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Microsoft bans TinyURL from Windows Live Messenger

arstechnica.com — It appears that Microsoft has banned TinyURL links on its Windows Live Messenger network. Currently it is not clear whether this is intentional or simply yet another slip up by Microsoft's third-party partner which manages the URL blocking.

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  • dougvfr750, on 07/11/2008, -11/+1143rd party partner... are these the same guys that Sony used for rootkits?
    • Jeremyz0r, on 07/12/2008, -5/+74Isn't it ironic that you have to pirate Sony CD Albums just so you don't get malware on your PC?
      • jemka, on 07/12/2008, -16/+2don't you think. A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think...
    • Swarms, on 07/13/2008, -1/+3Off topic - There's a pretty good tinyurl addon for FF3 that puts a little link button next to your address bar to shorten links on a tinyurl-like site that works good: http://codefisher.org/projects/xrl.in


      There's an unofficial tinyurl one that I haven't tried. You have to read the comments to find a FF3 version: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/reviews/d ...
    • microchp, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4I haven't used public chat servers much in a long time. I prefer to use my own server because it is encrypted, anonymous and anyone can say whatever they want. Setting up a chat server is extremely easy. Just google for things like "Unreal IRCD", "CGI IRC" for your web front end, etc... use an SSL cert from Godaddy since it is cheap.... and you are all set.

      ***** public servers. They are all recorded, semi moderated and just logging your conversations so companies can create more effective ***** spam.
  • krystalo, on 07/11/2008, -22/+12Let's hope this was just another MS ***** up and not intentional.
    • iAMac, on 07/12/2008, -24/+12I don't believe that blocking multiple, specific urls is accidental. If you ask me, its typical Microsoft fashion.
    • PL3NTY, on 07/12/2008, -1/+63Update: From a Microsoft spokesperson "...This URL is being blocked unintentionally and we are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disruption this may be causing our customers."

      As of 4:00pm PDT, TinyURL.com was unblocked from Windows Live Messenger.
    • ruddy, on 07/12/2008, -3/+21yeah, it's not like they just released the most anticipated phone in the history of man kind, then ***** it up cuz they don't have enough activation servers. that would be stupid.
  • techblogLAT, on 07/11/2008, -14/+49Why would Microsoft keep banning links from its instant messenger? It doesn't make sense. Are they looking for bad press?
    • 4DFX, on 07/12/2008, -8/+26As if bad press would make any difference. Almost half of the planet is already poisoned by MSN, there's no way people would switch to another IM. It's a perfect trap: "No I'm not going to switch because all my friends are using it." Microsoft can do whatever they want and still keep the monopoly. I predict even more censorship.
      • Murdats, on 07/12/2008, -6/+17this is the way it works, everyone uses microsoft but everyone bitches about microsoft.
        whatever they do its bad PR, I have seen people say gates giving billions of dollars away is bad.
        that doesnt stop people using their products though.
      • rossisdead, on 07/12/2008, -7/+12Luckily no one I know uses MSN
      • Azio, on 07/12/2008, -5/+59People use MSN because it's a good, reliable IM service with lots of features and a mediocre but tolerable client. Everyone shied away from AIM a few years back because AOL decided to bundle adware with it and it became a bloated piece of *****. With ICQ you have to remember a ridiculous number, instead of just using your email address. iChat is Mac only; if Apple really wanted it to be popular they would port it for Windows, like they did with Safari and iTunes. Google Talk has like no features. I could go on.

        MSN's popularity is entirely the result of market forces. Microsoft has done nothing underhanded or sneaky to make it popular. In fact, it doesn't even come preinstalled with Windows anymore. You have to go download it. But apparently it is impossible for Microsoft to do anything right without being perceived as an evil monopolistic trap. If you really hate MSN that much but all your friends use it, go download some third party client and stop crying.
      • dlsspy, on 07/12/2008, -4/+5"iChat is Mac only; if Apple really wanted it to be popular they would port it for Windows, like they did with Safari and iTunes. Google Talk has like no features. I could go on."

