[HTTPS-Everywhere] An idea for the project...

[Peter Eckersley]

Short answer: probably not.

Long answer: 

There are probably quite a few ways like this that one could do fundraising by
request rewriting.  I don't think we would even talk about it unless the
following three criteria applied:

1. The user had proactively found the rule and turned it on
2. It was consistent with Amazon/other site's terms of service (in Amazon's
   case I'd be surprised if this was allowed)
3. There are no adverse privacy or other consequences to doing it.

If those three things were true, we could talk about whether it was actually a
good idea.

On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 08:23:48PM -0700, Michael Lissner wrote:
>  EFFers,
> 
> I figured out a trick for the HTTPS-Everywhere add-on that you may be interested
> in. I'm not sure if it will pass the EFF's moral/ethical rules, but if you set
> up a store on Amazon, you can use the add-on to redirect people to the store
> (and make a profit).
> 
> So, I was thinking that with an opt-in setting in the add-on, the EFF might be
> able to leverage the people using it to get some cut of money from Amazon every
> time they make a purchase.
> 
> For example, if you have a store named "foo" a rewrite rule like this will
> direct people using amazon to your store:
> <ruleset name="Amazon (EFF Redirect)">
>     <rule from="^https?://(www\.)?amazon\.com/[^/]+/[^/]+/(\S{10})/(.*)"
>             to="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/$2/foo/" />
> </ruleset>
> 
> Then, when they make a purchase from that URL, you'll get a cut, in theory.
> Their browsing experience is unchanged, but in the mean time, your add-on has a
> revenue stream.
> 
> Just a thought. Let me know if I'm not making any sense...
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Michael Lissner
> mlissner at michaeljaylissner.com
> 909-576-4123
> 
> _______________________________________________
> HTTPS-everywhere mailing list
> HTTPS-everywhere at mail1.eff.org
> https://mail1.eff.org/mailman/listinfo/https-everywhere

-- 
Peter Eckersley                            pde at eff.org
Senior Staff Technologist         Tel  +1 415 436 9333 x131
Electronic Frontier Foundation    Fax  +1 415 436 9993