DISQUS

I agree with the comment about TOS violation, to a point. The problem is that it's not as clear cut as you describe, and the enforceability and legal overstepping in most web TOS "agreements" is questionable. I think people like Scoble are doing a service to the industry in pushing the boundaries, though I wish a few would end up in court to set clear legal precedent.

This anti-scraping clause is appearing more and more, and it begs a question about who owns the data. Do they own your data? Do they have copyright on your writings because they store them? Do you have shared rights, or any rights at all? If they shut off access, do you have the right to obtain your data? Today the default answer is generally "no", though without legal precedents to say whether that answer is real or enforceable.

Another problem is the rapid rise of specific companies that dominate the landscape, ala Facebook or Google, and the power they can wield. "Use another service" isn't always the best answer, particularly when it's platform-type services. We aren't in a tech market any more - we're in a mass consumer market. Like it or not, these dominant players can establish good or bad ground rules that have a much broader effect on the industry as a whole. Some people with bigger soapboxes can help point out the problems and maybe, if we're lucky, get them to shift to more reasonable policies.

The reason this doesn't work as well as a Mosquito Magnet is that it uses octenol but not CO2. The other problem is that certain species of mosquito don't key on octenol - there's a warning in the MM docs that octenol repels the asian tiger mosquito and possibly several others. My MM is humnming along and has sucked up a bag so far this spring. Wish I had several more around the place to build a virtual mosquito wall.