I feel like websites shouldn't be able to just ban scripting. What if I have a disability and a custom script is the only way I can interface with fb?
If I own a general purpose computer, and I purchase a connection to the internet, I'm entitled to interact however I desire* with an internet service, or the information it chooses to send me.
It is not entitled to have the information it sent to me displayed in a certain way, and it certainly isn't entitled to bitch when I choose to interact with it in a way different than its preferences.
If that's what it wants, then it's welcome to sell a sealed appliance that only interacts in allowed ways. And we'll see what choices people make.
* With the exception of actions that impact others, e.g. DoS, authentication bypass, malicious hacking
And let's be honest, and I'm the last person to defend FB, but they are not likely to be going to be going after a lone user who has automated something for his own convenience with Selenium or whatever...
Once I decided I wanted to delete a lot of old email from a webmail account. There was no "select all" function so I wrote a one-liner in the javascript console of the browser. When that worked, I automated clicking the "delete" button, and then added a loop to do it over and over. This probably violated a TOS clause somehow, but nothing ever came of it.
Why are you entitled to all these things? What gives you the right to demand that others act in accordance with your desires?
What entitles me to control of my computer? “My computer is mine, and you cannot have it.”.
That being said, I’m somewhat more open to the validity of restrictions for how to interact with the server.
If someone e.g. is running an MMO with e.g. in-game items with real money value, and someone else is like, distributing cheats to get these items immediately, it seems fair that the MMO owner should be able to make them stop (though, like, ideally their game would just be secure?)
But if users are permitted to interact with the server in a particular way, I see no reason to allow requiring that users actually touch their mouse and keyboard while doing things they are allowed to do using their mouse and keyboard.
Lets have a law that requires all large services to expose all account settings though an API(?!)
Basically, 1) you [as usual] get to set up the terms of service that your users must stick to, 2) you get to pick what account options you want to offer to the user. i.e. do you want to receive email notifications yes/no, do you want to upload an avatar yes/no, what url/email/phone number do you want to display on your profile etc 3) You do not own these settings and shall provide an API for the user to change them.
You could extend the concept with things like allowing the download of a contact list with the contacts who have this enabled and the information they chose to share. Or say offer TOS updates though the API.
But the initial goal should be for browsers to offer a uniform settings page for all websites you have accounts for.
Remember that unsolicited email check box just above that for to the terms of service? If you use the site all the time you might want to opt in but who wants to dig though a website looking for it? Maybe in hind sight targeted advertisement is just what you wanted? Maybe a feed of updated settings would be useful.
Or maybe you just want to delete your accounts in a convenient way.
It is very easy to DoS by accident with software; and while I’m in favour of totally breaking the economic model of FB in this way, doing so definitely has an impact on others (specifically the Other which is FB itself).
And in a choice between user autonomy and service stability, I can't side with the latter over the former.
Because it's the only avenue we have. Providing accessibility tends to require creating holes in otherwise user-hostile UX, and big companies can't give up on accessibility due to PR reasons - which makes it a perfect beachhead for people who just want a sane and respectful computing experience.
There is a whole category of law where they just go around suing businesses for not being accessible enough. Quite a lot of money in it.