Escape from boredom

Even though it is fun being on Facebook, it has its downsides…so I share this for the simple reason that I want to spread the word.

*VERY IMPORTANT NEWS!* Facebooks legal department have informed me, the developer of the F.B. P u r i t y browser extension, that I am *banned* from using Facebook. This effectively means I will no longer be able to work on the F.B. Purity project. I am assuming the F.B. Purity fan page will also be shutdown when they commence the ban. They have not said when the ban will start, but it could happen at any time.

They say the reasons for the ban are:
“Facebook’s terms specifically prohibit interference with the way Facebook is rendered to its users” and that the extension doesnt connect via their “API”, which they say is the approved method for interacting with Facebook’s services.

F.B. Purity does not directly access facebook’s services anyway, it is a browser extension, and by definition, it “extends” the browsers functionality, therefore it is actually the web browser itself that is accessing Facebook, and web browsers do not need an API key or license to access Facebook’s services, as Facebook is designed to run in a web browser.

If a Facebook user chooses to download and use the F.B. Purity extension, it is entirely their own choice, I am not forcing them to download it and use it. Once they’ve installed it, F.B Purity gives the user options for customizing their own view of Facebook, which they can enable or disable to their own liking. If Facebook gave their users options to turn off the most annoying features of their user interface, then a product like F.B. Purity would not be necessary at all. The success and popularity of the extension, is a sure fire sign that something is not right with Facebooks design in the first place.

Perhaps instead of punishing me by disabling my account, and initiating legal proceedings against me, they should instead take heed of the discontent of the Facebook users, and offer them a browsing experience that won’t get them searching out third party methods for switching off the sites most hated and annoying features.

They are also trying to go back on the agreement that i could name my product “Fluff Busting Purity aka F.B. P u r i t y” which was agreed upon with Facebook’s Domain Manager, the last time they threatened me with legal action. They are now saying I need to stop using FB in the name of the product and in the domain name.

For a start, Facebook do not have a worldwide claim on the 2 consecutive letters FB. There are over 64 different trademarks that have the consecutive letters FB in them that are not owned by Facebook, so how can they claim total rights to those two letters? And to try and claim that “F.B” (short for Fluff Busting) is violating their trademark, is rubbish as in trademark terms it is completely distinct from “FB”.

Facebook should be thanking me for helping them to retain their users, who if they had not found this extension would have abandoned the site a long time ago.

In order to stay up to date on future FBP news, after they have banned me, you can:

1. Keep an eye on the F.B. Purity website’s news page: http://tiny-url.org/fbpnews
2. Subscribe to the F.B. Purity News mailing list: http://is.gd/fbpmail
3. Follow F.B. Purity on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fbpurity
4. Add F.B. Purity on Google+: http://gplus.to/fbpurity

It looks like this could be the end of the road for F.B. Purity, well at least Facebook hopes it is…

What do you think I should do? Keep up the fight, or let the *expletives deleted* win?

Please help spread the word about this news, Facebook should not be allowed to get away with this. Tweet it, Write a post on fb or g+ /write a blog post about it, repost, share, like comment, etc

In case this post is deleted by Facebook, it can also be accessed at http://tiny-url.org/fbpbanned

Now running latest version, 4.1.6 of B2Evolution, easy as always to keep up to date with the latest features and security patches.