        You could go on, but you're not making any sense.

        iChat is a client for AIM, XMPP (jabber), and bonjour chat. There are countless clients the first two, and probably for the third as well, but I don't use it all that much (except in the office, and I don't use iChat to speak to people over bonjour chat).

        Google Talk is XMPP. I use Adium or Psi to talk to people over it.
      • grassiness, on 07/13/2008, -5/+1@disspy; Azio:

        The reason why iChat has not being ported on the Windows platform is that you would have to integrate it deeply in the system to make features available like iChat-Theater.

        iChat isn't simply another IM just for mac, it is a vpn remote-control with dyndns plus live media and document sharing.
      • 4DFX, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2@Azio
        Didn't you see my Digg icon? Do you really think I use Windows Live Messenger? And even if I did, it's not the client that bothers me, it's the damn protocol that uses INDIRECT & UNENCRYPTED connections.
        Anyway... MSN became so popular because it came pre-installed with Windows. Before that, everyone I knew was using ICQ or IRC.
      • TeagueSterling, on 07/13/2008, -3/+2@Azio
        I don't know if you want to call it underhanded or not, but trying to turn off (or god forbid, uninstall) MSN Messenger in XP was a *****' nightmare. In order to remove it, you actually had to edit a .SYS file and remove the flags which hid it in the Add/Remove Programs dialogs.
        While I have no opinion either way on the service or the client itself, they initially went out of their way to make it near impossible to not at least have on your system.
    • mossblaser, on 07/12/2008, -3/+5I saw a while back they were banning certain pages names ending with .php (but not the same ones ending in asp or aspx....) - things like "download.php" and whatnot...
    • xerox, on 07/12/2008, -0/+5They also block my favourite media sharing site, mediafire.com from their networks.
    • Drahkar, on 07/12/2008, -1/+9It could easily be an automated system.

      This kind of thing I don't hold against them. When you have a automated system sometimes it gets false alerts and you fix them. That's what they have done. Microsoft has a long list of things you can complain and blame them for. How about we focus on the ones that are legitimate screw ups. Like ignoring known security holes in their software for months on end. Or flawed DRM systems, or shady dealings with trying to make everyone have to use their file formats as 'standards', etc.

      Like I said, there are plenty of reasons to be pissed off with Microsoft. Lets focus on the ones that are actual issues and not the ones that anyone running similar software would run into.
    • r3zonance, on 07/12/2008, -2/+27They're banning tinyurl because it allows you to mask the actual destination URL.

      It's simply a preventative security measure (and a good one too).

      At the moment say to someone, hey go here for some cool software, redirect them somewhere completely different and pwn their machine.

      Seems bloody obvious to me, take off your tin foil hats, and stop hating so much.
      • rebotfc, on 07/12/2008, -10/+2It should be up to the user to choose to ban these links not Microsoft.

        The point is it bans legitimate links such as mediafire.com and not just malware / hijack links.

        Censorship SUCKS!
      • gcnaddict, on 07/12/2008, -7/+5"Censorship SUCKS!"

        Use a different service and stfu. God damn. It's not like Microsoft has a monopoly over the messenger market.
      • alexforcefive, on 07/13/2008, -4/+2If they really wanted to protect users, they would just parse the tinyurl and make sure it doesn't link to something they're already blocking.
      • yodaj007, on 07/13/2008, -1/+2alex: Tinyurl's are not 'parsed' like that. They're little more than hashes into the tinyurl *database*. Since you don't have access to said database you can't know what the destination url is.

