DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking • Hacker News Board

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#11

Post by delimitted » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 7:49 PM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #3

SOPA specifically (without actually naming it) calls out addons.mozilla.org for the whole mafiaafire thing -- so under SOPA, this add-on wouldn't be allowed to stay up. "[T]his version targets software developers and distributors as well. It allows the Attorney General (doing Hollywood or trademark holders' bidding) to go after more or less anyone who provides or offers a product or service that could be used to get…

SOPA has not yet passed, it is not yet the law and I hope that Mozilla leaves it up for now. The DeSOPA program is meant to discourage passage of the bill by showing congress how easily it can be circumvented, so if it is removed after passage so be it. The link is:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/desopa/

or

[add-ons mozilla base URL ] (slash) en-US (slash) firefox (slash) addon (slash) desopa (slash optional)

in case it is filtered.

Disclaimer: I developed it

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#12

Post by delimitted » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 7:52 PM UTC

CWuestefeld wrote: post #2

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website Part of SOPA is a provision that any tools for circumventing the DNS hijacking are themselves banned. So this extension would have to be removed from the Mozilla repository. At best, it woul…

Yes, I agree. However at this point I am just hoping that it catches the attention of congressmen giving them another reason to rethink SOPA's feasibility before the vote

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#13

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 7:53 PM UTC

CWuestefeld wrote: post #2

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website Part of SOPA is a provision that any tools for circumventing the DNS hijacking are themselves banned. So this extension would have to be removed from the Mozilla repository. At best, it woul…

I choose to be an optimist, and foresee a future where every user is dragged far enough up the evolutionary ladder to be able to subvert things like this.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#14

Post by delimitted » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 7:57 PM UTC

_bbs wrote: post #5

Can someone find a link to the source code (it is licensed under the GPLv2)? I tried to open the xpi in a text editor, but no dice. I don't have much experience with FF addons, but I'd like to see exactly what's happening here.

You can rename the extension to .zip and extract. If you have any problems, let me know via a comment or post a contact method and Ill send you the source. Its pretty simple. When on, it intercepts URLs, sends the base URL to three offshore DNS services via HTTP, makes a best effort to check that two of them are equivalent, caches the IP for the browser session, redirects to the equivalent URL using the IP, and substitutes out the domain name in the source code with the IP address for future requests. I admit that it could use some work, however, I wrote in hopes that I could help create some kind of change in the events that are about to transpire before the vote.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#15

Post by thebigshane » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:03 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #9

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website I thought a major part of SOPA will be censoring sites, not just removing them from DNS. So even if you can resolve them offshore, they are going to be censored versions of the sites you kno…

SOPA (officially) only addresses foreign sites. So they order removal from DNS servers and interrupt advertising or other funding processes from US based companies. But the ability to change the content on a server that is hosted in another country (I believe, IANAL) is beyond their capability. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, the issue between domestic and foreign sites is still a bit vague in regards to SOPA. Supporters claim it only addresses foreign sites but most opponents claim (I think) that domestic sites can also be affected.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#16

Post by thebigshane » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:08 PM UTC

delimitted wrote: post #12

CWuestefeld wrote: post #2

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website Part of SOPA is a provision that any tools for circumventing the DNS hijacking are themselves banned. So this extension would have to be removed from the Mozilla repository. At best, it woul…

Yes, I agree. However at this point I am just hoping that it catches the attention of congressmen giving them another reason to rethink SOPA's feasibility before the vote

I like your idea but I sincerely believe that congress(wo)men will only think of this as another attempt by infringers to continue to infringe and steal. If anything, it may want them to wish they could prevent tools and techniques like this from from being available for "just anyone" to download.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#17

Post by koenigdavidmj » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:10 PM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #3

SOPA specifically (without actually naming it) calls out addons.mozilla.org for the whole mafiaafire thing -- so under SOPA, this add-on wouldn't be allowed to stay up. "[T]his version targets software developers and distributors as well. It allows the Attorney General (doing Hollywood or trademark holders' bidding) to go after more or less anyone who provides or offers a product or service that could be used to get…

It's been shown in court that source code is free speech, protected by the First Amendment (cf. Bernstein v. US, Junger v. Daley). I don't want this to get to that point, but that could be a way of getting around it.

Some might argue that speech telling you how to commit a crime is not protected speech, but the Anarchist Cookbook is legal to possess as well.

Dammit Jim, I'm a hacker, not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#18

Post by josephmosby » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:12 PM UTC

thebigshane wrote: post #15

grecy wrote: post #9

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website I thought a major part of SOPA will be censoring sites, not just removing them from DNS. So even if you can resolve them offshore, they are going to be censored versions of the sites you kno…

SOPA (officially) only addresses foreign sites. So they order removal from DNS servers and interrupt advertising or other funding processes from US based companies. But the ability to change the content on a server that is hosted in another country (I believe, IANAL) is beyond their capability. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, the issue between domestic and foreign sites is still a bit vague in regards t…

This is accurate, and a big reason why the EU officially passed a resolution against U.S. domain seizures.

All SOPA can do without infringing upon another country's sovereignty would be to remove the DNS entry on the U.S. servers that ties back to a foreign server, but they can't impact the foreign content itself without violating world law. The EU resolution strengthens that by saying that if the U.S. had hoped they'd be able to censor foreign content, the EU isn't going to just casually allow that to happen.

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#19

Post by grecy » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:19 PM UTC

thebigshane wrote: post #15

grecy wrote: post #9

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website I thought a major part of SOPA will be censoring sites, not just removing them from DNS. So even if you can resolve them offshore, they are going to be censored versions of the sites you kno…

SOPA (officially) only addresses foreign sites. So they order removal from DNS servers and interrupt advertising or other funding processes from US based companies. But the ability to change the content on a server that is hosted in another country (I believe, IANAL) is beyond their capability. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, the issue between domestic and foreign sites is still a bit vague in regards t…

So for "infringing" sites hosted in the US (or on .com, .net, .org) What can SOPA do?

Re: DeSopa: a Firefox addon to easily bypass SOPA DNS blocking

#20

Post by lloeki » Tue, Dec 20, 2011, 8:22 PM UTC

CWuestefeld wrote: post #2

This program is a proof of concept that SOPA will not help prevent piracy. The program, implemented as a Firefox extension, simply contacts offshore domain name resolution services to obtain the IP address for any desired website Part of SOPA is a provision that any tools for circumventing the DNS hijacking are themselves banned. So this extension would have to be removed from the Mozilla repository. At best, it woul…

> So this extension would have to be removed from the Mozilla repository.

IM unfamiliar with the bill, but given SOPA's wording, could it be that the whole of addons.mozilla.org, or even mozilla.org end up banned?

> At best, it would be distributed underground

If it were to happen, I envision a world where Aunt Jackie will ask little nephew Steve to enable her the full internets because she can't watch some photos on Flickr anymore, just like she could not install the Flash ten years ago. Steve will simply be asked to provide a piece of software to bootstrap, which if banned from the internets, will be distributed on underground network channels then diffused on a local scale through sneakernet.

It looks awfully like the BBS and early Internet in the '90s, with those warez sources like IRC DDC bots, and a select few having access to such sources and able to distribute pirated games on high-price CD-Rs.