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posted by
mattie_p
on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:32PM
from the print-that-out-please-want-it-on-paper dept.
from the print-that-out-please-want-it-on-paper dept.
bob_super writes:
"After reading an article[fr] (English language version) presenting a new Google initiative to map deforestation, I encountered a surprise when globalforestwatch.org opened with a Terms Of Service page! Not a small two-line 'we're in beta' terms of service page, a full multi-page lawyer-dream EULA. And when clicked on agree, I got a pop-up asking me to agree again!
Since we all know that all information has to be proven 100% correct and safe before being published on the web, have you noticed EULAs in other no-login sites? Why are Google's lawyers getting in the way when it's about important scientific data?"
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Agree to the EULA to Learn About Deforestation
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O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.
-- Sir Walter Scott, "Marmion"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by number6 on Saturday February 22 2014, @04:32PM
I just blacklisted 'www.globalforestwatch.org' as loopback address in my HOSTS file.
I use Firefox 3.6.28 (old version, because I like it) ...and I don't like clever c*nt webpages which use dynamic javascript(s) to shield themselves while freely extracting as much information about me, my habits, my location, my tools and my settings.
I also have a selection of Firefox addons which work together to defeat clever c*nts and protect my privacy and obfuscate my web fingerprint.
When I tried visiting the address 'www.globalforestwatch.org', I got this Firefox error page instead:
The page isn't redirecting properly
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.
This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.
[Try Again]
Further inspection shows this address was making multiple attempts to load in my browser (but was being defeated):
http://www.globalforestwatch.org/notsupporte dbrowser
So I pasted it into the address bar and loaded it manually. The page had this text:
Oops, your browser isn't supported.
This website is optimized for Chrome 19, Firefox 12, Safari 5, Opera 11, Internet Explorer 10 or newer.
Please upgrade to a supported browser and try loading the website again.
If I am to do what these clever c*nts want, I want them to give me explicit technical information about: "This webpage is optimized...blah blah...Please upgrade to a supported browser" !!??
If i had exact information, then maybe I could update the Firefox 3.x source code to include the missing features. Without the info, I feel like a cow leaving the farm and being loaded into a truck!
My rant here is not solely based on the behaviour of this site. I have a love-hate relationship with the modern internet...Javascript is completely abused, over-used and a security nightmare for userland.
Yes I can understand how some *judicious* inclusion of Javascript may make a webpage have some useful functionality....
BUT, IMHO.............
A properly coded web site should never "NOT LOAD OR CRASH" your browser; it should fall back gracefully to a basic HTML view at the very least.
Any website which posts a message saying to me "Your browser is not supported, please update to a modern browser" CAN GO AND GET FUCKED !! ....ie: it is an excuse only used by lazy rapid-development hipsters masquerading as web developers, or it is an enslavement-trap by some asshole with a lot of clever "$$$$$" ideas.
Any website which hides links behind Javascript wrappers CAN FUCK OFF AND DIE !! ...ie: I cannot see a web address at the staus bar when mouse-hovering.
Dynamic web pages (using Jscript) which adjust their layout --DESKTOP vs MOBILE-- by querying my browsers User Agent on every page reload is a STUPID AND ANNOYING IDEA !! ....The nicer way is to have buttons on the page which, if clicked by me, will set the cookie once-only for the rest of the session ...ie: I have security features built into my browser to protect my privacy but dynamic scripts are blind to this.
Any website which creates popup messages (using Jscript) like "Are you sure you want to leave this page" + disabling my context menu + disabling my back button + disabling tab closing CAN FUCK OFF AND DIE !! ....Any site which does this to me gets instantly added to my HOSTS FILE as a loopback address ...AND I do a network lookup using "WHOIS" and "TRACERT" and get more addresses related to this asshole site and also add them to HOSTS.
(Score: 1) by Fwip on Saturday February 22 2014, @05:36PM
Dang, y'all weren't supposed to tell the HOSTSFILE spammers about this place!