        Please, before making comments on a technology you don't understand, read about it.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TinyURL
      • xxbrighteyed, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1I didn't even think of that, excellent point. I have also had trouble in the past with mediafire links, but not with rapidshare or megaupload etc., which I found odd.
    • falafelkiosken, on 07/12/2008, -5/+2the protecting against malware is a somewhat legitimate argument, but then rather let the user decide what to block and not secretly add (often harmless sites like youtube) to the list and blame it on third partners
    • Charklii, on 07/12/2008, -0/+5I have no idea aye.. BUT I KNOW WHO BLOCKED YOU! To find out go here tinyurl.com/etcyougethepicture? I for one commend the move.
  • asteron, on 07/12/2008, -20/+226Sounds good. Obscuring the identity of urls is horrible both for user experience and from a security standpoint.
    If tinyurl were responsible and banned links to known malicious sites I would have more sympathy for them.
    • poidh, on 07/12/2008, -3/+120But, how is anyone going to be rickrolled nowadays without tinyurl?
    • manitoba98xp, on 07/12/2008, -2/+24Just add "preview." to the domain and you can see what URL it's about to redirect you to. Great feature.
      • NikkiA, on 07/12/2008, -0/+21Or turn on 'preview mode' for your browser at tinyurl's site.

        I will agree that preview mode should be enabled by default though, its too easy for people to use tinyurl for wrongdoing.

        What worries me more than tinyurl being banned on MSN, however, is that it might lead to awurl being banned - which is a fair more useful service that I frequently use, unfortunately though awurl has the same drawbacks as tinyurl in terms of hiding 'evil' content.
    • totorototoro, on 07/12/2008, -0/+18Except Microsoft said it was unintentional on their part, and they have unblocked it.
    • AngelBunny, on 07/12/2008, -3/+7or they could do the smart thing and put a warning in front of every url that goes through MSN IM. I hate censoring. What happening to freedom to do what you want with given consequences vs the gov diapering us? Now corporations are changing our diapers? wtf?

      am I the only one that feels this way?
    • Schmich, on 07/12/2008, -0/+4On top of that, for MSN (or most instant messangers) copy pasting a long URL isn't necessarily hard.
    • fugazied, on 07/12/2008, -0/+1Not sure if its still the case, but I remember .info urls often had a hard time getting through the filter. Other urls would randomly not work, simply stripped out of the conversation. Anyway they can do what they want, I'm not stupid enough to use a chat client that censors my chat with friends.
    • Fryth, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1URL's are already obscured and insecure by definition -- you're lucky if you see something related to the content of the page in the URL. TinyURL just provides a shortening feature. You can always expand the URL without going to the site as others have mentioned.
  • graysilver, on 07/12/2008, -38/+5WTF do you use MSN for anyway, its for pubescent teenagers to btich about their friends on and half of them don't have a clue what is a virus and what isn't. Who cares, use another network.
    • AlienMushroom, on 07/12/2008, -4/+13Why do you think you are using Digg for?
    • potterboy, on 07/12/2008, -2/+16I use MSN's network because that's what most of my families on. I use AIM too, but it doesn't really matter because Pidgin brings everything together.
      • TheDeepFriar, on 07/12/2008, -2/+7Right on!
        Pidgin FTW.
      • IndigoMoss, on 07/12/2008, -2/+3Pidgin definitely is FTW. I really hope they get a G15 Keyboard plugin out of it, because I like it's interface better than Trillian's.
    • Murdats, on 07/12/2008, -1/+13I use msn for uni, work and friends.

      but then I live in this crazy place called not america
    • Rikkochet, on 07/12/2008, -1/+8I guess it's easy to trash the most popular IM network in North America when you have no friends to talk to anyways.
    • Jeffler, on 07/12/2008, -1/+7Because unlike the states where it seems most have AIM and Myspace, Canada is DOMINATED by MSN and Facebook...almost nobody I know DOESN'T have either.
  • itsfunny, on 07/12/2008, -22/+13Obviously intentional. But whatever, it's just msn.
  • AlienMushroom, on 07/12/2008, -12/+7I don't have that problem.
    • AlienMushroom, on 07/12/2008, -9/+6I got it. You can't NOT trash Microsoft on Digg even if by telling the truth.
  • jerrycurley, on 07/12/2008, -32/+47If this was Gogle, you would be praising it. Because it is an OBVIOUS move. If you are OK with weeding out ANY links, like to malicious websites, then you have to be OK with this, since the tinyURL link could go to one of those banned websites.

