit!
---
A.) Hosts operate LONG before REDUNDANT plugins (& ON MORE + do more)
B.) Plugins slowdown browsers (a message passing fact) - Stack a few up & see. Hosts, don't + operate in a far faster ring of privelege operation (ring 0/rpl 0/kernelmode, not slower ring 3/rpl 3/usermode as browsers & their addons do) starting up w\ OS + IP stack.
---
* You're outnumbered 13++:1 (Einstein included) - despite /. delaying my reply ~5++ hrs. again!
Why? A simple concept: "Less is MORE = GOOD ENGINEERING!"
APK
P.S.=> "The premise is, quite simple: Take something designed by nature & reprogram it to make it work FOR the body, rather than against it..." - Dr. Alice Krippen "I AM LEGEND"
...apk