HN Explorer

Barinsta, the open source client for Instagram got a C&D from Facebook

66 points by prirai ↗ HN
From https://t.me/barinsta_updates :

Hello,

At approximately 21:33 UTC July 26 2021, I have been hit with a cease & desist letter from a law firm repsenting Facebook. The letter was sent to one of my personal email address as well as Barinsta's public inbox (and as a result, it is published). https://github.com/austinhuang0131/austinhuang0131/issues/2

In response, the source code has been taken down, and all promotional materials within my control has been adjusted to reflect the fact.

While I believe it is nearly impossible to fight a resourceful multinational firm and reinstate the app, we will still try to get as much resources as we could to navigate in this crisis.

At this dire moment, I ask you to do 1 thing: Please let others know what is happening here. Such bullying behaviour against a young university student is in no way excusable. Such bullying behaviour against many internet users is in no way excusable.

It has been an honour of a lifetime to serve as one of the main contributors of Barinsta. I am forever grateful for the countless supporters along the way.

15 comments

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unbad505
https://archive.org/details/github.com-austinhuang0131-barin...

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27955263/how-to-open-a-b...

If anyone wants the sourcecode, here it is.

brunoqc
or ipns://k51qzi5uqu5dkfcg3q0ezkn8xyil7kqukp65aqi2yxsaojysp3gmm95cpwf31m

Last commit:

  commit 77bca1b8ecc5144a4c0371134f912e80393e5853 (HEAD -> master, origin/master, origin/HEAD)
  Author: Austin Huang <im@austinhuang.me>
  Date:   Tue Jul 20 17:37:41 2021 -0400
  
      convert profile backend stuff to kotlin
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
gitgud
Seems logical to me. This was a privacy-based client for one of the biggest platforms ever made.

Anonymous browsing is antithetical to what Facebook and Instagram stand-for and profit off...

ntnlabs
Reading thru that C&D You have a win(win?). It says that You "Have stopped and will not in the future access the Facebook and Instagram websites and/or use Facebook’s and Instagram’s services for any reason whatsoever;". As soon as You get on any page where there is the famous Facebook pixel, (like cloudflare.com) You have accessed a Facebook Ad services without Your knowledge. So essentially they wanna ban You from the internet (which they cannot IMHO) or they will have to delete Your data from their database in compliance with their C&D. I'm pretty sure this can be elevated as something pretty ridiculous and maybe there will be a lawyer keen enough to protect You and kick FB in the ass for this.
Mordisquitos
Much as I would love Facebook's pervasive presence bite them in the ass thanks to a legal technicality, I'm pretty sure that being exposed to advertising or being tracked would not be covered by any reasonable legal interpretation of "accessing a website" or "using a service" .
ntnlabs
Was just a wild idea. Anyway, how can they check if prirai is obeying with the C&D?
prirai
Hey, its not me. I posted it as a gesture of support to the developer. The app actually used to fetch content just as the instagram on the website does and also gave very less user data in that process, only limited to a fetch request. While there are a lot of instagram mods out there who are a real threat, facebook only has problems with projects who care about privacy on their platforms. Also, the app hwas built from scratch up and had many anti-addiction features. The app's still up and you're free to try it.
ntnlabs
My bad. Anyway, as a developer I think to ban anyone from using my services just because I dont like how my services are used is a stupid idea.
prirai
But Facebook is not really a developer, get what I mean?
ntnlabs
Yeah I agree. Bad choice of words on my side.
vfclists
Don't these points mean you are obliged to keep the repository available?

A detailed description of the methods used to automate Facebook and Instagram functionality and provide Instagram or Facebook related services, including a full list of all apps or APIs that you utilized or developed;

A detailed description of the methods You used to obtain data from Facebook, Instagram,or any of its affiliate companies

A copy of each and every version of any software code You have developed or used to interact with the Facebook and Instagram websites and/or services, including any libraries, frameworks, or other code, and the source for that code if not Your own development.

PS. There is nothing in the letter that indicates that you are required to comply with their demands.

hermitsings
And then Facebook encourages hack culture, conducts hackathons and has a programming language literally named Hack. But when what you promote hurts you back, you go nuts. Hypocrisy at its best.