    Sorry, but there is NO reason to use tinyURL on Messenger, other than to obscure your link.
    • Thorpe, on 07/12/2008, -7/+21Gogle?
    • 3toe, on 07/12/2008, -0/+10Have to agree with jerrycurley. Tinyurl is a nice tool when you need (ventrilo comments, for example) but has too much room to be exploited.
    • totorototoro, on 07/12/2008, -1/+5Its an OBVIOUS move, if by OBVIOUS you mean "UNINTENTIONAL", as Microsoft has just announced that the blocking was in fact, unintentional. Obviously.
    • kahrn, on 07/12/2008, -1/+2um... one of the main reasons for using the tiny-url at all is for instant messaging. The only problem is that a url-preview is not enabled by default. I use it all the time for good reasons.
    • Rekzai, on 07/12/2008, -1/+2I use TinyUrl for IM'ing long links or links that cut off because of obscure characters.
    • diggimator, on 07/13/2008, -3/+2AAAARG I hate these random "If it were done by X, you'd be praising it" comments on anything related to Microsoft. Saying anything critical about Microsoft is automatically declared invalid because the internet community cannot be trusted with a balanced perspective on Microsoft. BS. At least X wasn't Apple this time.
    • Eibx, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Now come on they unblocked the service again, and the only times I've used tinyURL on MSN, was when I were trying to trick my friends into Meatspin.

      "Saying anything critical about Microsoft is automatically declared invalid because the internet community cannot be trusted with a balanced perspective on Microsoft."

      Now Diggimator, that's not true, totally opposite. It's very very rare to see a person saying. "I love Microsoft" / "I'm a Microsoft fanboy". You're not actually allowed to love Microsoft or Bill Gates.
  • sjorsvb, on 07/12/2008, -8/+48No more being rick'rolld on MSN woohoo!
  • Carv, on 07/12/2008, -2/+63They were just angry about getting Rickroll'd with it so much.
  • jakbrud, on 07/12/2008, -3/+87As of 4:00pm PDT, TinyURL.com was unblocked from Windows Live Messenger.
    • lucutus, on 07/12/2008, -1/+11According to my own testing it was never "blocked". Every time I see a story on here about messenger blocking something, it's never blocked for me.
  • PL3NTY, on 07/12/2008, -2/+46Update: From a Microsoft spokesperson "...This URL is being blocked unintentionally and we are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disruption this may be causing our customers."

    As of 4:00pm PDT, TinyURL.com was unblocked from Windows Live Messenger.
    • banmaster, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2Yup, works fine for me again.
    • 8dot3, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Ha ha, see comment above asteron, and here I thought they were doing some right for a change... :)
  • FishHammer, on 07/12/2008, -8/+3Tinyurl's make it WAY too easy to trick someone into downloading a trojan or just looking at nasty pictures. At least if you send someone tubgirl or goatse, they have a chance.
    • 3Den, on 07/12/2008, -1/+3It would be absurd to ban them for this reason - any joker can set up something to redirect urls...
      • Atomic1fire, on 07/12/2008, -0/+3Even Iframes could be used for this method
        Freewebs + custom html page + Iframe containing bad site
      • NikkiA, on 07/12/2008, -0/+1Indeed, and in fact tinyurl is just one of many many services that do the same thing.
    • Pigeon, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2You'd have to be a retard to download something stupid though.
    • bjornski, on 07/12/2008, -1/+3Do you install stuff from people you don't know often?

      Or do your "friends" think it's funny to send you viruses and malware?

