FiveFingers Blocks Right Finger -- Just Asking For Middle One
from the say-what-now? dept
Treating fans and customers as if they might be criminals is a really bad idea. But, so many companies seem to do it these days. Mr Klein alerts us to a ridiculous programming decision on the webpage for the famously funky Vibram Five Finger shoes (which are sort of like gloves for your feet):I was looking into buying a Vibram Five Fingers running shoes. Wanted to open one of the links in their page in a new tab in my browser. Right-clicked and... bam! I get this ridiculous pop-up warning sayingKlein's analysis is dead on. I just went and checked myself. First, this a really stupid programming decision -- blocking all right-clicks on a website for all sorts of legitimate purposes (such as opening in a new tab, as I frequently do) seems like tremendous overkill. But, more importantly, as Klein points out, all this does is serve to piss people off while doing absolutely nothing to stop the action they think they're trying to stop. Finally, making a statement about the public domain, just because someone right-clicked is also extreme. None of it makes sense, and all it really serves to do is piss off legitimate users."Sorry, that function is disabled. Contents & Graphics Copyright Vibram ® Our work is not Public Domain, and should not be taken from this site."I admit I'm not the most patient person when it comes to someone acting stupid, so this just pissed me off big time. I mean - I don't care about those shoes anymore. They're treating me like some kind of a cyber-pirate that is going to steal... Wait... Steal what? What exactly is on that web page that might harm them if copied? What if I was going to write an article about how great their shoes are? Would I really want to continue doing that after this warning? I can imagine they're afraid of counterfeit products being advertised using photos taken from their site, but - come on - if I was going to steal a picture, a simple screenshot would do the trick. So their effort is pathetic and annoying the hell out of customers like me.
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Filed Under: copyright, five finger shoes, overreaction, right clicking
Reader Comments
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Also, it makes the people who want to 'steal' the photos laugh. Hard.
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I agree took me all of 5 seconds to get by.
Funky cool shoes though.
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Except that they look like feet, which are inherently ugly.
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One word ... "Idiots"
Source
Click here for Main page Image
Products main page image
Now right click and Download to your hearts content.
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Re: One word ... "Idiots"
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"Are you sure that was the droid you were looking for?"
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Re: One word ... "Idiots"
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/501/re-enable-right-click-when-web-pages-turn-it-of f/
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Re: Re: One word ... "Idiots"
GreaseMonkey/TamperMonkey + userscripts.org
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Re: Re: Re: One word ... "Idiots"
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Save image: file->save page as (or just ctrl+s)->web page, complete.
This is way too easy, and useless. Pisses 90% of the people off tho. I think some of these web "designers" also want to prevent you from right-clicking and "copying" text or whatever...
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Does that include the ridiculous "noRightClick.js" script?
They didn't even bother to minimize it.
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more importantly. . .
Wow. These may just be the ugliest shoes that mankind has ever created:
Five Fingers Bikila
Definitely one for the The Fashion Police blog.
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Seems to not affect their .com site though.
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Re: Seems to not affect their .com site though.
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AJ
Well played, Sir.
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Re: AJ
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Trick question. You can't.
Thanks for playing.
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Maybe not.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.it/eng/counterfeit/how_to_spot_a_fake.aspx
Can you patent a shoe design?
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Re: Maybe not.
Can we talk about the fact that that silly script isn't at http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/
Am I missing something?
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Re: Maybe not.
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Re: Maybe not.
I've also read a bit about the counterfeits you can order online; as research before buying. As far as I can tell it's more of a trademark or consumer protection issue since the knockoffs are of inferior quality, with stitching that irritates and falls apart and rubber that wears quickly. That's why they require any retailer who sells VFF's online to have a physical storefront as well. The knockoffs are sold as authentic Vibram products and look surprisingly good. Most consumers would have no idea they're getting ripped off, especially without the genuine article for comparison. So it's a bit different than knock-off Oakley's in my view, where the buyer pretty much knows they're not getting the real thing for $5 at a bus station.
P.S. Yes, having a pocket for each toe is wildly different than two toed boots would be. The main purpose is to be able to fit and control the shoe against your foot while using as little material as practical. I've got the Bikilas with a little more padding for running and KSOs for hiking, I'd recommend either!
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Re: Command-click on the Mac
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And because I'm running no script I can save images. Or copy text through right clicking. Anti-piracy fail.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Feb 2nd, 2011 @ 4:39pm
Marketing win
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Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Feb 2nd, 2011 @ 4:39pm
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Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Feb 2nd, 2011 @ 4:39pm
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Drama Queens
Yes, Eldred gave copyright owners way too many rights, and yes, that has probably made a bad economic system even worse, but this isn't worth the time that's being spent on it. My purchasing decision isn't affected one bit by this, and the reason is that 1) I'm an adult, that 2) doesn't complain for complaining's sake.
Move on with your lives, people. The world doesn't owe you nearly as much as you demand from it.
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Re: Drama Queens
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Re: Drama Queens
why don't you let us have our fun and you can take your ball and go play at home by yourself.
