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Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

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11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#11
post #2

I can't believe Github processed this incredibly spurious DMCA request that didn't even detail what was being infringed beyond some vague "anti-circumvention technology". Plus it checks for archived and cached versions of an article so that somehow makes it circumvention?! The author has already been kicked off Gitlab, so I'm not sure where else realistically they can go that wouldn't fold to copyright holders. Sourc…

Really? It seems fair to me.

Like I love bypassing paywalls but the extension is clearly away of circumventing a system that's meant to make you pay for content... Isn't it?

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#12
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you host any files anonymously, no matter the size ? I don't mean bittorrent, ipfs, tor and the likes. Plain old website needs you to pay a hosting provider and a registry for a domain, both of which require your name and some form of payment. If you have the resources, you can create an LLC or find some other workarounds, but it's a hassle and not cheap.

IME for most TLDs and hosting providers there's no KYC to speak of. You can just fill in anything, and keep doing so. Unless I'm completely misremembering things, but I signed up to a hosting provider quite recently.

That works, to varying degrees, until the provider gets a letter from law enforcement. And unless you find some provider willing to take crypto, you are doxxing yourself when you pay.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#13
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the new Russian service will work for them. Although how hard is it really to host files in the <1MB range?

How will you host any files anonymously, no matter the size ? I don't mean bittorrent, ipfs, tor and the likes. Plain old website needs you to pay a hosting provider and a registry for a domain, both of which require your name and some form of payment. If you have the resources, you can create an LLC or find some other workarounds, but it's a hassle and not cheap.

There are services like https://njal.la/ which can be used anonymously, though they cost more.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#14
I'm curious how much time it will take for most FLOSS devs to understand that relaying on third party giant code hosting instead of put back usenet (it's cheap enough) to have visibility and keep the code REALLY distributed and REALLY developed in a distributed workflow...

We have witnessed various GH and co bans for USA orders, often for no reasons (like a Belarus game dev who have nothing to do with foreign gov or intelligence, a USA citizen who have been in Iran for a little time and so on), DMCA and so on. It's astonishing how many develop FLOSS without understanding such basic consideration on depending on third parties opposing the classic "ah, I'm here only for visibility" and than start using PR, CI, ... not even understanding the threat of that and the scale effect.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#15
post #2

I can't believe Github processed this incredibly spurious DMCA request that didn't even detail what was being infringed beyond some vague "anti-circumvention technology". Plus it checks for archived and cached versions of an article so that somehow makes it circumvention?! The author has already been kicked off Gitlab, so I'm not sure where else realistically they can go that wouldn't fold to copyright holders. Sourc…

Really? It seems fair to me. Like I love bypassing paywalls but the extension is clearly away of circumventing a system that's meant to make you pay for content... Isn't it?

I think the fact that they publish the site in a readable state first and adding the paywall after some time (after getting indexed / shared a bit) and services like archive.is just provide a copy of the original state makes it debatable if this is a circumvention.

If I publish a project on GitHub with a BSD license and after some time switch to a proprietary license the old code would still be licensed under BSD, right?

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#16
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME for most TLDs and hosting providers there's no KYC to speak of. You can just fill in anything, and keep doing so. Unless I'm completely misremembering things, but I signed up to a hosting provider quite recently.

That works, to varying degrees, until the provider gets a letter from law enforcement. And unless you find some provider willing to take crypto, you are doxxing yourself when you pay.

yes it's better to keep a digital paper trail in a public permanent log.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That works, to varying degrees, until the provider gets a letter from law enforcement. And unless you find some provider willing to take crypto, you are doxxing yourself when you pay.

yes it's better to keep a digital paper trail in a public permanent log.

Several domain registrars / hosting providers (including Njalla) accept Monero, which is as untraceable as you can be. Or Monero can be used to indirectly pay a bitcoin invoice very easily (even Namecheap accepts bitcoin)

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#18
post #2

I can't believe Github processed this incredibly spurious DMCA request that didn't even detail what was being infringed beyond some vague "anti-circumvention technology". Plus it checks for archived and cached versions of an article so that somehow makes it circumvention?! The author has already been kicked off Gitlab, so I'm not sure where else realistically they can go that wouldn't fold to copyright holders. Sourc…

Really? It seems fair to me. Like I love bypassing paywalls but the extension is clearly away of circumventing a system that's meant to make you pay for content... Isn't it?

But is that illegal? Or is that violation of copyright?

You're accessing content that can be viewed by Googlebot, or by disabling Javascript or some other simple browser tweaks.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#19
post #9

Here's a mirror [1], linked from the bpc-clone/bpc_updates repo [2] [1] https://gitflic.ru/project/magnolia1234/bpc_uploads [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20240813013640/https://github.co...

I'm not sure I would trust a Russian mirror if the author didn't post it. The main issue with this extension is it has to be updated very regularly. To continue to bypass the paywall requires constant tweaks & edits. So, unless someone makes a fork & wants to take over the project, mirrors aren't particularly helpful.

Re: Bypass Paywalls Add-On Takedown Notice

#20
post #19
post #9

Here's a mirror [1], linked from the bpc-clone/bpc_updates repo [2] [1] https://gitflic.ru/project/magnolia1234/bpc_uploads [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20240813013640/https://github.co...

I'm not sure I would trust a Russian mirror if the author didn't post it. The main issue with this extension is it has to be updated very regularly. To continue to bypass the paywall requires constant tweaks & edits. So, unless someone makes a fork & wants to take over the project, mirrors aren't particularly helpful.

The author did post it. I'm pretty sure the bpc_updates repo was managed by magnolia, and that's where it was linked
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