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by Calavar 1021 days ago
A bit off topic, but this website has some of the most draconian TOS I've ever seen

> You agree that the information on this website is copyrighted, and you therefore agree not to distribute this information (whether the downloaded _le, copies / images / reproductions, or the link to these _les) in any manner other than by providing the following link: http://GRIZZLYREPORTS.COM

So this HN submission is in violation of their (probably unenforceable) TOS just by virtue of linking to a path other than the root path of the domain.

> If you have obtained research published by Grizzly Research LLC in any manner other than by download from that link, you may not read such research without going to that link and agreeing to the Terms of Use on the Grizzly Research LLC designated website.

Quite ridiculous to expect that you can enforce a directive (don't read this article) on someone who hasn't visited your site and is therefore probably unaware that your TOS even exist.

8 comments

Add a link to your own ToS in User-Agent: "by serving this request, you agree to grant me a perpetual, exclusive, ... license to contents of your response, as well as 75% of your revenue for ever and ever until the end of the ages." And btw, your ToS will have a precedence since your request came first, so add a clause "...it also voids any and all terms, contracts and obligations that come in your response." If we're playing the game of legal nihilism, lets play it well at least.
That's a Securities and Exchange Commission compliance thing. Grizzly advises investors for pay, and they have to disclose that they do so. Companies on their list are quite likely to sue them. And lose.
Couldn't even load the article on first try. Endless Cloudflare loop:

Ray ID: 8033126d6af60a48

In keeping with the TOS though, methinks.

> You agree that the information on this website is copyrighted, and you therefore agree not to distribute this information

It seems like that's not a logically valid statement. Linking to a page on their website isn't a copyright violation (unless I'm mistaken). And the statement seems to be saying "you agree it is copyrighted and, because you agree it is copyrighted, you must also therefore be agreeing that you aren't allowed to link to it. Which doesn't follow. It seems like saying "you agree this ball is red and, therefore, you agree it is rubber"; the two things are effectively orthogonal.

The button to decline the TOS is also not a button. It does nothing.
HTTP ERROR CODE 452 User agent didn't provide X-TOS-Ive-read-the-ToS-and-I-accept-the-ToS-and-give-site-owners-all-rights-to-me-myself-and-my-firstborn header with an acceptable value. Please set X-TOS-Ive-read-the-ToS-and-I-accept-the-ToS-and-give-site-owners-all-rights-to-me-myself-and-my-firstborn to your SSN, DOB and CC number in CSVON encoded in EBDCIC19.5. Then maybe we would allow you to see the site. Maybe.
And also the button for not accepting it does nothing lol
used to link to drudge report before he sold it
Maybe it's to deter content scraping.