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Quote:The popular online hangout MySpace has blocked parts of Photobucket, complaining that the Web hosting service has been encouraging users to incorporate an ad-supported slideshow into their MySpace personal profile pages. MySpace says it has blocked video and slideshows, though Photobucket says the block affects video only...

Both companies say still images are not affected by the blockage, which News Corp.'s MySpace described as a response to violations of its policies banning unauthorized commercial activities...

Quote: Alex Walsh, co-founder of PhotoBucket, says MySpace is turning its back on the approach that made it a hit. "By limiting your ability to personalize pages with content from any source, MySpace is contradicting the very belief of personal and social media."

MySpace's policy of blocking commercial content makes some degree of sense. But the companies that make the widgets for users to embed on MySpace are businesses, too. In the absence of hard-and-fast rules, any widget could potentially be classified as "commercial," and thus in violation of MySpace's terms of service. After all, what company makes a widget specifically to lose money? MySpace's recently updated terms of service essentially give the company the right to ban any widget or user at any time, at its sole discretion...

If its policy toward outside content is changing, MySpace needs to post clearer guidelines rather than dealing with widgets and users on a case-by-case basis. If the sand keeps shifting under the feet of MySpace users and the developers who love them, both parties could eventually head to firmer ground. Rupert could find himself sheriff of a ghost town...