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An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

kvirkvelia.com

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Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#121

Post by Ansil849 »

rat9988 wrote: post #102
yesimahuman wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Ionic CEO here) I think regardless, it's something developers don't expect so we're removing it from our site right now to avoid confusion and surprises (we’re going to be changing the whole design of this list soon anyways so it’s moot). The plugin description came from another project we support and trust plugin authors to write their own descriptions but we're realizing we need to scrutinize those more closely. I…

You shouldn't overreact this way. Really it doesn't speak well of your platform.

I feel like their response is not at all an overreaction. The plugin author was underhanded in their conduct. I wouldn't want to use a platform which allowed nonsense like that to proliferate, so am happy to see dubious stuff like this removed. To me it signals that the platform owners care about what is on their platform and are concerned about their users. That is a good thing.

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#122

Post by nextaccountic »

kapp_in_life wrote: post #44
op00to wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't be clearer - the plugin author should require an affirmative response from the developer that they accept those terms.

The affirmative response is downloading and using the plugin.

The only thing plugin users agreed to was the LICENSE, which is actually MIT!

https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/blob/mas...

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#123

Post by bruce343434 »

arthur6667 wrote: post #106

Based on the comments I should make a left-pad and put in a random file 'if you use this, you need to give me you house and first born child'. Because appearantly whatever you put down is legal and enforceable.. shm.. Taking reveneu without a contract smells like fraud to me.

the license IS the contract. When was the last time you actually signed something when you used a SAAS?

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#124

Post by nerdawson »

munk-a wrote: post #110
nerdawson wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From their license agreement: > If you have used this plugin for FREE but monetized more than $1000, you are also required to get a license, or share us some Ad traffic as stated in win-win partnership model below. https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/wiki/Lic... The project however includes the following the license: https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/blob/mas... Surely releasing code…

It depends on the details of the license. If it was a bog standard MIT license (which in this case it is) then you could surely fork the repo remove that logic and carry on with your day (though you'd probably still need to credit the original author with the attribution clause) - MIT like licenses can dictate some terms around uses while allowing most modifications though. That said - you do need to actually modify…

In my opinion, the way they present pricing is deceptive. They have a table of contents and hide pricing details under "License".

The very first paragraph reads:

>You can use the plugin for free, or you can also pay to get a license. IMPORTANT!!! Before using the plugin, please read the following content and accept the agreement. THIS WILL AVOID POTENTIAL PROBLEM AND DISPUTE.

If as a user you're paying 2% of ad revenue, the plugin isn't free.

> If you don't want to get a license as your apps may not earn too much, or you don't have a PayPal account to pay, here is a compromised option. You don't have to pay, we are also okay if just share 2 percent user traffic, so that we can cover our effort and focus on maintenance and online support.

They don't make clear that that's the default behaviour. That by doing nothing you're consenting to their 2%.

If a developer wants to profit from their work, they should behave like a business.

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#125

Post by abofh »

InsomniacL wrote: post #58

How anyone can defend this type of behaviour is beyond me. It is theft, the hidden cost in the licence agreement* states 2%, taking that up to %30 for no reason and with no warning based on some arbitrary 'black list' is theft. * as shady as that is

You.. Ran... Their.. Code..

How anyone can think they're entitled to assume how it should run is ignorance sufficient to shred what remains of my humanity.

He didn't demand you give him money, he said if you ran his code, it will act as he intended.

You ran his code. It worked as intended.

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#126

Post by nemothekid »

op00to wrote: post #30
joshstrange wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kindly reminder, do not use a fake license key or a license key from others, do not share your license key with others. Abuse of the license key may cause negative impact. [0] This is the closest it gets to calling out the the 30% but I agree, it should be clearer. [0] https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/wiki/Lic...

It shouldn't be clearer - the plugin author should require an affirmative response from the developer that they accept those terms.

>the plugin author should require an affirmative response from the developer that they accept those terms.

It's free software provided without warranty. It's right there in the MIT license.

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#127

Post by nerdawson »

drran wrote: post #113
nerdawson wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From their license agreement: > If you have used this plugin for FREE but monetized more than $1000, you are also required to get a license, or share us some Ad traffic as stated in win-win partnership model below. https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/wiki/Lic... The project however includes the following the license: https://github.com/floatinghotpot/cordova-admob-pro/blob/mas... Surely releasing code…

The author of software can release his work under any number of licenses, or none at all. An author can release the same code under MIT, Apache, GPL, MPL, or commercial license at the same time.

If the code is tagged as being MIT in GitHub and includes an MIT license file, can an author reasonably argue that an end-user is receiving the code under a different license?

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#128

Post by abofh »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #15
NKosmatos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh come on, it's not a scam and he's not stealing anything. It's clearly mentioned on the license and it's up to the users to go through it (like any other open-source plugin or software they use). At the end of the day the plugin creator was polite, understanding and returned money back even though he was not obliged to do so. It's a win-win situation as they clearly describe it, but the OP wasn't satisfied with the…

> the OP wasn't satisfied with the high (30%) percentage. The OP was never informed of the high percentage!

No post body was provided.

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#129

Post by abofh »

kevingadd wrote: post #96
NKosmatos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh come on, it's not a scam and he's not stealing anything. It's clearly mentioned on the license and it's up to the users to go through it (like any other open-source plugin or software they use). At the end of the day the plugin creator was polite, understanding and returned money back even though he was not obliged to do so. It's a win-win situation as they clearly describe it, but the OP wasn't satisfied with the…

How is hiding 2% in your wiki (instead of in LICENSE where it belongs), and then taking 30% instead of 2%, not a scam? If someone listed a price of $2 for a burrito and then charged you $30 at the register, you would not consider that OK.

They did consider it thousands of time, they just didn't supervise what their worker agreed to

Re: An ad plugin was stealing revenue for a year and I didn't even notice

#130

Post by Ansil849 »

The responses here to this story defending the plugin author are appalling. They all seem to boil down to "you didn't read the fine print or the source code, so whatever the plugin does is defensible". What if instead of taking a percentage of the ad revenue, the plugin siphoned credentials or ran malware as a revenue generator, or did whatever else? And what if it openly explained in the fine print that it would be doing this?
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