There is an ongoing battle between website owners and makers of ad-blocking add-ons or similar products. SkipScreen is a Firefox add-on designed to make it easier for users to download files from free hosting sites like Rapidshare, Zshare and the likes by skipping through all of the unnecessary steps and through the “waiting period” most sites of this type have implemented. The add-on proved to be quite popular with the users but, unsurprisingly, not so much with the file sharing sites. In fact, MediaFire, one of the sites for which the add-on worked, has now sent a takedown notice to Mozilla, which hosts SkipScreen on its add-ons site, prompting a response from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has taken up SkipScreen defense and has also sent a letter to Mozilla presenting their case.

A couple of days ago Mozilla notified the SkipScreen developers that it had received a takedown request from MediaFire which claimed that the add-on was violating the site’s Terms of Service and that it is solely designed to “steal bandwidth.” MediaFire's exact wording is: “The “SkipScreen” tool only has one purpose, to bypass the legitimate web pages of file hosting sites, steal bandwidth from them and show their own download page,” which are actually three “only” purposes if you think about it.

Further down the line though, the issue is spelled out a little clearer. “[SkipScreen] is materially impacting the MediaFire.com business and creating a significant cost by hijacking our services.” Based on the notice, Mozilla asked SkipScreen's developers to clarify their situation within 24 hours.

In some ways MediaFire has a point, since the add-on may very well be affecting their bottom line by allowing users to skip the ads and skip the waiting period before being allowed to actually download the file they want. Seeing as how most of the revenue to these sites comes from advertising, MediaFire is right to be worried. However, the reasons why it claims the add-on should be removed don't really stand up to scrutiny.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that takes up the fight for Internet freedom in cases like these, has come to SkipScreen's defense and has sent its own letter to Mozilla disproving MediaFire's claims while also taking in the developers as its clients. MediaFire's main point is that by allowing users to bypass the normal loading screens the add-on enables them to “steal bandwidth.” But the fact of the matter is that the add-on does nothing more than what the users would be able to do themselves. They just get what they came for consuming no additional bandwidth than if they had manually downloaded the files.

The second claim is that it violates MediaFire ToS, which the EFF also disputes by showing that, when following a direct link, the users don't agree to any policy in any form and it isn't even presented to them. The bottom line is that users should be free to use any browser and any add-on that they like on their own computers. It isn't clear what Mozilla decided but the 24 hours since the foundation notified the SkipScreen developers have passed and the add-on is still available on the site.


Just to be sure, you can download the SkipScreen Firefox add-on for Windows right here.
The SkipScreen Firefox add-on for Linux is available for download here.