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Comment by selcuka | Hacker News Reader

Violating the API Terms of Service [1]?

> [...] Further, you will not: [...] (C) access our APIs or documentation in order to replicate or compete with the Services;

[1] https://slack.com/intl/en-au/terms-of-service/api

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I would be confused as to how an add-on service such as a premium Slack client would compete with Slack. It seems it would be complementing it and the use of the client would not compete but fundamentally cooperate with Slack as a service.

Sincere question: is an alternate app competing with Slack’s services? We pay for each user who uses Slack, whether it’s by phone, desktop, or web. The client is 100% free; the right to connect to their service is what costs money. Slack makes exactly the same whether I use their app or an alternative.

I’m definitely not a lawyer, but it’s not clear to me that this would violate the ToS.

Can they actually sue, or can they just terminate the service for this one account?

I’m not a lawyer, but I believe Slack would have to show they were harmed in some way to successfully sue.

They can certainly attempt to block 3rd party clients, though. Or threaten to / actually sue, even if they’re unlikely to be successful.

Unlikely to be successful? This app has near zero chance of surviving a legal challenge from Slack.

Author of Ripcord. You don’t know what you’re talking about and shouldn’t broadcast your assumptions as fact.

You keep commenting one-line sentences without any argument supporting your sentence. You may even be right, but am I supposed to blindly trust you, a random commenter from the internet?

I mean, you don't have to. I appreciate the skepticism. I am the actual author of Ripcord. I've had an account here for many years. You will not find someone with better firsthand knowledge about Ripcord surviving or not surviving legal challenges.

I'd be interested to hear more about what sort of challenges you have faced, and if/how you responded to them, if you have the time.

Regardless of the upthread "well, just switch [your company/government/entire friend network] to an open/permissive service" non-answer, I think there's going to be ever-more need for unofficial clients for some of these services, and a big part of that is going to be how to avoid having them shut down immediately by service providers...

I would like to say stuff about it, but can't just yet.

Oh, you have a law license too?

They are based in Germany. They would need to be sued in Germany. Germany has legal insurance where you can get insurance and it will cover your legal bills and liabilites. On top of that Germany has legal restrictions on how much a case can cost. Slack/Saleforce would not have much benefit in a legal challenge due to their size and legal costs. Furthermore, Slack would have to have a legal case. Which they most likely won't have.

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