      My friends don't do that *****, and I'm smart enough not to run anything sent to me from someone I don't know.
      • FishHammer, on 07/12/2008, -1/+3it's not you they're worried about. people are really stupid. there are plenty of 11-15 year olds using MSN and plenty of nasty people that do this for kicks.
      • bjornski, on 07/12/2008, -0/+1@FishHammer

        Well, I hope they don't make the software "child safe" because of a bunch of stupid kids

        I'm tired of the entire society being dumbed down "for the children".
  • xkorbin, on 07/12/2008, -16/+2They banned .mac addresses from getting Live IDs a long time ago. I have no taste for this ***** system.
  • Ryan0617, on 07/12/2008, -10/+10Good, no more rick rolls!
  • InorganicMatter, on 07/12/2008, -13/+11Good. TinyURL serves no other purpose than Rickrolling someone. I don't even click them anymore.
    • NikkiA, on 07/12/2008, -1/+4Obviously you've never tried to paste a long url to twitter or via plain SMS then.
  • Sairgem, on 07/12/2008, -9/+6I'm currently trying to convert all my friends back to aim. AIM sucks as well, but from what I've noticed, at least they don't filter what you can say. I was pissed when I found out I couldn't send a message to a friend with a link to the pirate bay.
    • Sairgem, on 07/12/2008, -2/+2It was utorrent that wouldn't send, not thepiratebay. I just tested it again, and if you try to send someone a message with http://www.utorrent.com/download.php in it, it won't allow you to.
      • dlsspy, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2Skip it and go to xmpp (jabber). Get something that's actually using an open standard protocol so you don't have to deal with these constant fights where they're kicking out third-party clients and there's no central authority for censorship.

        Stop empowering these corporations, and you can stop worrying about the effects of them.

        If you have a gmail account, you can already use any xmpp client. If you want to talk to people on other services, there are jabber accounts with protocol gateways. Here is a list of many servers and features they offer:

        http://www.movsoftware.com/servers/
      • Sairgem, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1You try getting your friends to go to jabber. It's not gonna happen. The problem is I'm not even gonna get everyone to go to AIM. Their friends are on MSN, and their friend's friends are on MSN. I also have friends too stubborn to even use pidgin and still use that god awful MSN client, so telling them to login to multiple accounts is out of the question.

        As for talking to people on msn/aim through jabber, why bother? Still getting the problem where MSN won't send certain messages since it will still be going through their server.
      • Kanidia, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1It's not utorrent, it's ANY link with /download.php after it

        Try http://www.digg.com/download.php or http://www.microsoft.com/download.php
    • mimigins, on 07/12/2008, -4/+1pidgin imo
      • Sairgem, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1Completely missed the point imo. Think about what you're saying and try again.
  • inotocracy, on 07/12/2008, -2/+4TinyURL is most usable when you don't have a lot of character space, but in this case you could probably fit just about any URL into an MSN message. I could see the potential for abuse and why they would block it. Its a lot harder to block known phishing URLs/domains if its TinyURL encoded.
    • bjornski, on 07/12/2008, -1/+1You really think they're incapable of knowing where the link goes to?

      Really?
      • inotocracy, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2I doubt they have crawlers that hit every URL you receive through IM before you do, so yeah I believe so. I never said incapable, I said it would be difficult.
    • joshmiao, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1The problem is when obscure characters break the links on IM apps
  • nothing4me, on 07/12/2008, -0/+8It's unblocked now...
  • Tyrghast, on 07/12/2008, -8/+1They got tired of getting rickrolled...
  • Enjia, on 07/12/2008, -4/+9so now we can bury this as inaccurate?
  • bdpf, on 07/12/2008, -1/+2Standard, mother will protect you till the grave, of coarse the instant message services have a lot of security problems.
  • fxu1989, on 07/12/2008, -0/+9They need to unblock mediafire.com -_-

    Tired of removing the "http://www" from the links
    • xerox, on 07/12/2008, -0/+3I agree. I use it as my media sharing choice, and having to remove stuff from the links is getting a bit tiresome.
  • traphik, on 07/12/2008, -11/+2SUCK IT MICROSOFT!

