missing-e:
~ Your Freedom To Use Your Browser Is Under Attack ~
Tumblr’s Terms of Service hasn’t changed yet. So please read and help out!
The Tumblr staff recently requested feedback on updates they will be making to their policies. They specifically mention one of their goals is to prevent the promotion of self-harm. However, their updated Terms of Service includes something a lot less laudable.
Unable to find the required avenues to stop developers from creating and distributing browser extensions that enhance the way you use Tumblr and not getting enough of a response to their scary warning campaign, they now seem to be preparing the groundwork for coming after users of these extensions.
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As disheartening and awful as this is for users of Missing-e and similar, this actually has far larger potential ramifications. Tumblr is, by any measure, a major player in this space. What they do will be watched, and, if successful, probably copied.
They want to dictate what you do in your own browser on your own computer, the one in your home, after the data has been received there via the Internet provider you paid for. For the entire history of internetworking protocols, it’s been generally understood that once something goes out on the wire, it’s not under the sender’s control anymore. They have a different view.
Remember how agitated we got when Congress wanted to screw with how DNS worked? It’s about like that, except of course it’s a private company, not the gummint.
This is a bad one, gang.
UPDATE: tumblr has issued a clarification that they specifically do not intend to go after plugin users.
