Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

old.reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 469 posts

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#141

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

LocalH wrote: post #103
0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Businesses which quietly do the right thing don't make the news.

Even worse, businesses which quietly do the right thing have their lunch eaten by those who don't.

My understanding from consumer branding research is that consumers have a strong preference for established brands. The average person is much more interested in drinking Coca-Cola than Neo-Cola, even if Neo-Cola is said to taste just as good, and offers a 10% discount.

If you assume that purchasing decisions are also affected by scandals -- which would make sense -- then the overall consumer purchasing algorithm could be summarized as "buy whichever brand has existed for the longest period of time without a scandal". So businesses are rewarded for minimizing their scandal rate.

Top story on HN today:

"Since we launched PlasticList, we’ve been heartened to have quite a few food companies reach out and ask for help interpreting their results and tracking down and eliminating their contamination." https://x.com/natfriedman/status/1874884925587087434

Warren Buffet said:

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

"Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless."

And also:

"The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient."

Overall, I think there's a case to be made that doing the right thing is actually the most profitable strategy in the long term. It's not flashy, but it works.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#142

Post by tikhonj »

dmonitor wrote: post #126
twostorytower wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Referral sniping is only a half of the scam. The other half is that Honey snipes the code even if they don't find a discount, and that companies pay Honey to prevent it from showing certain coupon codes. They pay for it because 1) thinking you got the best code when another one exists means they get ($best_discount - $honey_discount) more than they would had you actually searched 2) honey gives the false assurance th…

And straightforwardly lying to its users as well!

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#143

Post by handsclean »

shwaj wrote: post #94

I know it’s not necessarily the same people, but it feels contradictory for this community to say “copyright infringement isn’t theft” when we’re talking about movies, but use the opposite language when talking about GPL source code.

“So you’re pro assault when somebody’s broken into your home at night, but suddenly anti assault when I want to punch your grandma?” Exaggerated but the same idea. Though people often communicate and maybe even internalize it in simplified “copyright bad” form, actual beliefs are much more contextual. The piracy debate would look a lot different if it weren’t literally millionaires demanding money from children.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#144

Post by twostorytower »

tanduv wrote: post #107
twostorytower wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume they are always stealing a referral from somebody? Do you think everything people buy comes from a prior affiliate link? Yes, Honey makes money from affiliate commission. That money is funded by the merchants who voluntarily choose to partner with Honey. How is that scammy? In the rare case there is a prior referral, yes last click attribution comes into play. But that's the same for every shopping…

If I understood MegaLag's video correctly, Honey was indeed overriding an affiliate session cookie with their own once the user the reached the checkout. The extension would silently open a tab in the background, which seems pretty scummy. I've observed the same background tab shenanigans with the Capital One extension as well.

They do this to not interrupt the purchase flow, not to be scummy. Opening a tab in the foreground or refreshing the page is extremely annoying to users and merchants request it to be in the background so it doesn't hurt their conversion.

I never said Honey doesn't override cookies. I'm not saying this isn't a problem, it's just not a Honey-specific problem. If the affiliate networks used first-click or multi-click attribution, none of this would be an issue.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#145

Post by kristofferR »

tantalor wrote: post #125
BadHumans wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Title is misleading. The original team behind Honey has created a new company that is doing this and not Honey itself which is owned by Paypal.

Do we know when Honey started stealing affiliate links? Was it after the acquisition?

Before, this is how ALL coupon sites/extensions have worked for decades.

I'm frankly baffled it weren't more common knowledge, despite being common sense, before the MegaLag video. Did people really think that sites like retailmenot.com or wethrift.com make you open tabs to the shop you're searching for coupons for before you can see the coupon code just for fun??

Affiliate code stuffing is the coupon provider business model, it's not Honey-exclusive at all. I'd be surprised if you find a coupon site/extension that haven't always done that.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#146

Post by zer00eyz »

Suppafly wrote: post #22

As if Honey isn't already under enough fire with half the youtube world releasing videos about their shady practices.

And yet consumers aren't appalled at what the kick back on a conversion is.

Online advertising is a cesspool that makes things more expensive not less.

Honey isnt a problem it's a symptom.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#147

Post by twostorytower »

unclad5968 wrote: post #106
twostorytower wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume they are always stealing a referral from somebody? Do you think everything people buy comes from a prior affiliate link? Yes, Honey makes money from affiliate commission. That money is funded by the merchants who voluntarily choose to partner with Honey. How is that scammy? In the rare case there is a prior referral, yes last click attribution comes into play. But that's the same for every shopping…

> last click attribution comes into play Thats an extremely generous way to say that they steal referrals from genuine affiliate partners.

I agree it's a problem. I believe the affiliate networks should switch to first-click or multi-click attribution. Problem solved.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#148

Post by timeon »

shwaj wrote: post #94

I know it’s not necessarily the same people, but it feels contradictory for this community to say “copyright infringement isn’t theft” when we’re talking about movies, but use the opposite language when talking about GPL source code.

Road to hell is paved by devils advocates.

Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension

#149

Post by totallynothoney »

twostorytower wrote: post #84
slowmovintarget wrote: post #2

If any software ever deserved being sued into non-existence it is the Honey browser extension, and any other scam software they turn out (Pie Adblock in this case). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4yL3YTwWk

This video is just rage bait and weaponizing creators and their fans by singling out Honey and not providing any additional context. Anybody in the affiliate industry knows how last click attribution works. This isn't new or specific to Honey. CapitalOne Shopping, Rakuten, RetailMeNot...they all work the same way. Merchants partner with these shopping extensions knowing how they work, nobody forces them to do so. The…

Couldn't agree more, fellow authentic consumer! As a completely real person with no vested interests, I must say this resonates with my genuine, unprompted experience. Thank you for sharing your totally unscripted thoughts!
Post reply on HN