dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | Damn!
I might have to have a closer look at Firefox after all, huh?
 |
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bender
Bite my shiny metal ass
Premium
join:2005-03-19
Evanston, IL
clubs: | this firefox extension works awesome! |
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Cheese
Premium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
clubs: | Nice...
I am scared to try it though!   |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to bender
Re: Damn!
said by bender  :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support being a thief. From what I can tell, the extension was being offered for free. |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | reply to TKJunkMail
That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. Not only thievery, but MURDER! |
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Jovi
join:2000-02-24
Mount Joy, PA
·T-Mobile US
| reply to TKJunkMail
"Tipped by TK Junk Mail"
One could assume promoting it for news, would be advocating it. Most of wouldn't have heard about it if you did not tip the story to Karl.
said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. And again, you support the masses with your tip to Karl. (It's alright to smack yourself in the forehead. No one here will see you do it.)
--
"Where's my coffee? Oh. I guess it's my turn to make it."  |
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Rickez
Goinginsane
join:2000-09-02
Three Rivers, MA | reply to TKJunkMail
I Do!!! I DO!!! |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. The only people who would use this are people who know to go to TPB anyway. So now it just saves them a step. Despicable? Definitely. But it won't affect a large number of people. |
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Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
·Comcast
| reply to Cheese
Re: Nice...
I looked at the code. It isn't malicious, but it is overly complicated for what it actually does. It basically implements a very dumbed down version of Greasemonkey and then runs itself as a script in the page examining all web traffic on Amazon's site and replacing images with links to the Pirate Bay.
There's much simpler ways of doing what it does.
--
The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. |
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funchords
Hello
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Skype
4 edits |  My preachy rant and then some technical worries --
Not so great.
I tried it, it works (I guess). It links to the Torrent's page on The Pirate Bay.
So here's my take:
#1 - If it's being sold on Amazon, don't just take it for free. Support the art that you love. I'm interested in hearing the moral justification for taking titles like Wall-E (the title I tested, and yes, it found a Torrent for it). For me, if it's on Amazon.com and I want it, I'm likely to buy it. If it's not for sale new or used anywhere, but someone on P2P has it, then I can possibly see the justification. Different people will draw that line in different places, but there's just no good reason to take a first-run product that is for sale (and cheaply) and because you can. I generally support P2P and file-sharing, and I think copyright laws have expanded beyond sensibility, but I can't support taking full advantage of this plugin -- I hope people will do what's right.
#2 - It "phones home" very unnecessarily. The script piratesoftheamazon.js fetches its images from its home site, which basically lets it know (via HTTP's REFERER tag) what page you were on within Amazon when it fetched its image. This function was not hidden in any way, so the developers may not have evil intent, but users should be aware that when they visit a product's page on Amazon, they're also sharing that info with whoever owns www.pirates-of-the-amazon.com.
3. It also gives a special "Pirates-of-the-Amazon" hello in its User-Agent when it searches thepiratebay.org (which doesn't necessarily implicate TPB in this, it could be just a cute thing to do). So TPB knows what traffic is being generated by this plugin.
4. I didn't see anything else going on inside the code. While not directly evil, these things that I did find are things users ought to know. Technical worries aside, users ought to ask themselves what the right thing to do is -- how will they, personally, financially support the art that they value?
Found more:
Pirates of the Amazon | Artzilla.org
* To: infoo {AT} moddr.net
* Subject: [Nettime-nl] Pirates of the Amazon | Artzilla.org
* From: Walter Langelaar
* Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:10:56 +0100
* Organization: moddr_
* Reply-to: walter {AT} wormweb.nl
* User-agent: [WORM] RoundCube Webmail/0.1-rc2
har!
this just released ::
*Pirates of the Amazon Add-on*
"How can you compete with free? You cant!"
Lawrence Lessig
The Firefox add-on "Pirates of the Amazon" inserts a "download 4 free"
button on Amazon, which links to corresponding Piratebay BitTorrents. The
add-on lowers the technical barrier to enable anyone to choose between "add
to shopping cart" or "download 4 free". Are you a pirate?
