4 ms·

Considering that Facebook has asked for my email username and password in order to scrape the contacts from my email, this seems hypocritical. So, it's ok for

by mdasen 17y ago

Considering that Facebook has asked for my email username and password in order to scrape the contacts from my email, this seems hypocritical. So, it's ok for Facebook to scrape data from other sites since that's data going into Facebook (per the user's wishes), but it isn't ok for other sites to scrape Facebook data (per the user's wishes).

what 17y ago
I thought everything Zuckerberg ever built was based on scraping other peoples' data. Even now, didn't they pull info from Wikipedia for their pages about your interests?
- sp332 17y ago
  That's not against Wikipedia's ToS.
  - what 17y ago
    Ok, I've never read their terms of service, until now. I'm guessing they have provided credit to the actual authors with a link to the original article and included a licensing notice? (not on Facebook)
    - ErrantX 17y ago
      Yes, they do link the the Wikipedia article, authors page and the Wikipedia front page.
    - neilk 17y ago
      Wikipedia's Terms of Use basically just guide you to act in a manner compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution / Share-Alike license, as well as the earlier GFDL license. (I am not a lawyer, probably there are significant additions, that's just my take on it). http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use Facebook could have scraped Wikipedia without asking, but as it happens, there is an agreement in place. I happen to work at the WMF, but don't ask me for more details, I'm not that privy to them. This thread might help. http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/194087 http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/194087
      - what 17y ago
        Interesting. The thread certainly makes it seem like it will be mutually beneficial. Maybe Facebook is a little less evil than I think, considering they gave a heads up.
pohl 17y ago
Does Gmail's ToS forbid them from doing this? It would have to in order for it to be hypocritical. (it seems an important part of their argument.) Their argument is B.S., of course, but I'm peevish about throwing that word around carelessly.
- what 17y ago
  5.3 ... You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services.
  - pohl 17y ago
    Interesting. I wonder if this clause was in the GMail ToS when FB started doing this. The Contacts API (which FB probably uses today) has different terms, and appears to not conflict with this usage. So we would need to piece together a timeline. Probably not worth the effort.
    - what 17y ago
      Yeah, that effort could be put to something more productive :) ...I should get back to work.
    - streety 17y ago
      A while ago I did look into this. I can't remember what the situation was with Gmail at the time but I'm fairly sure that hotmail had a similar clause in their ToS whilst Facebook was actively enabling scraping.
  - brown9-2 17y ago
    ...and this is why terms of services are so ridiculous to the point where they have practically no meaning anymore. Isn't it automated when the Gmail extension to Chrome tells me how many new messages I have, without me logging into gmail.com? Isn't it automated when emails to my Gmail account are synced automatically to my (non-Google) smartphone?

by mdasen 17y ago

what 17y ago

I thought everything Zuckerberg ever built was based on scraping other peoples' data. Even now, didn't they pull info from Wikipedia for their pages about your interests?

sp332 17y ago
That's not against Wikipedia's ToS.
- what 17y ago
  Ok, I've never read their terms of service, until now. I'm guessing they have provided credit to the actual authors with a link to the original article and included a licensing notice? (not on Facebook)
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    Yes, they do link the the Wikipedia article, authors page and the Wikipedia front page.
  - neilk 17y ago
    Wikipedia's Terms of Use basically just guide you to act in a manner compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution / Share-Alike license, as well as the earlier GFDL license. (I am not a lawyer, probably there are significant additions, that's just my take on it). http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use Facebook could have scraped Wikipedia without asking, but as it happens, there is an agreement in place. I happen to work at the WMF, but don't ask me for more details, I'm not that privy to them. This thread might help. http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/194087 http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/194087
    - what 17y ago
      Interesting. The thread certainly makes it seem like it will be mutually beneficial. Maybe Facebook is a little less evil than I think, considering they gave a heads up.

pohl 17y ago

Does Gmail's ToS forbid them from doing this? It would have to in order for it to be hypocritical. (it seems an important part of their argument.) Their argument is B.S., of course, but I'm peevish about throwing that word around carelessly.

what 17y ago
5.3 ... You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services.
- pohl 17y ago
  Interesting. I wonder if this clause was in the GMail ToS when FB started doing this. The Contacts API (which FB probably uses today) has different terms, and appears to not conflict with this usage. So we would need to piece together a timeline. Probably not worth the effort.
  - what 17y ago
    Yeah, that effort could be put to something more productive :) ...I should get back to work.
  - streety 17y ago
    A while ago I did look into this. I can't remember what the situation was with Gmail at the time but I'm fairly sure that hotmail had a similar clause in their ToS whilst Facebook was actively enabling scraping.
- brown9-2 17y ago
  ...and this is why terms of services are so ridiculous to the point where they have practically no meaning anymore. Isn't it automated when the Gmail extension to Chrome tells me how many new messages I have, without me logging into gmail.com? Isn't it automated when emails to my Gmail account are synced automatically to my (non-Google) smartphone?