EButlerIV

The idea came about a year and a half ago. We seriously started working on it, and committing to a public github repository, about six months ago. Meteor's release just changed our public announcement date from "sometime in the near future" to "Friday."

That's fair to ask. We're both trying to solve the same problems in similar ways. Both of us use Node and MongoDB and both of us keep everything automatically synched and up to date between the client and server.

We do things a little differently. We built SpaceMagic while working on a real-time web app of our own and did so with the goal of making our work as easy as possible. Ideally, we want to make developing realtime apps as easy as it is to make non-realtime apps. First, we support semantic HTML templates, allowing developers to turn their mocks into working prototype applications with a bit of javascript. Second, we make developers able to write validation and other important code once and have it run on both the client and the server. Third, SpaceMagic is released as just another npm package that works with your preexisting Node install and packages.

"Attacking back" with shock images may be genuinely legally problematic, given the untested new Tennessee law on the subject. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/tenn-law-ban... . Using the included nimp payload is even more legally problematic since it actually does redirect the user to a site that contains malicious code.

I think this project, much like all "offensive security" projects, is fundamentally misguided. At best, this project loudly alerts the hacker every time an attack is detected, providing an easy way to black-box test the service's attack detection criteria. At worst, it provides an easy way for jerks to goatse, Last Measure, etc. third parties using the webmaster's site. While I understand the kind of spiteful thrill that would come from redirecting a (maybe not) attacker to a shocking image, quietly stopping and logging the attack is always the best option.

If it's not intended to be the main focus, why are you bothering to demo it now? Why not wait and show us something even slightly representative of what your project is supposed to be like?