Just curious:
1) Why can't they just change index.html to default.htm and the other site change the name of the graphic to something else and have the index page point to that? Sure they would have a lot of 404 requests to deal with - and thehun could change as well.
2) How much bandwidth would this really burn?
I don't see how anyone could say this is legal. Sure framing stuff and things like that have iffy legal situations, but when someone does something - that has no benefit to the user - or anyone else - it is obvious what he is doing. I have seen judges get pretty pissed off at this kind of behavior (revenge type stuff - not image sourcing
No law, no right, no privledge iis absolute. You can't get away with printing money by saying freedom of te press or things like that. I can't see ANY WAY this could be legal. if it was - you could do it to anyone you disliked. Companies could do it to their competitors.
Domain law disputes have allowed parties to substitute domain names as a party to the suit. I think it won't be long until we see stuff like this happening in situations like this.
I don't like cheaters either, but when you let individuals decide this sort of stuff - you erode any protection for those of us that are honest. Just because it is hard to fight, because they are in Russia - it doesn't make it much better.
What about the increased costs of bandwidth for those pages that are loading in the background for the innocent isps?