a link back question

[Locutus]

I was wondering if it's legal to insert a section in a script that calls back to the devlopers of the code server by calling for a gif file or a php file and not mentioning it to the script license owner.. is it legal? if it is, dont you think it's an abuse of my privacy? the least they can do i inform me of this.. dont you think?

[tubedogg]

Legal? Definitely. It's their software, even if they license it to you they still own the rights to it, they can do what they want. Ethical? Eh. Probably not so much. Abuse of privacy? No.

Here's my take on it: They should inform you. However, they probably figure by informing you you'll take it out and they want the link, so they don't tell you hoping you don't find it. On the other hand, I would tell the customers about it because then I can go after them later and say "You didn't leave this in", whereas now, they have to admit it's there before going after someone for taking it out.

[Locutus]

What about if i want to keep the site i use as a private one and i dont want to tell it, why should i be forced to tell?

i'm very sorry but if i were requested to give my URL i will never tell it, no matter how much they would want.. i think telling my URL is huge abuse of privacy.. i have no idea how can people not aggre with this.. people should have a choice to keep private.. same deal goes with proxy..

for the last part of this message i would like to say some that that you will never understand if you have no idea what i'm talking about..

you know who you are, give all the people that payed for vbb some credit and inform them.. privacy is some thing that is very importent in now days.. why not respect is? same thing goes with the Moderator here that dosnt want to give her URL to the public? why should i? because people have more access here they have more rights then the paying customer? i dont think so.

[tubedogg]

vB doesn't call back to Jelsoft for anything...trust me, I've tested it on my local PC without an internet connection active...What do you think it calls back for?

Having the legal owner of a legally bought script give the URL to the scripting company for an internal database and giving that URL out to the public are two different things. vB does the first, but does not do the second.



Just a little side note, it's vB, not vbb. That bugs me.

[Locutus]

it calls home, in fear of the admins response i will not post it, but trust me it does.. a hint? it checks the version on there homepge using a php file.. it will not be that hard to find it.. i found it by mistake while trying to customise my copy.. not that it was very well hidden.. but oh well.

and about giving the URL even for record keeping i'm not intrested in doing that as well.. as i mentioned i use a very close website that CANT by means be viewed by people with no access.. so i cant give the URL.

[tubedogg]

I can assure you it does not do that. There are no calls to jelsoft.com or vbulletin.com within those scripts.

If you don't feel comfortable posting the location here (although you shouldn't feel fear, this isn't SK after all...sorry inside joke), then please feel free to email it to me - [email protected].

It checks your database for the version number. That's how it finds out what version it's running. It does not call jelsoft.

[tubedogg]

Almost forgot - a company can require you to give the URL of your board (or whatever script they are selling you) as a legal point in the license. If you didn't provide a valid URL, they could yank your license for breaking the terms of the agreement. I don't think Jelsoft does that, but that is possible and legal. In that case, if you don't like it, you simply don't use that product.

[Locutus]

yes, but thats a problem.. so far vb is the best i used and after using it switching to a diff' board is not even a option..

about the having to give the URL, i own a site that deals with.. again.. i cant give any info about this.. just trust me the site really deals with top secret metiral.. so again, i cant give the URL.. even for legal issus, if will be forced to do it.. well.. i'll just have to switch to a diff' server.. and most likely a free one seeing most sold scripts out there uses similar terms of aggrement.. and i really dont want to do that..
and lets be honest, i dont know any other board that can deal the amounts of traffic i genrate.. not is secure as vb..

btw.. then why the call back uses a img src tag to load a file from vbb servers? if you want i can PM you the part i'm talking about..

[tubedogg]

I'm not saying Jelsoft forces you to give the URL, and I can certainly understand your concerns.

Please do send me that info via PM.

[Locutus]

then it seems the only questiong there is left.. can i legaly remove the section of the site that calls back to there server or should i remove the board now?

[tubedogg]

We still haven't established what you're even talking about. To my knowledge there is no such code within vB. If you would like to prove me wrong, please either email or PM me (or you can post it here, eitherway) and then I can give a definitive answer.

[etones]

You can provide a different URL but place VB on a different box you know. A licence isnt connected to a domain in anyway, so stop complaining

[tubedogg]

He's not complaining about that; he has valid concerns about the divulging of his URL. However he claims that there is some code that calls to the vBulletin server which I am not sure is valid.

[tubedogg]

Since I really don't think I'll be thrown off here for asking, I'm going to ask in the vB2 questions forum about that code.

[Nicholas Brown]

Actually, in Beta 1 (or was it 2) there was a line in admin/index.php that made a call to the vBulletin server - but I noticed it was removed in beta 2/3/4