[flagged]
> They're not stealing, they're disrespecting a license. Breaking into someone's car and riding off isn't stealing, just disrespecting the concept of ownership.
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uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
331–340 of 469 posts
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#332[flagged]
> They're not stealing, they're disrespecting a license. Breaking into someone's car and riding off isn't stealing, just disrespecting the concept of ownership.
Depriving the original owner of the right to enjoy the specific property is a core, distinguishing tenet of "stealing."
Normally, a person only has one car - it's not infinitely replicable.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a company says they make money “selling cars” you don’t assume they get those cars through theft. Same deal here, saying they get affiliate money doesn’t imply they overwrite existing affiliate links which is about a clear a case of tortious interference as you could find. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference So, no Honey didn’t disclose what people are complaining about.
I agree that it's likely tortious interference, I just don't agree that they're being deceptive. I think it's reasonable to say that most of the target market would be considered tech-savvy enough to know how these purchase affiliate programs work and the influencers advertising it absolutely do. If users are not aware of how this works then I have to question where they think the cashback comes from, and if they are…
I would posit that the "average user" has no care about how the companies they interact with make their money. The modern world is filled with black boxes to them.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
"BTW, I've been writing GPL'ed code for more than 35 years, and for the last 25+ years, it has been my full-time self-employed means of making a living." That is embarassing for such a self professed domain expert to say something as ridiculous as: "You cannot (re)use any GPL code unless you agree to license your own code under the GPL." I still don't hear an argument that actually shows how it's not a commons. If yo…
Also, do let me know how you can legally re-use GPL'ed code if you own code is not GPL'ed, unless you just mean "by reading it".
By not redistributing it.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 busine…
I figured they simply had affiliate links themselves, or made deals with companies in order to get customers who normally wouldn't buy at full price.
It just seems illegal to replace an affiliate link like. I guess the courts will determine that.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#336As if Honey isn't already under enough fire with half the youtube world releasing videos about their shady practices.
Legal Eagle is suing: https://youtu.be/4H4sScCB1cY?si=bXxfG_EekkzGEW7J
Between this and that botched FOIA request, it feels real good to have content creators out there actually looking out and fighting against this BS that every other content creator lacks the expertise to do anything about.
I don't care if they do two ads per video (a normal ad and one for their firm), they more than deserve to shout themselves out.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#337I 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.
Because most people in this community know how much effort it takes to make software, but not that to make movies.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#338I 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.
The GPL does the exact opposite of copyright; the fact that it uses copyright to achieve that is just an implementation detail. If you believe information should be free to share and remix, you would believe that copyright infringement is not theft and that not releasing code is wrong. The fact that the proprietary code is based on GPL code just shows that the ex-Honey folks are hypocrites: they're trying to use copy…
>If you believe information should be free to share and remix, you would believe that copyright infringement is not theft and that not releasing code is wrong.
I'm mixed, because it's an entire spectrum and there's no clear sand in the ground. It's a very nuanced topic.
But fundamentally, if people want to make sure they can benefit most from their creations, they need some way to protect themselves. Otherwise the biggest wallet will grab the idea, out-advertise you, and out support you.
That's why I always vied for minimizing copyright periods, not abolishing the idea. Creators should benefit: creators have almost zero need to benefit almost a century after they die. the original 14 + 14 made enough sense and can still work: something that was basically an average lifetime back then and is now most of a working career. Those rights can transfer to whoever they want, and it would be transferred to a beneficiary posthumously. But when 28 is up, it's up.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#339How does Pie Adblock make money? It's free so I'm suspecting they're doing more affiliate marketing stealing or something similar to Honey.
From the webstore extension overview:
> Get Paid to See Ads — Opt-in to see a limited number of partner ads and earn rewards.
Re: uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension
#340Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do we know when Honey started stealing affiliate links? Was it after the acquisition?
[flagged]
>> We earn these commissions when a member uses Honey to find available savings or to activate PayPal Rewards
Do you really think that clicking an "OK" button to dismiss a dialog after Honey doesn't find any coupons that secretly reloads the page your on and replaces the affliate cookie with its own is just "earning money from affiliate links?" That's just one of the super shady things they do.
Same with Paypal rewards. They entice users to click the rewards button to again steal the affiliate cookie, and pay them a few cents while they take tens of dollars in affiliate commision.