eff.org — In a potentially troublesome decision, a federal district court has found that a start-up violated anti-spam and computer crime laws by creating and marketing a browser to let users view their social networking accounts in one place. The case demonstrates the difficulties facing those who seek to empower users to interact with closed services like Facebook in new and innovative ways.
Feb 22, 2012 View in Crawl 4
casspaFeb 22, 2012
This is disheartening news.
cb810Feb 22, 2012
Facebook wins again?
johnnysoftwareFeb 23, 2012
I think you missed the point. Unless I am envisioning the software incorrectly, which is possible given the scant explanation of it in the article.
If the software did not clearly/simply/directly inform people that it was slurping their Facebook and each other service data or in any way retained or shared what it gathered in this process, then it seems like it could have raped their privacy and that of their acquaintances/institutions severely.
There's too much of that going on now as it is.
cowicideFeb 23, 2012
> If the software did not clearly/simply/directly
> inform people that it was slurping their Facebook
The EFF would not knowingly represent a company that was doing such a thing. The EFF defends privacy rights.
This is about Facebook trying to keep monopolistic control over other people's information, stifling competition and innovation... and that's why the EFF is fighting this.
futfanaticoFeb 23, 2012
Facebook = lame. Their monopoly will come back to bite them in the ass as the next generation has truly open social media networking.