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Pretty smart move on this guy's part, as it's a win-win situation for him. If they kick him out, the positive attention he gets for fighting the man will just enable him to start working 4 or 5 months early.
I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world.
Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here.
An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovatively, publicly, aggressively pushed back against the Dean.
He cited his values and reasoning for doing so. He took care to make sure his work wouldn't damage their physical resources or break the letter of the law. And then he openly acknowledges they could punish him, and welcomes the attempt.
And it's not really even a big deal. It's just standard being-an-American stuff.
All kinds of bad things in the States. And sometimes the spirit of defiance can get tired or come across overbearing. But it's really cool that it's a regular, run of the mill occurrence for people to push back against norms and restrictions in American society without any fear of long-term repercussions.
It's also really, really, really weird. Seriously, stop and reflect on this for a moment. I spend a lot of time in Asia, and doing this in just about any Asian country would ruin a lot of your life prospects.
And for us, it's just a matter of course. How strange. And wonderful.
> This is an unfortunate outcome, since Yale’s copyright assertion muddles the argument that Yale’s actions violate Peter and Harry’s freedom of speech.
No it doesn't. Whatever Yale's responsibilities in the freedom-of-speech realm may be, they are entirely ethical in nature, as freedom of speech in the legal sense refers only to what governments may not suppress. Holding the copyright to something does not in any way affect ones responsibility to behave ethically.
> If Yale grants students access to data, the university does not have the right to specify exactly how students must view the data.
Under U.S. law they may very well have the right; I wouldn't know. What you may have demonstrated is that they do not have the ability.
May I suggest that you do not couch your arguments in terms of fallacious claims about freedom of speech. Rather, talk about academic freedom, a principle -- though not a legal one -- that Yale ostensibly seeks to uphold.
This misguided appeal to freedom of speech does not strengthen his argument.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. The extension: > (3) not scraping or collecting Yale’s data Yet in the code[0], there's a function called getRatingsForCourse() that makes an ajax call to url: " https://ybb.yale.edu/courses/" + id. How is this not scraping? Am I missing something here? [0]: https://github.com/seanhaufler/banned-bluebook/blob/master/e...
If not, I have an interesting idea for an offline travel app :)
Pretty smart move on this guy's part, as it's a win-win situation for him. If they kick him out, the positive attention he gets for fighting the man will just enable him to start working 4 or 5 months early.
He seems smart enough to get a good job regardless. The small win of publicity probably isn't worth the loss of a diploma, especially for a senior with (presumably) only one semester left. Given the time and money he's invested in his degree, I'm not sure he'd agree that it's a "win-win."
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. The extension: > (3) not scraping or collecting Yale’s data Yet in the code[0], there's a function called getRatingsForCourse() that makes an ajax call to url: " https://ybb.yale.edu/courses/" + id. How is this not scraping? Am I missing something here? [0]: https://github.com/seanhaufler/banned-bluebook/blob/master/e...
Scraping involves storing somethjng on a server. I am not sure a user agent can be cited for copyright infringement. Perhaps caching in violation of a server's policy can be considered that, I am not sure. Is there any precdent for caching to be considered scraping and storing by the developer of the client software? If not, I have an interesting idea for an offline travel app :)
Not really sure I agree with your definition. Website scraping, in general, is taking specifically taking data from a webpage.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. The extension: > (3) not scraping or collecting Yale’s data Yet in the code[0], there's a function called getRatingsForCourse() that makes an ajax call to url: " https://ybb.yale.edu/courses/" + id. How is this not scraping? Am I missing something here? [0]: https://github.com/seanhaufler/banned-bluebook/blob/master/e...
1. You are not unblockable. My app was removed from the chrome app store after reddit complained, no review process, no appeals, good luck even communicating with google. Installing an app not from the appstore is almost impossible for a non-savvy user. I suggest looking at a firefox app, their app story is much more democratic.
2. I think this fight is important because a lot of companies/organizations seem to be trying to establish the precedent that they own their website experience end to end, from database to the pixels on your screen. That idea taken to the extreme will lead to computers become opaque devices ala a TV, rather than the hackable playground they are now.
http://socialfixer.com/blog/2013/10/05/facebook-requires-soc...
When I first left America, I disliked and felt disillusioned with the country. I've now spent more of my adult life outside the States than in the U.S., and I've also come to the opinion that the U.S. is one of the most amazing places in the world. Sometimes it's hard to point to exactly why America is so amazing. And the answer, maybe, is on display here. An undergraduate student at an elite university just innovati…
Living for 3 years in US, loved the country and its infrastructure/legal system, country, people all of it.
It is not perfect but still is one the best we have.
Do you think NSA and military are ''bad'' you did not know what the other countries counterpart do (hint... worse and mean)