MobiTv and HowardForums *Situation is now resolved*

[t-bone-t]

This is Massonite. I got banned the other day for something absolutely stupid, and then it was extended further simply for exercising my freedom of expression.

Oh no, circumventing a swear filter! What happened to the freedom of expression that you're whining about over this MobiTV issue? Doesn't work both ways? Does it only count if it works in your favour? You're going to put up a thread crying about a cease and desist order just because you're too stubborn to delete a link that you shouldn't even have up anyway? Yet you'll ban me for saying a bad word, or others for posting similar links? Does anyone else see a double standard here?

So go ahead and ban me for life. I don't care anymore. You'll just be proving once again that as long as it's you behind the 8 ball, freedom of expression stands tall and proud and everything is ok, but if anyone else expresses that same freedom, you come down on them like that same freedom does not exist.

I regret to inform you that freedom of expression only applies to the government. Private entities, like howardforums, are free to do all the censoring they can if they so desire.

[klurfdawg23]

Hey Howard, you might want to point those clowns to this article. Maybe they will get a clue.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/200...52959451.shtml

that is a TOTALY different situation. Leaking unclassified documents is not illegal by the letter of the law. Infringing on intellectual property on a companies hosted site by hacking is.

I think this is a VERY one-sided opinion here and you can blame them for protecting their cash flow like any other company would too. If you hacked manipulated your way into government sites, you dont expect the government to come after you for hacking too? Little common sense here.

I enjoy HOFO, but by the laws on the books these actions are illegal. i dont know why its such a big deal to get the site shut down over deleting a thread that is basically warez anyways. Manipulating a .cab file to gain free access and posting it is considered warez and gets deleted, so manipulating weblinks to get free services is illegal too on that rationale.

And the rationale that "it was unprotected so it is ok to do" is a really poor logical conclusion to the issue. So if you dont lock your front door its ok some guy came and stole everything you owned? Seriously put the blame where blame need be put. Leaving something "open to attack" (which is all an opinion here because i hidden weblinks are just that-hidden unless exposed by hacking)

[CaptShadow]

Guy is not too bright posting that while Howard was online. LOL.

How did he get past the filter?

[Baldilocks]

I think their whole point in contacting howard was kinda along the lines of what you are suggesting.
They thought he would remove the links and no one would be the wiser while they fix their security....

I guess they opened a can of worms now and the fish are biting....

[Baldilocks]

that is a TOTALY different situation. Leaking unclassified documents is not illegal by the letter of the law. Infringing on intellectual property on a companies hosted site by hacking is.

I think this is a VERY one-sided opinion here and you can blame them for protecting their cash flow like any other company would too. If you hacked manipulated your way into government sites, you dont expect the government to come after you for hacking too? Little common sense here.

I enjoy HOFO, but by the laws on the books these actions are illegal. i dont know why its such a big deal to get the site shut down over deleting a thread that is basically warez anyways. Manipulating a .cab file to gain free access and posting it is considered warez and gets deleted, so manipulating weblinks to get free services is illegal too on that rationale.

No weblinks were manipulated. The links were already there for any one to stumble upon.

[Baldilocks]

How did he get past the filter?

It was probably taking a bathroom break at the time...

[skippinjack]

Screw these bastards! They deserve it for storing the god damn file so simply! I'm behind you Howard!

[Guest 203]

I submitted a tip to Engadget, too - who knows if they will actually post it. But anyway, definitely spread the word.

[klurfdawg23]

Ok not manipulated but i couldnt think of a better way to phrase it. Just remember the law, as written, takes into account the "average person" not some person decompiling a program file to find out where its accessing information from and then exposing that weakness. and the average person could not obtain such inks without the manipulation of program files and going into the coding for purposes of doing so- ie. it wasnt a fluke finding it

Either way you look at it incompetence on their security part does not relieve the actions of people exposing it. Two very different concepts. The law does not punish the incompetence to protect one's self, just the people exploiting it. That's jsut how the system is set up. Or else a person would be in the "wrong" legally speaking for leaving their house unlocked and they were burglarized. Is it the criminal who should be punished for breaking into your stuff, or you for not taking proper security precautions?

