Myspace.com upset with me?

I

inotocracy

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
5,625
Hi guys,

So I wrote an application called MySpectacle that would allow a user to check his messages without logging into Myspace. Well last Friday I got a call from a lady who works at myspace.com, she left her number and extension, so I call her back and turns out she works in the legal department. She was asking for my address and she called me again today, we had a quick chat in where I gave her my address and asked her what she was sending me-- she said she was sending me a letter about MySpectacle. Now I'm not making any profit off this application, its entirely free, so I dont see how exactly I would be breaking their TOS. I have a feeling that they are sending me a cease and decist letter, what would be the smart thing to do? Pull the app now or just wait for the letter?

Oh and for some statistics, the app has been public for about a month and a half now and has over 8000 users and I've gotten about 25,000 hits since the 5th of this month-- my first widely adopted program and I'm going to have to stop development on it has got me real bummed :(

Incase you guys are curious here is some more info on the app:
http://www.ccorpsoft.com/index.php?nav=software&package=myspectacle
 
BigBadBiologist said:
probably because you're circumventing their advertising.
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solution: add the links they use to advertise on their site into your program as normal banners

kinda sucks for the users, but im shure they will understand if they aren't just using it to only avoid seeing their adverts. and there are tons of other ways to do that :p
 
Yeah, I'd pull the app until the letter comes. I don't see how you would be breaking any laws, but I don't know crap about myspace, and I don't know what they're agreements are... So I would be on the safe side, just in case you get taken to court or some shit, because that would prolly look better than thumbing your nose at it.
 
FlatLine84 said:
Yeah, I'd pull the app until the letter comes. I don't see how you would be breaking any laws, but I don't know crap about myspace, and I don't know what they're agreements are... So I would be on the safe side, just in case you get taken to court or some shit, because that would prolly look better than thumbing your nose at it.
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Good idea, I went ahead and pulled it and put up a notice. Cross yer fingers for me :(
 
Why pull it before you get the letter? She didn't tell you to take it down immediately or you will be assassinated.
 
domoMKIV said:
Why pull it before you get the letter? She didn't tell you to take it down immediately or you will be assassinated.
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Just so it doesn't seem as though I disregarded the call, like a sign of good faith.
 
inotocracy said:
Now I'm not making any profit off this application, its entirely free, so I dont see how exactly I would be breaking their TOS.
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It sounds to me like you didn't even read their TOS. Here's one part that I think is applicable:

i. Any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to add friends, is prohibited.
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I think you'd better get yourself a lawyer.
 
ouch...that letter sucks. Sorry they came down on you so hard my friend. Although I do not see how your program could cause "irreparable harm" to the servers. Well at least congrats on writing such a cool program.
 
Thanks guys, it really sucks this program had to go the way of the dodo. It had a huge acceptance for something that was released little over a month ago and really makes me mad that I cant work on it anymore :( I sent their legal team a message asking why dont they embrace a program of this nature, maybe they'll reconcider-- wishful thinking I know but hey I can hope :)
 
Yeah... I love how they always throw that "You could cause irreperable harm to our service.", which is more of a cracker legal protection.

Still, it's a valid point. One of my servers got ground to a halt because someone released a tool that would query my server... every 10 milliseconds. When all 2000 of his users started up their app, I got DoS'ed and had my server and it's contents taken offline by the hosting company because I infringed on the Quality of Service of the other customers on the box.
 
jgoewert said:
Yeah... I love how they always throw that "You could cause irreperable harm to our service.", which is more of a cracker legal protection.

Still, it's a valid point. One of my servers got ground to a halt because someone released a tool that would query my server... every 10 milliseconds. When all 2000 of his users started up their app, I got DoS'ed and had my server and it's contents taken offline by the hosting company because I infringed on the Quality of Service of the other customers on the box.
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Yeah I could totally see that point, only thing is MySpectacle would only query a single request every 5 minutes (by default, you could lower it down to a minute or disable auto check completely).

I dont think it was causing any additional traffic, in theory it could actually lower the amount of queries they receive since people wouldn't have to log on and go through several different pages (downloading images and all) just to see if they got a new message or not.
 
What it did or didn't do doesn't matter -- the issue is that you violated their ToS. Hopefully, you can strike a deal with them where they'll approve your client.

Learning to look before you leap is a very important lesson.
 
mikeblas said:
What it did or didn't do doesn't matter -- the issue is that you violated their ToS. Hopefully, you can strike a deal with them where they'll approve your client.

Learning to look before you leap is a very important lesson.
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Absolutely correct, and I did learn something from this whole thing-- research more ;)
 
What would have happened if you didn't provide your address to them?

If you really wanted to keep your program running, you could secretly still work on it and then release it as an anonymous person. I think they did that with Kazaalite?
 
boredguyatcomp said:
so inotocracy are they trying to file a lawsuit against you?
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No, if I didn't comply then they would have.

sychosly said:
What would have happened if you didn't provide your address to them?

If you really wanted to keep your program running, you could secretly still work on it and then release it as an anonymous person. I think they did that with Kazaalite?
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Thats not really ethical, plus its not really worth the risk of getting a lawsuite thrown at me :(

jonw757 said:
Try and sell it to them
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I made a few suggestions to their legal team asking why dont they do just that, well not buy it from me, but embrace the program and use it to their advantage but I have yet to hear back.
 
I made a few suggestions to their legal team asking why dont they do just that, well not buy it from me, but embrace the program and use it to their advantage but I have yet to hear back.
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I wouldn't doubt seeing a MySpace version of your program soon. Something with similar usage. Of course, with ads... :(

That really sucks, man. I hope you have better luck in the future with a great popular program.
 
See if you can patent it.... That way if Myspace does come out with somthing, you can go after them....
 
Ethics aside, I would just lease a server in say estonia, or someplace like that who really doesn't give a damn about US law and releasee it there. That's what I'd do. Wait, no I wouldn't. I guess that'd be illegal. I feel your pain man, and I can imagine the anger that you must feel.
 
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