Just shipped psake VS Code extension v1.0!
Open a project with a psakefile.ps1 and your tasks just appear. Native task provider, CodeLens run buttons, sidebar explorer, 9 snippets.
psake tasks, now first-class in VS Code.
cloud.umami.is/q/psake-vsc-v1
To address this in any meaningful way, I'd need more space than I can stand to take up on a bsky thread, but, in summary:
That maps neatly to the boom-and-bust cycles within Capitalism and those influence business decisions that result in our web experiences. compute & storage don't grow on trees.
I don't think your explanation jibes with multiple, well-researched, knowledgeable analyses conducted over the many years since its fall from popularity. We can't just make up connections without data and call it reality.
They didn't fail for popularity reasons. They fell behind because they made bad strategic purchases that impaired their ability to keep up.
I've read a dozen "why they failed," and web scraping and standards were never mentioned.
Tech won't save us when there are no incentives for for-profit companies to make data free that they can monetize.
We have always had low-friction, simple tech to transfer data easily. It's not a lack of tech. The line must go up.
If you think blocking web scraping was what led to Yahoo's downfall, I look forward to that detailed analysis. Pretty sure they fell off for far larger reasons.
I'm not trying to win; I'm just explaining that it has always been this way. You are currently trying to scrape one of the most popular websites and getting blocked by tech. In the 90's Yahoo was one of the most popular sites and my scraping was being blocked by tech.
Right, if my explanation comes off as defensive, let me clarify: this is all absolutely bullshit. But unless we are ready to overthrow Capitalism, I don't see it getting any better.
It has not. I used to web scrape Yahoo Forums in the 90's. They were doing stuff like per-request DOM changes to prevent it. Rate limiting requests has been around forever, too. Many TOS have expressly prohibited it for decades.
This is not about legality. A site's TOS sets out what they consider legitimate use of the site, and they will block you, suspend/terminate accounts, etc., within their private power when you violate them.
I'm not suggesting you will be sued, I'm suggesting your tech will break if you violate TOS.
Back in my day, websites were also fighting web scraping and web crawling. Though not with as sophisticated tech as today.
I also want an internet where I can just grab stuff. It's just never been that internet.
Fair warning to anyone who hasn't been doing this for decades:
Any tech that relies on web scraping is brittle and likely violates TOS for the sites you scrape.
It's scraping by definition. It is forbidden by TOS on most sites, and that has been the case since the 90's and 00's. Some sites have been enforcing this with technology for a long time. I guess IMDB finally had enough.
As for when, I see a Reddit report that it started around 2 months ago. They appear to be doing a JS challenge/response mechanism that gums up the workings of scrapers, but works without issue in normal browser use.
It repros for me.
But, this activity is expressly prohibited by their terms and conditions. www.imdb.com/conditions
Just trying to make us both better, luv. <3
If you had asked, "This isn't my area of expertise, but is this a possible security risk?" I wouldn't be coming on hot. I would have just answered your question.
You didn't ask a question, though. You said, "I have some slight security concerns that could be mollified if it were open source." as a respected technologist with a platform.
You are free to believe whatever you want. But we should not be vibe scaring people.
But they don't have to! It's literally not any different. The game can just do the bad stuff itself. the game code on disc can be manipulated out-of-process to be malicious... save-file injection is a risk for all games.
No.. There really is 0 difference between this and any other game that, by necessity, needs to access files on your system and execute code within them. It just has the vibes of being less safe.
The same concern exists with every game, though. This is not positioned any differently. They all need to read files from disks, including assets, libraries, and save files. They all have to process strings etc.
Are you worried about the player code injecting their own system???? Are you worried about another malicious piece of software launching the game and reaching a loot box to perform code injection??? You have already been successfully compromised before either of these scenarios.
bad wording... instead of "worry about," I should say "impliment."
I can sympathize with a non-tehncial player being concerned. But you and I are technologists. We shouldn't add to their anxiety.
If a game pops up a terminal, it's no less secure than a game that just does all its nefarious stuff directly in the game code without a terminal.
The developer doesn't need to worry about command injection... you are already running their code.
By focusing on a game that "looks" less secure based on vibes, you give a pass to all the other games. You draw undue scrutiny for a game that does nothing different from others.
We don't base security posture on what "looks" less or more secure.
This game has no increased risk over others. They all access your filesystem. A game without a folder gimmick doesn't mean it isn't scraping your hard drive for data.
Law #1: If a bad actor can persuade you to run their program on your computer, it's not solely your computer anymore.
o_O Why would it be a particular security concern with this game and say... every game?
