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Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

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11–20 of 78 posts

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#11

odd name; shouldn't it be named after something that stealthily infiltrates fortresses?

Trojan Horse probably wouldn't make a very good name for a browser.

Since my grade-school mascot/team was "The Trojans" and my adopted hometown is firmly rooted in pre-Christian Greek culture and mythology, I am currently studying the Trojan War, and I may observe that "Trojan" is an extremely perspicacious brand-name for condoms, more than the average guy would expect.

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#12

Is it ethical to scrape when a site has explicitly blocked bots? I know a fair number of people who run small sites who are already considering closing them down because the bots are relentlessly hammering their sites and driving up hosting costs.

I think it really depends on how the bot is run. If the bot is replacing me navigating there manually, absolutely. If it’s sucking up content to rip off and make someone else billions of dollars, no.

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#13

Is it ethical to scrape when a site has explicitly blocked bots? I know a fair number of people who run small sites who are already considering closing them down because the bots are relentlessly hammering their sites and driving up hosting costs.

I think it really depends on how the bot is run. If the bot is replacing me navigating there manually, absolutely. If it’s sucking up content to rip off and make someone else billions of dollars, no.

Why do you feel entitled to navigate to a website you neither own nor pay for via a method the owner expressly forbids?

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#14
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it really depends on how the bot is run. If the bot is replacing me navigating there manually, absolutely. If it’s sucking up content to rip off and make someone else billions of dollars, no.

Why do you feel entitled to navigate to a website you neither own nor pay for via a method the owner expressly forbids?

Why do you feel entitled to dictate what user agent I use, if it’s well-behaved?

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#15
post #14
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you feel entitled to navigate to a website you neither own nor pay for via a method the owner expressly forbids?

Why do you feel entitled to dictate what user agent I use, if it’s well-behaved?

Why do your opinions about what a "well-behaved" agent is override the wishes of a site's owner?

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you feel entitled to dictate what user agent I use, if it’s well-behaved?

Why do your opinions about what a "well-behaved" agent is override the wishes of a site's owner?

Site owners should not have full control over what users do. Their wishes do not apply past certain boundaries.

For a non-AI example I run into occasionally, any wish to stop time-shifting should not be relevant to what I choose to do as a media consumer.

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#18

Is it ethical to scrape when a site has explicitly blocked bots? I know a fair number of people who run small sites who are already considering closing them down because the bots are relentlessly hammering their sites and driving up hosting costs.

> Is it ethical to scrape when a site has explicitly blocked bots

Ethical? ppl get jailed in China for this. "Breaching computer systems" is a felony.

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do your opinions about what a "well-behaved" agent is override the wishes of a site's owner?

Site owners should not have full control over what users do. Their wishes do not apply past certain boundaries. For a non-AI example I run into occasionally, any wish to stop time-shifting should not be relevant to what I choose to do as a media consumer.

There actually is a well defined demarcation point where the site owners wishes do apply. It's called... A demarc point! Everything that happens past this point is by definition entirely in the control of the admin. Which includes closing the door on whoever they wish. This is a technical reality, not something you can effect with opinions or wanting things more than other people want other things. It might seem contradictory but this is actually the main thing that makes the internet as free as it is.

Re: Show HN: Fortress – a stealth Chromium so your agents stop getting blocked

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Site owners should not have full control over what users do. Their wishes do not apply past certain boundaries. For a non-AI example I run into occasionally, any wish to stop time-shifting should not be relevant to what I choose to do as a media consumer.

There actually is a well defined demarcation point where the site owners wishes do apply. It's called... A demarc point! Everything that happens past this point is by definition entirely in the control of the admin. Which includes closing the door on whoever they wish. This is a technical reality, not something you can effect with opinions or wanting things more than other people want other things. It might seem cont…

When we're talking about ethics, I think we should give the owner more than that. If they don't want to be DDoSed we shouldn't say "too bad, the attackers are outside your network, your wishes don't apply, get good".
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