    http://fwdurl.net
  • MavRevMatt, on 07/12/2008, -6/+8Who cares? Just use another URL shortening service or something. There's got to be a couple thousand.
    • Sairgem, on 07/12/2008, -5/+11People like you make me cringe. "Please! Restrict me more, I don't care!"
      • Tenetri, on 07/12/2008, -2/+1amen
      • MavRevMatt, on 07/13/2008, -2/+3I don't use MSN if at all possible so I really -don't- care. If you don't like it, don't use it. There are tons of better services out there.
    • ultrafez, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1There is snipurl.com
  • ratatat1, on 07/12/2008, -8/+3Who uses Live Messenger anyway?
  • MattNF, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2I remember they did this a few months back with Youtube, but they fixed it shortly afterwards.
  • kelchm, on 07/12/2008, -11/+7wow. This is why I don't use Live Messenger.
  • TWGMichael, on 07/12/2008, -2/+5TinyUrl.com is for people who have to type a complicated address. If you click, copy/paste or otherwise NOT TYPE, don't expect this to work. Jack ass.
  • bluefusion, on 07/12/2008, -8/+1Best URL shortener... http://sitetiny.com
    and no I didn't make it.
  • Gullop, on 07/12/2008, -2/+10Well looks like it's sorted, NEXT.
  • anonymous4, on 07/12/2008, -9/+2I'm sure this is a grave inconvenience to the four people who use MSNM instead of AIM.
  • ZachE84, on 07/12/2008, -2/+5It should be banned. It is a huge security hole and I feel sorry for anyone that click them. I also for sorry for idiots that use it. Use Ctrl + V, it was invented 15 years ago and is even easier.
  • mt4055, on 07/12/2008, -10/+3Don't care. I'll never use Live Messenger.
  • jabelli, on 07/12/2008, -4/+7Go to TinyURL.com, click preview feature, click enable previews.

    Now you see the url instead of getting a redirect. Is that so hard?
  • KyjL, on 07/12/2008, -12/+10...People use MSN Messenger?
    • ted510, on 07/12/2008, -0/+8Mostly the whole world besides the US....
      • 1hrSleep, on 07/12/2008, -2/+2Yep, even Canada uses MSN. Get with the times!
    • BlueSkyfish, on 07/12/2008, -2/+2Most people in USA use AIM, and other countries use MSN. Personally, I prefer AIM because it's the lesser of two evils. All the crap in AIM can be bypassed by using Pidgin, but MSNs crap is through their servers.

      What a wonderful world it would be if everyone just used Google Talk.
      • robz0rz, on 07/12/2008, -1/+1Long live Pidgin. Chatting is not about what protocol you use anymore, but who you chat with. I'm loving it.
    • sbassi, on 07/13/2008, -0/+5In Argentina, using MSN is almost synonymous of using the Internet, at least by teenagers.
    • Kanidia, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4Every single person with whom I use instant messaging uses MSN Messenger (aka Windows Live Messenger).
    • sammykeyes, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2I use MSN (or Live Messenger) because it's actually better. A lot of the feature you see in AIM, have been in WLM before.

      Plus AOL installs lots of crap when I downloaded AIM not so long ago. There's relatively few features in AIM, compared to WLM, and I like have a lot of options.

      I just wish people didn't use AIM, because "everyone else in America" is using it.
  • chazuk, on 07/12/2008, -3/+6Looks like its been fixed people....
    Got to love the sensationalist healine even BEFORE they confirmed if it was being blocked by MS....
    • Sairgem, on 07/12/2008, -4/+3Not so sensationalist when they have a history of filtering what you're allowed to send through their service.
      • chazuk, on 07/12/2008, -1/+1Guilty until proven innocent rules the internet news blogging sites it seems.....
    • Sairgem, on 07/13/2008, -1/+1Except they've been proven guilty multiple times. Chances are, tinyurl was blocked, if not for a short amount of time. Maybe it was an accident, who knows, but it's not out of the question.
  • BlackCow, on 07/12/2008, -7/+6"We are very serious in our efforts to block virus, malware and other harmful URLs from being passed on to our customers."

    If MS really cared they would ditch IE and put Firefox on all new copies of windows.
  • bicycleman, on 07/12/2008, -2/+9It's time to move over to encrypted chat. WTF are they doing reading your IMs!!!!???

