MediaFire Asks Mozilla to Ban SkipScreen
In an attempt to prevent its users from bypassing the download delay, filehoster Mediafire has sent a takedown request to Mozilla for the SkipScreen addon that does just this.
SkipScreen is a Firefox plugin that automates clicking and waiting on sites like Rapidshare and Megaupload. The goal of the plugin is to make clicking a link to one of these file-hosting services just as convenient as downloading something directly.
The plugin does as it promises but one of the filehosters, MediaFire, is not amused. They prefer to delay the downloads of their visitors so they are more eager to sign up for a paid account.
“Mozilla has been generally very supportive up until now, they’ve made us a recommended plugin, and we’re one of the most popular plugins in our category. The day before yesterday, Mediafire sent a cease and desist to Mozilla, demanding they remove our plugin from the Addons directory,” Skipscreen developer Michael P told FreakBits.
Mediafire claims that the SkipScreen plugin steals its bandwidth and that its bypassing their website. These claims are bogus of course, the only thing that is bypassed is the waiting time, nothing more.
The EFF has sided with SkipScreen and sent a reply to Mozilla on their behalf in which they debunk MediaFire’s claims.
“Free file hosting provider MediaFire seems to think that, when you follow a link to download a file from its service, it has the right to control your browser. This is yet another example of a web site owner forgetting that it’s your computer, and it’s none of their business how you choose to experience their web pages,” EFF’s Fred von Lohmann writes.
It will be interesting to see how Mozilla responds to the takedown request. Thus far the plugin is still available and all that Mediafire has done is alerting the public that there is an easy way to circumvent the annoying waiting times.
Thank you Mediafire, I never knew about this plugin until now. No more waiting, woot.
Although, honestly, I had never heard of Mediafire before this. Rapidshare and Megaupload yes.
I’ve been doing this with a script for greasemonkey for years
I agree with both sides of this story. Its unfair that people bypass the waiting, its there to make people buy their product. Its like if I go down to a cardealer to testdrive a car. The car dealer guy says I can’t drive any faster than 50km/h and has installed a device that limits my speed to this. I decide to bypass this device and drive faster 50km/h. Is that fair? But I also belive that no company should decide what I’m allowed to install on MY computer. Mozilla shouldn’t have made it a recomended addon. Thats like if download.com made a crack for Photoshop a recomended download.
The user should not have to suffer because a company’s business model ignores technology.
I don’t see a biggie here… Compared to Rapidshare and Megaupload, MediaFire’s waiting system is positively user-friendly, allowing you to download multiple files with no actual waiting, just an extra page to click…
Because this strategy totally worked at killing Adblock, right?
I always loved Media Fire. Hope that it keeps the good job going.
It doesn’t matter if they remove it. Firefox allows addons from third party sites.
http://skipscreen.com/
Le gasp!
I will no longer use Mediafire because of this and will be cancelling my account. Good job Mediafire!
Ditto. Good going Mediafire. Just lost another customer. I used to love your service, but I am so turned off by your totalarianism that I think I will find a more open-minded site to host my files. Again, good going dumbshits…
There are some inaccuracies in this article.
“They prefer to delay the downloads of their visitors so they are more eager to sign up for a paid account.”
MediaFire has no wait times, download limits, or any other delays. You can download as many files as you want at anytime. So the discussion regarding delays, gimmicks, or hoops to download is moot.
These automation scripts have been around in the community for a while via greasemonkey and I’ve never heard of any complaints about them before.
What Skipscreen does is clicks the instantly available link for you and then shows you a full page advertisement for SkipScreen including their own ad. Its pretty misleading to users who think it does something magical for them with MediaFire when in reality it does very little but generate ad revenue for SkipScreen.
There is one more inaccuracy:
“These claims are bogus of course, the only thing that is bypassed is the waiting time, nothing more.”
There is no waiting time or any other gimicks or hoops on MediaFire.
F*** MEDIAFIRE!
[...] demeure à Mozilla, demandant que l’organisation retire notre plug-in du répertoire” a déclaré Michael, le développeur de [...]
[...] à Mozilla, demandant que l’organisation retire notre plug-in du répertoire » a déclaré Michael, le développeur de [...]
Nice bit of advertising for SkipScreen there!
GG MediaFire!
today megaupload does it…
f*** megaupload
Megaupload does it :( solution?¿’
This is Mediafire that we’re talking about, not Rapidshare.
Mediafire has next to no limits on downloading, and no more than two seconds of wait time.
We should be supporting them, not complaining about little things.
Hell yes. I never knew their was a plugin that did that. *installs addon*
This is great if you want to use a service that for no obvious reason “looses” your files. I had a bunch of files on Mediafire and one day I went to dl one and ALL my files were gone. I guess I will stick to Skydrive.
I didn’t know about this plug-in until I read this article. It is now installed and working perfectly. Nice demonstration of the Striesand effect Mediafire.
Add me to the list of those who hadn’t heard of the plugin before seeing this article. If mediafire hadn’t made such a big stink about it, I’d still be sitting through those annoying delays. Thanks, mediafire! You rock! lol
Consider that Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc. won’t have any incentive to provide free hosting if they cannot sell their premium download services.
To be Honest, I think Media fire is Probably the Best of all of them & the easiest to Download from!!
This is Great for Rapidshare though!! The amount of times my Laptop has nearly gone out the window due to stress of downloading from there!!
Cheers for the Heads up on this, seems to work really well!! :-)
LOL
Thank you for telling me that such a wonderful tool exists.
Wow!!! Cheers guys, never realised this existed. Thanks for that Mediafire, this is definitely a case of shooting oneself in the foot. Plugin now downloaded and installed.