(Score: 2) by dmc on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:00PM
mod parent troll, flamebait, or overrated. Wow, welcome to my Foe list despite '67 The Prisoner being one of my favorite television series of all time. You're rant there certainly is nowhere in character for your chosen handle of 'number6'. Quite the argument for technocrat.net's comportment moderation. I don't think comments like this (getting max-madded) are good for SoylentNews in the long term. All this despite my agreeing with some of your thoughts about things. Do you really believe littering your post with "clever c*nts" is going to get your ideas any traction? Or are you just 100% troll?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dmc on Sunday February 23 2014, @01:05AM
I'll feed your trolling/mental-breakdown. In answer to your rant- why are you raising your blood-pressure? Not every destination on the internet needs to conform to your desires. Why don't you just do everything you did, but *not care so much*. Now, you do have a good point I'll elaborate on, but you just got way too angry while expressing it -
The point you failed to make amongst your anger/trolling is that THIS IS A FAULT OF THE BROWSER SOFTWARE. YOUR BROWSER SHOULD NOT LET SITES DO THIS. Now calm down, and go back to enhancing your forked ancient version of firefox. If you do a good enough job, and relax a bit and get help from like minded individuals, you might actually out-compete the advertiser-loving sell-outs at mozilla, or at the very least, perhaps shame them into doing the right thing a little bit more often.
(Score: 1) by number6 on Sunday February 23 2014, @06:16AM
>> Not every destination on the internet needs to conform to your desires.
Yes that's exactly what I want them to do. When my browser makes a request for packets, I do not want the sender to format their HTML so that a dynamic script snooping for my user-agent (and whatever else) runs before the body fully loads.
>> The point you failed to make amongst your anger/trolling is that THIS IS A FAULT OF THE BROWSER SOFTWARE.
No I didn't fail to make this point. It was presumed that readers with half a brain knew this without me having to be literal about it.
FURTHER NOTES ON MY PREVIOUS POST:
When my browser hits a page saying "Your browser is not supported", this is a wild guess; they do not know the truth!
As I stated in my previous post, I have Firefox configured to defeat "clever c*nts and protect my privacy and obfuscate my web fingerprint".
What this specifically means is this:
First I want you to visit this site and look at the information......: http://browserspy.dk/browser.php [browserspy.dk]
When one makes a connection to another site, they receive all that information from ones browser.
BUT...If you could randomize every one of those values and refresh them at every page load, then the other site has no idea who you really are.
This is how I have Firefox configured. Whether I use an ancient version of Firefox or the current release is irrelevant.
So, when I am traversing the internet, the information about me and my browser is always polluted and not the truth. Any website which wants to sniff my browser to extract as much information as they can before allowing the body of the html to load CAN GO AND FUCK THEMSELVES !! ....I don't trust the modern internet and the corporate c*unts and government agencies who control it.
I think any properly constructed website should (if it is my first visit) render a toolbar at the top of the page, which has buttons that I can press. These buttons configure the cookie. Once the cookie is set, I accept and the toolbar slides up and away out of sight.
Some of the buttons may be for setting your layout preference (mobile or desktop). Other buttons may be for other things.
Once the cookie is set, it remains that way...unless I slide out the toolbar and change more settings.
Using this method, the website does not need to use dynamic javascripts to extract as much information about me and my browser as they can get away with (possibly even sharing it with Google amongst others). It is a user-friendly approach towards my privacy and has some empathy for why I refuse to acknowledge who I really am and where I really come from.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by SMI on Sunday February 23 2014, @07:22AM
As others have already said, your anger is completely misdirected. While we may agree with (at least some of) your underlying points, your tone really isn't conducive to an intellectual discussion. Please redirect your anger towards the sites you don't like (and those who are responsible for them). In case you haven't noticed, none of the things that you're complaining about take place here on SN.
(Score: 1) by number6 on Sunday February 23 2014, @07:08PM
There is no we, there is you and your knobhead ego.
There is no we, there is him and his knobhead ego.
There is me and my knobhead ego.
Your (and his) observations are full of shit. Turn off your computer(s) and go for a long ride on your bicycle(s).
So I let off some steam....BIG FUCKING DEAL !!!!!!!
Message to the users who modded me up:
Thanks guys. I'm not as immature as those two "superior" knobheads want you to believe. I injected rhetorical and artistic license into a technical issue.
Those other two knobheads are in actual fact part of the "things" I was trying to describe; they are "Rover" the policing balloon; resist them...always!
Even the novelist James Joyce was known to inject the word "c*nt" in his novels.
When you leave this page, the only thing to remember is the entertainment it gave you; move on to tomorrow with a blank mind; forget about me.