Posting Publicly Available URL Claimed a "Hack"

Urban Strata writes "Popular mobile phone community HowardForums.com is being hit with take-down notices from MobiTV. At issue is the fact that a HowardForums community member uncovered a publicly accessible URL for MobiTV's television stream. This URL is not encrypted or authenticated in any way, and yet MobiTV sent site owner Howard Chui a cease-and-desist letter for hosting a forum with the public URL, claiming that doing so is equivalent to hacking their service."

Lawyer fees

[FatAlb3rt]

I wonder how much their lawyer bills each time he has to send out a C&D for posting a link to qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd.

Sekrit Government Haxx0ring

[KublaiKhan]

Lookit me! I'm hacking the pentagon! [osd.mil] And the CIA! [cia.gov] And the FBI! [fbi.gov]

Hold on, one moment--someone's knocking.

Re:Lawyer fees

[tgd]

Probably less when they have to send one out for the link to qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd that you posted.

Quantity discount and all.

Re:Sekrit Government Haxx0ring

[eln]

I would say I'll visit you in prison, but I'm not allowed to travel to Cuba.

On the bright side, I hear the conditions there aren't so bad. Rumor has it that they'll give you all the water you can drink, even if you're not thirsty!

Re:Sekrit Government Haxx0ring

[KublaiKhan]

Yeah, but the waitstaff really sucks. They're not getting a tip, that's for sure....

(And not to whine, but I think someone may need a sense of humor.)

Time to change your sig

[Itninja]

So I guess this means /.ers will now change their sig from 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 to qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd....

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[alexhs]

There is nothing wrong with visiting a publicly available URL. No exceptions.

I guess you never stumbled upon a goatse or tubgirl publicly available link, then :P

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Captain Splendid]

Is it wrong to walk into a gym

FAIL. This is slashdot, you're supposed to make car analogies.

Re: Do it up like Julius Baer and Wikileaks!

[Bovius]

A recipe for misdirection:

* 1 link to "private" content
* 1 cup TinyURL(c) brand address shortening
* 2 lbs. unauthorized access
* 1 content owner
* An army of lawyers

Preheat oven to "Litigation". Route link through address shortening. Mix with unauthorized access, and let rise until content owner exclaims "IT IS TEH HAXORZ!1". Apply army of lawyers liberally to TinyURL for providing access to content. Place in preheated oven and bake until lawsuit reaches a golden brown. Cool before serving.

(Note: Recipe not tested.)

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

And I'm within mine telling them to piss up a rope.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[MobileMrX]

Is it wrong to walk into a car?

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Intron]

The best part of the cease-and-desist exchange was this:

"Originally Posted by mobitv
The url "qtv.mobitv.com/sprintTVlive.mcd" is not publicly available, nor is it posted anywhere on our website for viewers to access. The only way to access the links is through this url, and the only way to obtain this url is through hacking/debugging."

mobitv posted their "secret" URL in a message on the forum. So much for the trade secret claim.

Give me a break!

[Babu 'God' Hoover]

If you don't want people looking at your naked ass all day, put your pants on in the morning.

Re:I never thought I would see...

[Joe the Lesser]

You must be new here.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Captain Splendid]

FAIL. Your tag-fu sucks!

Re:Lawyer fees

[Anonymous Coward]

Methinks it would be a shame if someone were go start posting that link as comments in their blogs seeing as though you don't even need to sign up to post.

http://blog.mobitv.com/ [mobitv.com]

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[uniquename72]

Is it wrong to walk into a gym where you dont have a membership and start exercising just because they dont bother to check ID's at the door? Yes

Where this analogy breaks down: When I visit a URL, I'm not physically moving -- that stream of electrons is coming into my house because someone has purposely set it up to do so over an internet connection that I pay for.

A better analogy is: Is it okay to work out on gym equipment that someone has set up in your house, but not given you permission to use? The answer is yes, because it's my fucking house.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

just change that from a tasmanian devil to a fancy new concept car and you'll find greater success- Slashdot works best with car metaphors

Re:Shame shame

[geminidomino]

Am I a thief if my fiance gives me the keys to her car and says,"Go get the groceries" and I comply?

No, you're just pussy-whipped. *ducks*

Re:Time to change your sig

[MBGMorden]

Why change when you can have both!!!!?!?!!

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Blkdeath]

Say someone opened a large facility next to an interstate with restrooms and vending machines, named it

... say someone took a bad analogy and stretched it even further, charging an arbitrary fee to read it ... would you be opposed to gay marriage?

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Anarke_Incarnate]

Getting something you should not, and for free, is stealing? Wow, I hope you kept the receipt for that law education. You need a refund.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's clueless posts like this that prove a low UID on /. is meaningless. I'm actually glad that I used all of my mod points because I would have wasted a -1 troll on you.

Re:Anonymous Karma Whore

[shutdown -p now]

That's not the way to karma whore on Slashdot. To get the most out of it, you have to mark the porn channels!

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[TheRecklessWanderer]

In a country where someone can spill hot coffee on themselves and win a lawsuit because the coffee was hot , please define an unhealthy dose of willful ignorance.

Re:Well, what did you expect?

[smellotron]

Pepsi and Coke make money by putting water into bottles and selling it, yet I can get water almost anywhere for free.

Stop, Thief!