5 ms·

Is it not possible to make such an alternative to facebook?

• tsak 5y ago
  Zuck has high walls around his garden.
• commoner 5y ago
  Facebook is extraordinarily aggressive at obstructing the techniques needed to build an alternative FOSS frontend, including web scraping and HTML parsing. Examples: - Obfuscating HTML element classes, text, and structures to circumvent ad blocking, while disrupting screen readers at the same time: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46508234 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46508234 - Preventing university researchers from obtaining data on Facebook's political ads through web scraping: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-seeks-shutdown-of-nyu-research-project-into-political-ad-targeting-11603488533 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-seeks-shutdown-of-nyu-... and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24874602 - Sending a cease and desist letter to the developer of the Unfollow Everything extension, and banning him from Facebook: https://www.techspot.com/news/91650-facebook-bans-sends-cease-desist-letter-developer-unfollow.html https://www.techspot.com/news/91650-facebook-bans-sends-ceas... and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28801908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28801908
  • piaste 5y ago
    Add to that list: - Sending a cease and desist to the student who developed a FOSS Instagram app: https://github.com/austinhuang0131/austinhuang0131/issues/2 https://github.com/austinhuang0131/austinhuang0131/issues/2
    • Nextgrid 5y ago
      Which is why these offensives should be done anonymously, and preferably served via Tor. If it's safe enough to evade law enforcement for years, it should be safe enough from Zuck.
      • GoblinSlayer 5y ago
        Tor servers aren't anonymous, only clients.