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Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

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Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#141

Post by eipi10_hn »

guitarlimeo wrote: post #5
hedora wrote: post #4

Sounds like it might make sense to drop this early hints feature (whatever it is). I wonder how much longer it will be before the next major escalation happens with ad blockers. I can imagine mainstream browsers that fetch unmodified pages and click ads in the background (do subvert pay per click ad business models and make it harder to compute targeting metrics), but then display an ad/tracking-free version in a sep…

As far as I know, current ad blockers can't block ads from Widevine (DRM protected) streams, so I guess it's only a matter of time until Chromium team comes up with Widevine for webpages and then it's game over for normal consumers.

Hmm... For example which sites?

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#142

Post by jerf »

xk_id wrote: post #127
jerf wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This is never clear, and I end up usually getting it wrong until they show me one that's unambiguous." While those CAPTCHAs present a surface narrative of you having to get the problem correct, that's not how they really work. After all, it's not like they are creating those problems by hand. They're pushing the images through computers. You don't even know that what the CAPTCHA server considers correct is even clos…

a tutorial on how to be human on internet

Putting Expert Human on my resume now, thanks.

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#143

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

freedomben wrote: post #137
0xcde4c3db wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, surprisingly few "ad-free" service tiers turn out to actually be ad-free, which tends to undermine the whole concept. It's extremely common to get various kinds of "special" promotions that don't go through the standard ad platform. Sites have been known to forget the premium option when A/B testing changes to ad placements. Multiple streaming services have ads on some shows even on their top "ad-f…

Yep, thanks Paramount Plus aka CBS All Access. I paid for ad-free, yet for some reason still see ads (previews/promotions for Paramount content). Fortunately I cancelled because their app would let me watch Star Trek Picard and Discovery, but it kept fluctuating colors from heavy green to purple. It only happened on the newer shows, not on the older Star Treks. My best guess is that the DRM thinks something weird mig…

I'm sorry; this is absolutely beside the point, but I can't resist:

> it kept fluctuating colors from heavy green to purple

"We put green and purple in great barrel [...]. We reach in, we take." [1]

"Rules change... caught up in committee." [2]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcBTOU7RvbU

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFkZgxtlcws

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#144

Post by Nextgrid »

ghayes wrote: post #62
kedean wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Select every tile with motorcycles", shows an image of a single motorcycle parked on the street. Does the sliver of a tire that shows up in the bottom right tile count, or not? This is never clear, and I end up usually getting it wrong until they show me one that's unambiguous.

I have never successfully gotten a “click all motorcycle squares” to succeed. With a VPN, nothing usually works until “click until there are no more X.” It’s so consistent that I’m pretty sure it’s designed that way, since the final task is time-gated.

ReCaptcha will serve you impossible captchas (as in it will always behave as incorrect even if the answer is correct) if it doesn't like you.

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#145

Post by Nextgrid »

wwalexander wrote: post #41
xnx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta and Apple are pushing their AR (advertising required) goggles because they are a locked-down systems where it is even more difficult to block ads.

Safari on visionOS supports Content Blockers and extensions just like on every other platform. In what sense is visionOS any different from iOS or macOS in this regard? EDIT: I suppose the developer of the content blocker needs to already have an iPad version and check the “visionOS” box, but Apple has made this extremely easy and it’s in both Apple and the content blockers’ interest to release a visionOS version.

"Content blockers" are trivial to bypass though. It's a half-assed "solution".

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#146

Post by freedomben »

mondalaci wrote: post #140
freedomben wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I guess this explains why I can never "solve" the damn things on my desktop. I use an Ultimate Hacking Keyboard which has a mouse layer, so I control the mouse cursor with my keyboard. It means that my mouse always travels in either perfectly horizontal, perfectly vertical, or perfectly diagonal patterns, and at very different timings than a human using a traditional mouse would. But, it pisses me off to…

Gotta outsmart the algorithm by introducing some jiggle like at https://forum.ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/t/mouse-jiggler-ma... The forum folks may be able to provide a solution.

Dude thank you! This is awesome :-)

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#147

Post by Sabinus »

whitehexagon wrote: post #73
kedean wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Select every tile with motorcycles", shows an image of a single motorcycle parked on the street. Does the sliver of a tire that shows up in the bottom right tile count, or not? This is never clear, and I end up usually getting it wrong until they show me one that's unambiguous.

The last time I got blocked by captcha I went through a dozen of them in a row before being told I wasnt human enough (possibly true after 30 years in IT!) and so on principal I reject all websites that include captcha. And anyway, why are we training these image recognition tools for free.

Were you trying to access archive.is using the CloudFlare DNS resolvers?

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#149

Post by darepublic »

kedean wrote: post #53
Semaphor wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most captcha solutions are also hard for me, but easy for computers to solve. So I really hope their use doesn’t get expanded even further…

"Select every tile with motorcycles", shows an image of a single motorcycle parked on the street. Does the sliver of a tire that shows up in the bottom right tile count, or not? This is never clear, and I end up usually getting it wrong until they show me one that's unambiguous.

On these captchas I used to sweat it but now I just think "fuck it" and don't overthink anything. And I always pass, perhaps for a variety of reasons secondary to the actual tiles selected

Re: Show HN: Detecting adblock, without JavaScript, by abusing HTTP 103 responses

#150

Post by extraduder_ire »

wafflemaker wrote: post #49
hedora wrote: post #4

Sounds like it might make sense to drop this early hints feature (whatever it is). I wonder how much longer it will be before the next major escalation happens with ad blockers. I can imagine mainstream browsers that fetch unmodified pages and click ads in the background (do subvert pay per click ad business models and make it harder to compute targeting metrics), but then display an ad/tracking-free version in a sep…

AdNauseam does just that. It clicks the adds before blocking them (possible to whitelist non-tracking adds). It's a fork of uBlock and what I replaced the uBlock with on my phone and PC. Sadly, it doesn't do clicking in the private browsing mode, which I usually use not to crowd the browsing history with hn and other forums' articles.

Are you sure you haven't just forgotten to enable the extension in private browsing? Their FAQ suggests that you can enable it for private browsing, but it's not on by default.
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