    Anyone know of good encrypted chat?
    • necuz, on 07/12/2008, -0/+6OTR messaging is supported by all the good clients and can be used on any existing network.
  • myrlion, on 07/12/2008, -5/+0There are a lot of URL forwarding sites other than TinyURL.
    I have found a good list here http://imarketingmaniac.blogspot.com/2008/05/url-s ...
    • Magnut, on 07/13/2008, -0/+0Why is he being dugg down? It is a legitimate list.
  • necuz, on 07/12/2008, -6/+0TinyURL is useful for circumventing all the other stupid filtering on MSN.
  • raversnet, on 07/12/2008, -7/+7In the rest of the world nobody uses AIM. Pull your head out of your asses please.
  • OrangeTide, on 07/12/2008, -0/+5I would ban tinyurl if I were them. You can put any sort of garbage in the tinyurl and most users aren't going to hand edit the URL to put it into preview mode. Actually that gives me an idea for an irc bot that turns tinyurls into previews.
    • JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2008, -4/+1I would not do that if I were you. At least not without thinking very carefully when designing the architecture/code about whether troublesome HTML - or other MIME types - content could flow into the rendering component used by the IM client.

      After all, I can't recall seeing an announcement yet declaring "last web browser bug finally fixed!".

      Something that inserts content from some out-of-band (external) source from the main convo stream might bypass all kinds of checks. That is exactly the sort of thing that some people look for when they try to find new ways of misbehaving online.

      Not saying it is not a smart feature - just saying be wise in how you go about it.
      • Magnut, on 07/13/2008, -0/+1He is talking about the tinyurl preview feature...
  • rowjimmy, on 07/12/2008, -5/+6to everybody saying "who uses msn messenger wtf i use aim duhhh" you should probably know that the whole internet is not the usa, and the vast majority of the rest of the world (europe and africa esp) uses msn messenger
    • ted510, on 07/12/2008, -0/+5Don't forget Asia and South America. The most popular IM client in the world is MSN ahem I mean Windows Live Messenger! AIM = AOL Instant Messenger = AOL = AMERICA Online. Get it? Now bury me like you buried the dude above.
      • rowjimmy, on 07/12/2008, -1/+1a lot of asians/south americans/eastern-europeans i know use[d] icq, but now tend to use msn.
  • cougar618, on 07/12/2008, -9/+3Did they block hugeurl.com?
  • llzackll, on 07/12/2008, -0/+2Easy solution: have the MSN servers convert the TinyURL into the real URL. I have an IRC bot that does this. It is pretty simple stuff.
    • JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2008, -1/+1Someone wrote a Mac OS X text service to convert TinyURLs into the actual URL they stand for.
  • TheSeeker11, on 07/12/2008, -2/+4You have to remember that a lot of MSN users are not as savvy as the average Digg user, therefore blocking TinyURL is probably a good idea. Just imagine the amount of MSN accounts set up for parents/grandparents etc. Mum/Grandma logs into MSN, sees "|337 h4x0r has added you as a contact" and thinks, "Oh, maybe that's how Johnny is known on the interweb". Next thing you know, Johnny sends a link to his new photo album, after which malware infestation ensues.
  • harlowsmonkeys, on 07/12/2008, -1/+9Good. Tinyurl is badly designed. It's existing form is fine for making short URLs that you can temporarily memorize (I use it all the time at work, for example, if I see a web page, and want to go over to someone else's desk and ask them to go to that page).

    But for URLs you are going to send by email or IM, it should allows a slightly longer form. Something like this (I'm going to put gratuitous underscores in this so that it won't be taken as an actual URL): h_t_t_p://tinyurl.com/17aq7?h=foo.com&p=bar.html

    The h= and p= arguments would be optional. If h= is present, the Tinyurl redirector would only redirect if the tinyurl actually point to the given host. Similarly, if p= was present, the redirector would make sure that the redirect is to that page.

  • Zippo, on 07/12/2008, -6/+5Instead banning certain web addresses to try and prevent virus infections, why don't they just fix their ***** software so it doesn't get infected?
  • choppa1890, on 07/12/2008, -2/+5Seeing how a friend tried goatseing me through google chat, i am all for this. You never know what's hiding behind those links.
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