In an email to Buzzfeed, Marco stated (as he posted on Twitter) that it was 9to5Mac's willingness to write potentially libelous statements that he didn't want to deal with:
...I really don't foresee doing this for any other site unless they explicitly request it.
What 9to5 has consistently written about me and Instapaper goes far beyond what's acceptable, is potentially libelous, and could cause potential legal issues. This has never happened to this degree from any other site, and would certainly never happen from a professionally run publication.
I will not tolerate their behavior or the potential legal risks of interacting with 9to5 or Seth at all, so I removed the ability for Instapaper to interact with their site.
Sounds like someone wants to be a big shot but doesn't have a thick enough skin to deal with criticism. His app is completely worthless without other people's content.
I think, trying to read through the pettiness and petulance of it all, that Marco has a fine point to be argued. He just makes it in a really insufferable way.
He had a fine point to be argued until he brought it into his app functionality. Seriously, not only is that is ridiculously childish, but it's totally unnecessary—he has the audience to make his point in full editorial glory. If it's libel then sic a lawyer on them, don't play games with your user base, most of whom don't and shouldn't give a fuck.
Blocking someone describing your product as tantamount to illegal activity (scraping) is cheaper than lawyering up.
Marco's current problem is that he's put himself in such a bloviating position that relenting and whitelisting 9to5Mac is going to make him look like a huge idiot.
Someone with a thicker skin would probably have asked the guys whether they really thought Instapaper was illegal, and whether Marco should disable Instapaper support for them. That way, he wouldn't be editorializing his articles.
This measure also creates a precedent where site owners can petition him to disable support for their website - which, taken far enough, is going to make Instapaper very undesirable to prospective users.
Those of us who've paid Marco money would rather that he didn't take a service we've paid money for to use as a bargaining chip.
You know what else is worthless without other people's content? Google. Does it make Google's achievements any less noteworthy? Any less useful? No. Your point s invalid.
Content is worthless without a means to access it. That's what Instapaper is at its core.
The big question Marco didn't answer: Did he talk with a lawyer about this?
If someone's libeling you, you talk with a lawyer about suing them for libel. If someone's libeling someone else and you're worried about legal risk to your product, you talk with a lawyer about that. Then, if necessary, you censor. And when people ask why, you respond with something along the lines of: "I talked with a lawyer and I had to censor 9to5Mac to avoid legal risks. I'm sorry, my hands are tied."
I don't like 9to5Mac, but I dislike censorship more. I had to cancel my subscription because of this. It particularly sucks because Instapaper is a joy to use.
I realize my decision means nothing by itself, but it looks like other people are canceling their subscriptions for the same reason. Hopefully, that'll be enough to get Marco to change his stance.
Wait, proposing a hypothetical that maybe the FBI got UDIDs by an accidental capture of Instapaper's server is libelous, but insinuating that The Verge is a shill for OEMs isn't?
...I really don't foresee doing this for any other site unless they explicitly request it. What 9to5 has consistently written about me and Instapaper goes far beyond what's acceptable, is potentially libelous, and could cause potential legal issues. This has never happened to this degree from any other site, and would certainly never happen from a professionally run publication. I will not tolerate their behavior or the potential legal risks of interacting with 9to5 or Seth at all, so I removed the ability for Instapaper to interact with their site.
[edit] Marco's tweet: https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/245163432758878208