To download/install the add-on, and for more information on the project,
please visit »pirates-of-the-amazon.com
This release is part of the upcoming Launch Party of "Artzilla.org", which
will take place at WORM in Rotterdam on the 13th of December.
During this event the audience will be able to browse the net using several
artistic browser modifications and Firefox add-ons, in Artzilla.org's first
Firefox add-on exhibition ►► participating artists include ::
Theo Watson
Aram Bartholl
Evan Roth
Dragan Espenschied
Timo Klok
Jamie Wilkinson
Danja Vasiliev
Tobias leingruber
Besides good tunes by surprise DJ's and live acts, the evening will also
host speed presentations by Theo Watson, Timo Klok, Danja Vasiliev and Evan
Roth - moderated by tobi-x and with special guests Florian Cramer
(/PietZwartInstituteMDMA/) and Hans Bernhard (/ubermorgen.com/) ...
For more info on this event, and for reservations, please visit
»agenda.wormweb.nl/agenda.php?id=2253
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|m|o|d|d|r|_| > | »moddr.net | | |
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| |w|o|r|m| | > | »wormweb.nl | | |
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| |h|o|m|e| | > | »lowstandart.net |
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______________________________________________________
* Verspreid via nettime-nl. Commercieel gebruik niet
* toegestaan zonder toestemming. is een
* open en ongemodereerde mailinglist over net-kritiek.
* Meer info, archief & anderstalige edities:
* »www.nettime.org/.
* Contact: Menno Grootveld (rabotnik {AT} xs4all.nl).
Timo Klok is the person who registered pirates-of-the-amazon.com -- so I guess we do know who sees the HTTP-REFERER info after all.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
More features, more fun, Join BroadbandReports.com, it's free...
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robl27
Premium
join:2008-07-16
Mary Esther, FL | reply to Karl Bode
Re: Damn!
why? the MafIAA are the thieves. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to PolarBear
said by PolarBear :said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support being a thief. From what I can tell, the extension was being offered for free. Surely you are not that stupid. Getting content from the PIRATE Bay instead of Amazonor some other LEGITIMATE source is in fact thievery. |
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jwwolf
join:2006-03-26
Burke, VA
| reply to Matt
Not alot of people |
said by Matt :The only people who would use this are people who know to go to TPB anyway. So now it just saves them a step. Despicable? But it won't affect a large number of people. |
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bender
Bite my shiny metal ass
Premium
join:2005-03-19
Evanston, IL
clubs: | reply to TKJunkMail
what i meant was that it does what it is designed to do quite well. it has nothing to do with whether or not someone supports or does not support "thievery". |
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major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Stepford, CA
clubs:
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode :That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. Not only thievery, but MURDER! Don't forget that it also aides and abets terra. Please, will someone think of the children! |
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maartena
Stacked.
Premium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA | reply to bender
Firefox extensions in general are awesome. It's one of the main reasons I keep using it.
As for this one, it is a pretty creative one.... |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to jwwolf
said by jwwolf :yeah that sure isnt alot of people there... said by Matt :The only people who would use this are people who know to go to TPB anyway. So now it just saves them a step. Despicable? But it won't affect a large number of people. Those are already TPB users, so it's not like they were going to buy from Amazon anyway. |
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maartena
Stacked.
Premium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. Firefox does not control who writes extensions, and for what purpose.
And using your reasoning, an ISP that offers a usenet server is "aiding thievery" as well.... as a matter of fact one could argue that a ISP that is even allowing access to thepiratebay.org is "aiding thievery".
Accusing people that use Firefox that they "support tools aiding thievery" is pretty silly. :P |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by maartena :said by TKJunkMail :said by bender :this firefox extension works awesome! That is, if you support tools aiding thievery. Firefox does not control who writes extensions, and for what purpose. And using your reasoning, an ISP that offers a usenet server is "aiding thievery" as well.... as a matter of fact one could argue that a ISP that is even allowing access to thepiratebay.org is "aiding thievery". Accusing people that use Firefox that they "support tools aiding thievery" is pretty silly. :P He was referring to the Firefox extension, not Firefox itself. |
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