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Mickey G
4,642 PointsHow does Dark Sky enforce linking to them?
Do they have to individually check every app that uses their API? Ken mentioned something about a legal aspect...what if a single developer was using their API and wasn't attempting to make any money -- what would stop them from not adding the "Powered by Dark Sky" link?
2 Answers
Steven Parker
231,236 PointsAn illegal act doesn't have to generate a profit for a court to assess guilt and/or damages.
Ken Alger
Treehouse TeacherMickey;
In addition to what Steven Parker mentioned, it is a best practice to follow the API attribution guidelines that a service states. Can a developer not add an attribution to an application? Absolutely. Does that make it correct? No.
Think back to writing papers in school. If you are writing a paper and quote something from another source, you would need to add an attribution, or reference, to that original source, right? You could try to get away with it and not include it in the bibliography and hope that the instructor misses it. But if they don't, there could be potential plagiarism consequences.
Same sort of thing with API attributions. You can try to get away with not following their requests. But just know the risks.
From the standpoint of the course itself, I thought it was important to add not only from the attribution side of things but also to show what was needed to add clickable links to an app that opened a web page. That can be a very useful skill to have in app development. Be it for API attributions, like we did in the Stormy project, or adding a link to anywhere else.
Great question and keep up the great work!
Happy coding,
Ken