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Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery?
    #2666532 -

This could be an easy way for local pd's or anyone else to track the users of this site. I'm sure that this has occured to the admins here before. So why do they continue to allow this? especially since the server here can already host pics for the users. Yes I am a paranoid freak, but we all are in the security forum.  :tongue:

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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: ddaedalus]
    #2668307 -

I'm not sure exactly what you are talking about, but I have tried to point out to users before, not to supply active hypertext links to law enforcement agencies, as it leaves a click trail in their referrer logs.

I have also tried to dissuade people from using pictures hosted on other servers (not their own), as it can really hurt a small site in terms of bandwidth. An OTD thread, for example, can create hundreds and hundreds of hits in a day, and if your are displaying a 100KB image on a third-party web-site, it can really cost them bandwidth-wise.

Sadly, it continues...


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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Papaver]
    #2668362 -

Hotlinking is also illegal and prosecutable.It is theft of bandwidth and consitutes theft of services.Which is why people would be wise not to hotlink.Although most people dont prosecute some sites and companies do.These are usually places that have problems with hotlinking and are annoyed with it.


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"There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."


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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Papaver]
    #2668421 -

Quote:
I have also tried to dissuade people from using pictures hosted on other servers (not their own),



This is what I'm talking about. If one were to link to a remote picture in their signature then everyone who read any of the posts they made could be logged by the computer hosting the picture. If this computer were to controlled by the fuzz, well then there may be a problem. I hate to be a wet blanket, but have you considered disabling the feature entirely?

Edit: Well this post was a little misleading. I'm referring to people linking to picturtes hosted by any server but that of The Shroomery.

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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: ddaedalus]
    #2668470 -

> If one were to link to a remote picture in their signature then everyone who read any of the posts they made could be logged by the computer hosting the picture.

You aren't using a proxy!? Shame!!!

> Hotlinking is also illegal and prosecutable.

Not true. Hotlinking may or may not be a copyright violation.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Seuss]
    #2671464 -

The bigger issue is that many users use image hosting services, and that if we turned off ALL external links than those would be shut down too. Even I sometimes use my own servers to host images, because it's easier for me. I would rather that people simply act responsibly, and not link to images on small servers for which they don't have permission, but I am a dreamer and fundamentally optimistic about the human condition -- it is my fundamental flaw... :wink:


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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Seuss]
    #2672327 -

Yeah ddaedalus really should use a proxy if this matter bothers
him too much. Here is one site that lists free public proxy servers:
http://www.stayinvisible.com/

:sun:



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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Seuss]
    #2672548 -

"> Hotlinking is also illegal and prosecutable.

Not true. Hotlinking may or may not be a copyright violation."

Im not talking about copyright violation.I am talking about stealing bandwidth.IE Using bandwidth without paying for it without permission.And it IS theft of services.Just like it is theft of services if you hook up and use cable without paying for it.Or if you hookup a phone and use it without paying for the services rendered.Companies do get angry with people for using large amounts of bandwidth and I have seen enough people prosecuted for theft of services for hotlinking.

You can contact a lawyer or a legal agency that deals with computer crimes or are familar with similar laws and they will verify this.


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"There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."


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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: HypnoToad]
    #2673029 -

> I am talking about stealing bandwidth

If I link to images that I store on my own web server, how then am I steeling bandwidth? I am steeling from myself?

With regards to other people's servers, they can easily add rules to their web server to check for referer tags and deny any requests for images offsite. Every decent web server that I know of supports this option.

I do see your point, however.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: Seuss]
    #2673326 -

"> I am talking about stealing bandwidth

If I link to images that I store on my own web server, how then am I steeling bandwidth? I am steeling from myself?"


I will reply to this with a direct quote from my last post above...

"I am talking about stealing bandwidth.IE Using bandwidth without paying for it without permission."

I'm sure you are either paying for or have permission to use your own server.roflmao.

"With regards to other people's servers, they can easily add rules to their web server to check for referer tags and deny any requests for images offsite. Every decent web server that I know of supports this option."

Alot of web hosting companies and some servers I come across dont allowing hotlinking but dont prevent it simply because there are problems with how the code works to prevent hotlinking.

While it is certainly tempting to take the steps necessary to stop other sites from leaching your bandwidth, there are some serious issues that can come about as a result. There is a single point of failure for all the server and scripting methods to prevent hotlinking I have come across, and that is they all rely on using the HTTP_REFERER environment variable to work.

The main problem is that people are becoming more and more cautious about the way that web sites use their information. Privacy has been in the spotlight since the first widely used spyware program was brought to the public's attention, and savvy computer users have been careful to watch what has been going out of their computers ever since.

If you do decide to implement any of these anti-leaching techniques on your site then you should be aware that you could be blocking otherwise legitimate requests. A surfer who chooses to munge their browsers HTTP_REFERER may have come from a valid page - but if they don't pass any recognised values to the server they will be stopped from viewing your images or downloading your files.

How you deal with these visitors that choose to withhold referral information is up to you, but seeing how more and more people are becoming more privacy aware you could be denying a growing percentage of surfers the ability to use your site to its full potential.It is something to think about when deciding which files you should protect.


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"There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."


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Re: Why allow hotlinking on Shroomery? [Re: HypnoToad]
    #2673619 -

You bring up good points, and deal with my critisisms in a fairly mature manner... you have potential, young grasshopper!  :smile:

(If you can teach me how to spell, you get bonus points!)


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Just another spore in the wind.

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