You know why people complain? BECAUSE IT WORKS! yes I was screaming at you. You obviously have never heard the common expression the squeaky wheel gets the grease, anything about political parties anywhere in the world, revolutions, etc. People complain because they want something o change and are aggregating with like people because we are social creatures. Stop calling us children when you've got no idea what you're talking.
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And it fails again because
So it's not just a fail, it's a pointless fail!!
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sad
1) ctrl+click
2) prnt scrn >> ctrl+v
3) use chrome
4) profit!!
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Firefox extentions to fix this for yourself.
http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/righttoclick/
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Re: Firefox extentions to fix this for yourself.
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Wow, that was easy...
2.Click and drag pic to desired directory
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View Source
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Re: View Source
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Yeah, in 10 years it won't even be parody anymore.
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You must be using that trash operating system called Windows because I just checked it out in Fedora 14 with KDE as the desktop and guess what KDE works very well doing exactly what you say can not be done.
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Might help to read the post first next time. No one said "it can not be done."
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For the record, I'm on Debian GNU/Linux in KDE using Opera, Chromium and Iceweasel, and guess what- if you actually read the post, and click the link, you'll see the JavaScript banner in all three browsers.
It has nothing to do with your operating system, and everything to do with JavaScript in your browser.
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A couple of different ways to blow the blocking up
Using RightToClick (Firefox extension), after the warning popup, I could freely right click.
I'm reminded of a site that had images, and using transparent gifs (stretched out the same dimensions as the picture) while the actual picture was made the background of the frame. You couldn't quite do a right click, save as, you had to do a view background, right click, save as.
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I get tired of people asking what to do when a client asks to disable the ability to copy something from a webpage, my answer is always "tell them that it is impossible at the moment with the current technology and probably well into the foreseeability future, webpages where not designed for private viewing but to reach others and show something to them, it goes to others and what others do is difficult to control", the reply is always the same "I already did" to which I reply "then you did everything you could, give them what you can, but make it clear it can't stop anything".
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Another way to save images from sites which employ tricks to stop you (like placing a transparent GIF over the image so that you can't click on the actual image) is to go to FF's Tools menu, select Page Info and then click the Media tab. Every graphic on the page will be listed there.
Also, middle-clicking on a link will usually open it in a new tab. At least it does for me, but that may be because I have Tab Mix Plus installed.
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And for those using a laptop, they often do not have a physical middle button ("chording" the left and right buttons, when available, is harder).
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It Works Anyway
I’m not running any special Firefox/Iceweasel extensions.
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Article is Wrong. I just tried the site. Can open all links in new tabs
(1) Use NoScript and leave this site disabled (which is what most people do for new sites, right?).
(2) Or use *MIDDLE CLICK", if you want to open the links in a new window (which is also what most people do).
http://www.vibramfivefingers.it/eng/produtcs.aspx
The script is at the following URL. There's no copyright statement, which can't be an accident given its content, so maybe the programmer wasn't too keen on writing it.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.it/eng/include/noRightClick.js
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Re: Article is Wrong. I just tried the site. Can open all links in new tabs
You have listed two workarrounds, neither of which were in the instructions to reproduce the issue.
The article never said it is impossible to work around the issue of opening new tabs. Middle click is browser specific though (not to mention you need a wheelmouse)
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.it, not .com and Snopes
This reminds me of the scripts that are installed on Snopes. They won't let you select text or right click. They want the ad revenue of people going to their site, rather than you just emailing the results to your friends. Of course, disable JavaScript, use NoScript, view source, Save Page As..., many, many ways to get around it. Of course, with all the chain email, it makes you wonder who the real source is...
Anyway, this sort of JavaScript crap is annoying at best, and all it does is piss off the honest. Well played Vibram, well played.
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context menu overrides easily defeated
Edit -> Preferences
Select "Content"
Turn off "Disable or replace context menus"
There! FTFY
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Sent an email to Vibram
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Wow...
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There's always a way...
2. Start viewing the data stream.
3. Open up a command prompt.
3. Type copy con URL.txt.
4. Begin refreshing the browser, watching for the direct URL for the image.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have the URL memorized.
6. Type the URL into the command prompt.
7. Hit F6
8. Open URL.txt on your favorite text viewer.
9. Copy the contents (by hand) into the browser's address bar.
10. View image in all its raw, untampered-with glory.
11. Save image
12. ???
13 Profit
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Re: There's always a way...
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Congratulations! You get the prize for most convoluted and complicated solution to a simple problem.
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The story then is about risking driving off paying customers due to fear of something that the change has no effect on. That's not a good business model and worth a mention on a blog that often talks about how fear of piracy can have worse effects than piracy itself.
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Anyone able to conjure up anger over something as insignificant as this more than likely have too much time on their hands.
Save the finger pointing for those who deserve it.
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Links
What's up with the shortened link to Klein's analysis? I thought this was a big-boy website.
OXOX
~j
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Its a store that forbids people wearing clothing having pockets.
Here is one: Lets stop shoplifting by forcing all customers to wear pocket-less shirts and pants, and also purses because those acts as concealment to bypass our security RF detectors.
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