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Ad blocking is under attack

blog.adguard.com

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Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#481

Post by botverse »

yndoendo wrote: post #395
chad-autry wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I can tell, the DMCA does apply (sort of) Admiral seems to be a paywall server basically. If blocking their domain gave access to paywalled content, then the DMCA seems to apply http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/circumventing-copyright-cont... However, that defense is a bit flimsy to me since the fall back to having the paywall blocked could/should be a "Paywall blocked, please disable your addblocker to gain…

To that same logic any operating system that allows editing the hosts file or running your DNS service and routing a domain name to loop-back or some other server is also liable for producing circumvention tools.

Don't give them ideas

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#482

Post by hughes »

KGIII wrote: post #469
feelin_googley wrote: post #335

A quick Google search reveals the following. "Admiral identifies audiences with ad blockers turned on, works to re-establish those users (by opting in to a lightened ad experience, say, or asking to be whitelisted) and then makes a small cut of every ad served to the reacquired audience." Source: https://adexchanger.com/publishers/another-ad-blocking-solut... tl;dr Admiral is a startup that measures an audience's "ad…

Bordering on off-topic: what is, "Id?"

The source is the same as the previous source.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#483

Post by gressquel »

justinmayer wrote: post #419
Hoshea wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may not be a bad idea to report this user via GitHub's "block or report" feature when viewing that account: https://github.com/dmcahelper That type of behavior can only be bad for open source software. Threats like "to minimize file and repository impacts" are going to push more folks toward private repositories if they don't understand that it's not an actual authority pressing them into making changes on a given…

Agreed. I just reported that account ( https://github.com/dmcahelper ) for submitting spurious DMCA takedown requests. GitHub personnel responded promptly: Hi Justin, Thanks for writing in. We're looking at the account. All best, (GitHub employee name redacted) GitHub is listening. Please consider reporting this account, which can be done via the link above. Look for Block or report user link under the user descripti…

Reported. I think at one pooint GH has to make a decision if they want to kick him out or not, especially when paying members are reporting

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#484

Post by brettz »

basseq wrote: post #260
richardknop wrote: post #4

There has been a growing trend of websites that will ask me to either: a) whitelist their site in my adblocker b) or subscribe to their monthly subscription and keep reading their site with adblocker

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. "Unblock or Subscribe" misses the point . The the point is this: I don't trust you. I don't trust you not to show me scammy ads, load 2MB of tracking JS, maliciously redirect me, or generally ruin my overall user experience with your content you claim is so valuable. So I run an ad-blocker. I'm blocking your infrastructure because I don't trust it and blocking your ads b…

So consume content from providers you trust.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#487

Post by gardnr »

hmage wrote: post #403
rad_gruchalski wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about don't host the code at a location which has such hostile laws?

That actually made me think -- is there such location?

The DMCA is a US law, so, anywhere outside jurisdiction of US law. GitLab on a C1 Scaleway instance would probably get you pretty far along the way. The lists really aren't that large in size but there are so many requests. It may be better to build in something like [WebTorrent](https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent) to propagate updates.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#488

Post by hunter2_ »

KGIII wrote: post #454
KGIII wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done a bit of research, now. You can trademark a domain name, but it appears they can't be copyrighted. I am pretty sure the DMCA is silent in regards to trademarks. Hmm...

To reply to myself, I need to first state that I am not a lawyer. I have, however, taken a number of courses on both law and procedures. Please keep that in mind. I have also now spent more time on this than I'd expected. One of the DMCA provisions, is that (as others have mentioned) that software to circumvent copyright is also prohibited. I do not believe that EasyList meets the legal definition of software. It's n…

By itself, any software performs no functions. Software is just instructions, and a config file is, too, just instructions. Sure, a difference is whether it's instructions for hardware or instructions for other software, but that doesn't sound material to me. Especially when hardware can be emulated by software.

However, circumvention tools (software or otherwise) require suing, not merely issuing a takedown notice, as another commenter pointed out.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#489

Post by SomeStupidPoint »

default-kramer wrote: post #415
MentallyRetired wrote: post #309

From Admiral's responding blogpost: > 5. We asked them 24 days ago to remove functionalclam[.]com on the original commit. > Transparent engagement between publishers and visitors is a critical piece of that. Umm, no? Admiral created an account that they hoped would be mistaken as an official github bot or something. And then, instead of asking, they threatened disruption of the repository. So, in summary, they: * Tri…

Also > 3. Circumventing a publisher’s paywall or copyright access control technology is not OK Would any technologist who doesn't work for Admiral consider javascript a "copyright access control technology"? (I'm assuming their product is javascript.)

....yes?

But not in the "hide content you've already sent" sense. However, a script that verifies credentials and only then accesses content using those provided credentials sounds like "access control technology".

My reasoning is simple: if I block the script and still see the content, it's not access control; if I have to run the script to see the content, it is access control.

Re: Ad blocking is under attack

#490

Post by Silhouette »

Fiahil wrote: post #464
anilgulecha wrote: post #32

It was admiral that did this: https://blog.getadmiral.com/dmca-easylist-adblock-copyright-... They even clearly state they used the only tool available to them, DCMA. From all the current summaries on this, DMCA does not apply to a line entry in easylist. A domain can be trademarked. This should be added back in. And if github cannot standup to DMCA abuse, then well, easylist and all other developers should be giving…

From the original github commit: > With all these dozens of domains (over a hundred), it sure smells like they're incorporating a HSTS fingerprinting attack into their product portfolio. HSTS fingerprinting enables a server to tag every browser with an n-bit (ie: 100 domains is 100 bits) unique identifier so you can track that browser whenever it returns (or wherever it goes). Since users cannot clear their "HSTS coo…

Or, more constructively, go after them in the EU, where such practices would surely be illegal under the so-called cookie law (which is actually about storing information in a user's browser more generally, and not specific to cookies at all).

As long as that really is what they're doing, of course.

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