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0 pointsdispose134329y ago0 comments

>The foundation of the Web - the Hypertext Transfer Protocol - is that I request a piece of data from a given address, while also providing relevant information about my capabilities and media I'm willing to accept, and then you send me back that data.

So Facebook says that the foundation of the web is sending data to the server (such as cookies) and receiving information back.

Nowhere in the protocol does it say they can't track you. Ergo, tracking is perfectly legal and moral.

The foundation of the internet is that the server sends you data. Your browser happens to have a security hole and you got a virus.

Totally ethical and legal. Nowhere in the HTTP protocol does it say not to send viruses.

0 pointsdispose134329y ago0 comments

So Facebook says that the foundation of the web is sending data to the server (such as cookies) and receiving information back.

Nowhere in the protocol does it say they can't track you. Ergo, tracking is perfectly legal and moral.

The foundation of the internet is that the server sends you data. Your browser happens to have a security hole and you got a virus.

Totally ethical and legal. Nowhere in the HTTP protocol does it say not to send viruses.

0 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

pdkl959y ago· 2 in thread

> Ergo, tracking is perfectly legal and moral.

It is currently legal, but that doesn't imply that it's moral. Legality does not define morality.

> Nowhere in the HTTP protocol does it say not to send viruses.

Correct.

> Totally ethical and legal.

Sending a virus is patently unethical regardless of the transport mechanism. as for legality, see a lawyer about 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5).

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030#a_5

dispose13432OP9y ago

I was just responding to OP's claim that since the protocol doesn't specify that I'll be watching ads, it must be legal and ethical to block them and harass those who spend money on them.

pdkl959y ago

> I was just responding to OP's claim that since the protocol doesn't specify

I know. The examples were still factually incorrect straw-men.

> it must be legal and ethical to block them

That's the point; it is legal and ethical to use data that was voluntarily given. If you want control over how things are used, stop sending to everybody freely and require a contract.

> harass those who spend money on them.

Clicking a link isn't harassment.

1 more reply

tripzilch9y ago

can we maybe make a new sort of Godwin guideline where we stop taking people seriously once they've shown they can't tell apart legal rights from moral rights?

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