Third Voice

[pc]

Has anyone seen this? http://www.thirdvoice.com/index.htm

I am confused about this. Does this mean ANYONE can post these notes on your website if they have this software?

[Beckles]

I took a quick look at it and the tour, and what it looks like to me is that yes, anyone can add "notes" to your page.[nbsp][nbsp]HOWEVER, that doesn't mean they are changing the html coding or anything else on your server, what you see when using this software is *their* version of your page with the notes added.

So, what happens is you turn on the Third Voice Plug-in, then when you go to a page, Third Voice downloads it from whatever server it's on and then adds the notes to the page, so what you see is a copy of the page with the Third Voice notes added to it.

That's my educated guess as to how it works anyway.

[Beckles]

I have no shame ... I'll reply to my own post :)

Anyway, Wired has an article about this software today and a group that is trying to ban the software:

http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/20101.html

Personally, I don't think the opponents of the software have a leg to stand on, but you never know what will happen in court.

[jokesplus]

If you don't like the idea of this software trampling over your web-site, it might worth having a look at the following thread on a gossamer-threads forum.[nbsp][nbsp]Somebody has suggested away of using .htaccess to deny access to the plug-in.

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/scripts/forum/resources/Forum8/HTML/000467.html

Jarrod
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For humor on-line check out Jokesplus
http://www.jokesplus.com

[Charles Capps]

This is VERY disturbing.[nbsp][nbsp]VERY.[nbsp][nbsp]I do not like this one bit.
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"Okay, so I'm not "SANE" so to speak, but uh... I'm the lovable kind of psycho"
http://solareclipse.net/

[pc]

I'm not too thrilled either.

I'd like to see if anything is posted on my site but I don't want to download the software because I feel that would be supporting it.

I really don't have a problem with free speech but I don't feel this should be allowed. If someone wants to post something about my site, notes, etc... let them go to a forum or pass it in email. I don't like the idea of these things being "attached" to my site.

[Justin]

Here's what I'm thinking here...

Most likely these "notes" are stored on a server somewhere, probably in a database. So as time goes on and more people start using it, the inevitable advertisements will probably be attached to sites... and that's what I do not want to see - someone else making ad money from my sites.

I will download this thing later on so I can see about blocking it from my sites.

Justin

[Justin]

Ok, just went to download it - only works with IE4 - no IE5, no Netscape, and only on Windows platform. So it's probably not all that popular anyway... I'm not going to worry about it unless it becomes more widely used.

Justin

[pc]

Did you read the article from the above post by Beckles? My main problem with this software would be someone attaching porno links to the site like they did to AOL and some other places.

If someone does find a "cure" for this problem, please post it. I know of some other people who are interested in disabling this thing also. I'm pretty inexperienced in this area and wouldn't have any ideas on how to do something like that.

Have a nice weekend all!

*edit* After a little surfing, here is a link to some javascript to disable this software.
http://www.cse.msu.edu/~bowersj2/
[This message has been edited by pc (edited 06-11-99)]

[Beckles]

Well, now there's another similar product called Gooey.[nbsp][nbsp]This software allows users who are visiting the same website to chat.[nbsp][nbsp]To read an article on this software (which is compared to Third Voice in the article), go to:

http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/20200.html

The website for the Gooey software is:

http://www.getgooey.com

[pc]

I tried Gooey last night. It seems ok to me. IMO,it's completely different than Third Voice leaving notes on your site. With Gooey, it's basically just to chat with people who are visiting the same site that you are. I don't see that as invasive.

[Terra]

I will want to block these at the server core, if anyone has information pertaining to this please let me know...

2 ways to block:
1) Firewall their whole block of IP's
2) More selective blocking in the Apache configs

Personally, I don't believe in censorship, as this could be potentially construed as - but nor do I want people adding unauthorized content to my web pages content...

Anyone had the low down technical details on the methods they employ? Proxies - or just when the client hits a web page it puts out a request to their database to see if it's tagged...

--
Terra
--HEY, leggo my eggo--
FutureQuest

[jokesplus]

From the thirdvoice web-site


When you visit a Web page, your browser will download the contents of that page completely. Once this is completed, the Third Voice client will contact our servers to load any note markers for that page. During the loading of
markers, you will not be able to post notes as the Post button will be greyed out. Please wait for all note markers to be loaded and the Post button to return to its normal color before you try to post a note.

[nbsp]
Additional URL with a bit of background is http://www.cse.msu.edu/~bowersj2/

Jarrod

------------------
For humor on-line check out Jokesplus
http://www.jokesplus.com

[Justin]

I don't think this thing can be blocked, as it is an addon to IE that simply sends Third Voice a URL, query's to see if there are "notes" in their DB, and downloads them - a separate process that the "victim" will not be made aware of in any way.

The only solution is that silly JavaScript which of course can be turned off at the browser making it ineffective.

This would be no different than opening a new browser window, going to a database, typing in a URL and seeing what info is there - the victim isn't send any additional info (user agent, referer, etc) at all.

This truly sucks - but being that it does NOT modify any content on our server (that would be nearly impossible and extremely illegal), there is nothing that can be done legally about it I don't think...

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Terra]

2 points come to mind:

1) Liable
2) Slander

Let's say that someone posts this against the FutureQuest.net homepage...

"They SUCK - they stole my money and would not refund it!!"

Now who is responsible - the makers/keepers of the database, or the person who wrote the slander -0- or Both?

This will become real ugly - real fast!

--
Terra
--Why did I have to lift the bag?!?--
FutureQuest

[Charles Capps]

Ya know, Redwood City isn't that far from here...[nbsp][nbsp]Anyone mind if I drive up there and give them a good chunk of our collective minds?[nbsp][nbsp]:)
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"Okay, so I'm not "SANE" so to speak, but uh... I'm the lovable kind of psycho"
http://solareclipse.net/

[jimdavis]

Terra--

When these folks step on the right tows...a lawsuit will not be far behind. Now, Congress has released third parties from liability (i.e. me posting info on my leased space does not make FutureQuest liable), however, this really stretches that legal boundary. These folks have openly solicited individuals to use their software and use it to 'voice' comments about Web sites. This makes them complicit to the actions of end-users. No matter what disclaimer they provide...a good attorney will hand them out to dry.

You cannot yell fire in the movies for good reason. Free speech ends when it becomes detrimental to others.

My two cents.[nbsp]

[Mandi]

I d/l this to scan my own site . . . seems worth it to keep an eye on the Possibly Discontented/Chronic Malcontents.[nbsp][nbsp]I'm "clean" at the moment ('cept for my own test message - on a seldom visited page.)