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Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

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Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#11

Post by JoshuaAshton »

shaki-dora wrote: post #10
decasteve wrote: post #5

This breaks the social contract of the web. If you publish on the web (over HTTP) using HTML (with or without css+js) then you respect the concept of a User-Agent that renders the content on behalf of the user. If you wish to get around this then create another file format and protocol and application/plugin to do so — one that enforces the DRM for the owner. Don’t take agency away from User-Agent.

Would you make the same point for an extension that allows users to easily participate in DDOS attacks? Edit: the link, for the willfully dense, is that some protocol specification does not imply its users’ acceptance of any and all (ab)uses possible. It’s completely different only in that you like one but not the other.

That's completely and utterly unrelated to what the guy said. He is talking about user-agents and the way you interpret the data you receive from a http(s) request. You're talking about DDOS attacks. There is no logical link here.

Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#12

Post by Angostura »

decasteve wrote: post #5

This breaks the social contract of the web. If you publish on the web (over HTTP) using HTML (with or without css+js) then you respect the concept of a User-Agent that renders the content on behalf of the user. If you wish to get around this then create another file format and protocol and application/plugin to do so — one that enforces the DRM for the owner. Don’t take agency away from User-Agent.

Alternatively, the add-ons break the social contract, whereby content creators request payment for their content.

If you visit stuff on the web, you respect the concept of a social contract between you and the provide. Don’t try to circumvent their wishes.

Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#13

Post by Reason077 »

vbezhenar wrote: post #9

How is blocking paywalls different from blocking ads? I hope that someone will fork Firefox and remove that code which prevents users from installing any addons.

Good question. Arguably, ad blockers are (in part) responsible for the advent of paywalls in the first place.

Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#15

Post by JohnStrangeII »

realthing wrote: post #2

here we go -- gearing up to the decade of censorship 2020 and beyond . . . between this and the EU link sharing tax, I am beginning to wonder if the internet really is the last bastion to freedom of speech

This is not a free speech issue at all, nor are the EU regulations free speech issues.

The problem with these laws and their interpretation is that they target the wrong organizations and technologies. If a website is illegal, it needs to be taken down by police. Instead, idiot judges rule that certain DNS entries should be blocked. If you shouldn't be allowed to read some pay-walled journal, then the publisher has to implement proper DRM. Instead, they take down arbitrary plugins from the directories of arbitrary browser makers.

It's the publishers' right to ask for money for their products, but it's also their obligation to protect it and ensure that their business model is viable and technically feasible.

It's the end of 2018 and lawmakers and executive still don't understand how the Internet works. That's the problem.

Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#18

Post by matt4077 »

decasteve wrote: post #5

This breaks the social contract of the web. If you publish on the web (over HTTP) using HTML (with or without css+js) then you respect the concept of a User-Agent that renders the content on behalf of the user. If you wish to get around this then create another file format and protocol and application/plugin to do so — one that enforces the DRM for the owner. Don’t take agency away from User-Agent.

There’s also a social contract about respect for the law. It’s arguably much older. It involves aspects like “following the spirit of the law”. Also “technical ability is not the same as permission”. It’s why the old shopkeeper’s waning ability to see is no license for you from the produce displayed outside.

(This is mostly to show that I, too, can argue with invented “contracts”).

Re: Mozilla hit with takedown request for anti-paywall addons

#19

Post by jtr_47 »

Maybe it is time we stop relying on a central company to provide our browser software.

Maybe it is time for people to build or configure their own personal browser, so that the authority to install add-ons is a personal choice and not dictated by a company.

If a website has some shitty paywall on their site or article and that can be bypassed, then that site needs to implement something better. Instead what these companies do is make laws that is a cover for their shitty service or lack of good security.

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