February 18th, 2009 | by zittrain | published in Book, Facebook, Future of the Internet, Web 2.0 platforms | 12 Comments
Some thoughts on the Facebook terms of service privacy storm: Facebook and other social networks have an especially tricky time in this zone, since so much user data is relational. You upload a photo of you and me; I tag it with your name. I leave Facebook — does your name disappear from the photo […]
November 14th, 2008 | by elisabeth | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet, iphone | 1 Comment
Apple continues to exercise its control over the iPhone platform, recently rejecting an app for using too much bandwidth. CastCatcher was a radio streaming app, which had been approved in several previous versions; the latest update was rejected for violating the TOS provision limiting bandwidth use. The developers are upset—they say the updated version didn’t […]
August 1st, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Facebook, Web 2.0 platforms | Comments Off on Scrabulous returns as Wordscraper
document.domain = “futureoftheinternet.org”;The makers of Scrabulous have apparently relaunched it as “Wordscraper,” a word game that can support a variety of rules, and whose tiles no longer look so much like Scrabble’s. Players can themselves set the rules to simulate a Scrabble game — but that would make the infringement that of the users rather […]
July 29th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet, Web 2.0 platforms | 1 Comment
The NYT is blogging that Facebook has removed Scrabulous. Trying to get there through Facebook shows: Scrabulous is disabled for US and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here. The app is apparently doing IP geolocation to see whom to turn away; […]
July 27th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet, Generativity, Web 2.0 platforms | 2 Comments
In 2006, two guys from India came up with Scrabulous, a Scrabble-like game that took off only after it was transformed from a standalone Web site into a Facebook app. Hasbro, holder of the Scrabble trademark in North America, noticed, as did Mattel, holder of rights elsewhere, and asked them to take it down. They […]
July 26th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Book, Facebook, Future of the Internet, Generativity, iphone, Web 2.0 platforms | 3 Comments
Macworld is reporting that some iPhone application developers are having a difficult time adjusting to having to distribute their software only through Apple. They’re apparently too afraid to go on the record (!), but: As developers update their applications — including bug fixes — it can take up to a week for a new version […]
July 16th, 2008 | by bballou | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet | 1 Comment
A new study by Future Source Consulting reports that 1/3 of US residents have copied a DVD in the past six months. This number, high as it is, might not be surprising. What is surprising is how little action the television and film industries (at least in comparison to the recording industry) have taken in […]
