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CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

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Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#51

Post by indiv0 »

sumitgt wrote: post #3

Actually, why is this not a potential legitimate business model? I let you stream content for free and you let me mine cryto-coins with your spare CPU cycles while you watch. Isn't that better for people who don't like all the tracking by ads?

On a similar note, I wonder how much money the Chinese government could make if they used the method they used to DDoS Github [0], but instead to load crypto-coin mining JavaScript onto every Baidu user's computer?

Then again, that seems like one of the fastest ways to make the average citizen actually angry at the Great Firewall.

[0]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/massi...

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#53

Post by labster »

indiv0 wrote: post #51
sumitgt wrote: post #3

Actually, why is this not a potential legitimate business model? I let you stream content for free and you let me mine cryto-coins with your spare CPU cycles while you watch. Isn't that better for people who don't like all the tracking by ads?

On a similar note, I wonder how much money the Chinese government could make if they used the method they used to DDoS Github [0], but instead to load crypto-coin mining JavaScript onto every Baidu user's computer? Then again, that seems like one of the fastest ways to make the average citizen actually angry at the Great Firewall. [0]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/massi...

The Chinese government is working hard to decrease pollution, not add additional stress on the power grid. Incentives change when you're the one responsible for all the externalities.

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#54

Post by schwede »

sumitgt wrote: post #3

Actually, why is this not a potential legitimate business model? I let you stream content for free and you let me mine cryto-coins with your spare CPU cycles while you watch. Isn't that better for people who don't like all the tracking by ads?

It might be okay if it was clearly explained and legit.

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#55

Post by IncRnd »

dexterdog wrote: post #50
plandis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pay us in electricity draw we didn't tell you about is a good business model?

Do people complain about the electricity draw when they're hosting a bunch of bloated flash?

Yes. That's why iOS doesn't have flash.

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#56

Post by swsieber »

hubcaps wrote: post #42
jopsen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope it's just a matter of time before browsers start to throttle sites... Or maybe search rankings will be affected by CPU usage, and bandwidth.

Bandwidth and loads time already do play a part in search rankings, at least with Google.

Which is a lot easier toeasure than long running CPU usage unfortunately (at least not without privacy concerns - e.g. getting real world data from users)

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#57

Post by schwede »

thephyber wrote: post #24
brian-armstrong wrote: post #15

Is this a violation of the CFAA? Without explicit permission to do this, it seems an awful lot like unauthorized use

I'm not a lawyer, so my opinion is worth what you paid for it, but... Without an authentication bypass, I don't think the CFAA applies (last I perused it). The end user probably doesn't have standing under CFAA unless the website's ToS suggested they would not act this way. If you, as a web visitor, visit a website you are largely at the mercy of whatever plugins they load onto your browser during that session. In ex…

But when I go to a website I expect to get the content. I don't expect the owner to use my computer for mining. That seems like unauthorized use to me.

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#58

Post by edmccard »

rhizome wrote: post #37
crooked-v wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining in Javascript will get you less than the infrastructure costs to provide the videos, let alone replacing ad revenue.

No matter how many browsers are working on it?

"We lose money on every sale, but we make it up in volume!"

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#59

Post by pocketsquare2 »

dexterdog wrote: post #50
plandis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pay us in electricity draw we didn't tell you about is a good business model?

Do people complain about the electricity draw when they're hosting a bunch of bloated flash?

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation

Re: CBS's Showtime caught mining crypto-coins in viewers' web browsers

#60

Post by dawnerd »

sumitgt wrote: post #3

Actually, why is this not a potential legitimate business model? I let you stream content for free and you let me mine cryto-coins with your spare CPU cycles while you watch. Isn't that better for people who don't like all the tracking by ads?

Whose to say it's spare cycles? How does the site know I'm not watching something in a tiny window while doing work?
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