[CaptShadow]

No weblinks were manipulated. The links were already there for any one to stumble upon.

While googling I found where someone posted on another site that these very links were posted on the internet last year. If that's true then MobiTV has had plenty of time to secure access to their content.

[JustinCredible]

I submitted a tip to Engadget, too - who knows if they will actually post it. But anyway, definitely spread the word.

As did I a little while ago. Now I'm wondering if engadget is getting bomarded with emails? lol well we'll see soon!

[Baldilocks]

hofo mobitv
howardforums mobitv

Google Those: They are very popular tonite.

[klurfdawg23]

While googling I found where someone posted on another site that these very links were posted on the internet last year. If that's true then MobiTV has had plenty of time to secure access to their content.

true but something brought it to their attention on this site. And the "he's doing it too" isn't exactly a very good or even legit legal defense... a lot of people in the world commit crimes, not all get caught. just luck (or curse) of the draw.

As i posted right above you, their lack of securing information does not take the blame off the party(ies) who exposed it either way. That's just how the legal system works. Theres no punishment for the incompetent person who exposed themselves to a crime, just the perpetrator I believe the bolded sentence is the main point of the whole argument who is "right." If they feel their intellectual property has been illegal accessed, then they have a complete right to request a cease and desist, and i think there's no reason this site shouldn't comply. I dont see the HUGE harm to avoid the site being completely shut down. If there's no warez allowed, altering cab files, then decompiling a program to get at the web links for it should fall in the same category.

[Baldilocks]

Perhaps because this site is one of the more popular forums on the web that just happens to deal the industry that MobiTV caters to?

[dot_null]

that is a TOTALY different situation. Leaking unclassified documents is not illegal by the letter of the law. Infringing on intellectual property on a companies hosted site by hacking is.

Being that the information in question is housed on MobiTV's own servers, I don't think that argument holds water. HoFo is merely posting a link to MobiTV's channel list, which MobiTV still seems to be all too happy to serve up for anyone who chooses to click said link.

I think this is a VERY one-sided opinion here and you can blame them for protecting their cash flow like any other company would too. If you hacked manipulated your way into government sites, you dont expect the government to come after you for hacking too? Little common sense here.

Umm, they are free to delete that file from their server, or only grant access to paying customers.

I enjoy HOFO, but by the laws on the books these actions are illegal. i dont know why its such a big deal to get the site shut down over deleting a thread that is basically warez anyways. Manipulating a .cab file to gain free access and posting it is considered warez and gets deleted, so manipulating weblinks to get free services is illegal too on that rationale.

That's the thing. Nobody "hacked" a single thing to get these links. At worst, someone sniffed out the traffic from a device using MobiTV to see where the XML file with the stream information was stored. They could have easily encrypted this information if this was in fact the case.

MobiTV could easily employ session based authentication where only authorized users are granted access to their streams. Apparently, they would rather sick their team of inept lawyers on Howard than to actually fix the root cause of the problem, the glaring stupidity of their coders.

Guess what? The cat's out of the bag, and now the onus is on MobiTV to fix their horrible excuse for security.

And the rationale that "it was unprotected so it is ok to do" is a really poor logical conclusion to the issue. So if you dont lock your front door its ok some guy came and stole everything you owned? Seriously put the blame where blame need be put. Leaving something "open to attack" (which is all an opinion here because i hidden weblinks are just that-hidden unless exposed by hacking)

No, as I have stated before in this thread, their webserver will serve up that text file to anyone who asks for it, even if the referrer is listed as HowardForums. No one had to crack, hack or do anything else to receive these streams. If you look at how web servers work, the analogy should be more like asking a building with a doorman permission to enter the premises and he blindly grants it, without stopping to ask whether you had legitimate business in the building.