Ads no longer being blocked

Everything about using Adblock Plus on Safari
WAN2
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Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:40 am

Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

Ads on Lucianne.com keep re-appearing despite their removal.
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mapx
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by mapx »

- update easylist, test again
- upload a screenshot with the ads you see and eventually post the specific page on lucianne where you see ads
WAN2
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

Problem persists AS OF TODAY. Cannot find button to upload screenshot. Requesting submission of bug leads me to Forum. From forum no way to upload.
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mapx
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by mapx »

upload your screenshot to imgur.com then post here the link
WAN2
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

P.S. I had eliminated all ads a few weeks ago with no re-currence. Now, after removing, they all come back when I open Lucianne.com next.
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mapx
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by mapx »

go to imgur.com, click "new post" and then "upload images". Then take the link of that image and post it here.

Image
WAN2
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

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mapx
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by mapx »

add this filter

Code: Select all

||otb.disc.host^
WAN2
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

Bingo! Thanks.
Will
WAN2
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by WAN2 »

Ads on Lucianne.com again no longer being blocked. Cannot remove them.
Will
lewisje
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by lewisje »

Her webmaster sure is crafty; webmasters have been known to watch forums like this to see why their ad impressions suddenly fell, and react accordingly.
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
iceberg22
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by iceberg22 »

lewisje wrote:Her webmaster sure is crafty; webmasters have been known to watch forums like this to see why their ad impressions suddenly fell, and react accordingly.
Yes, the arms race has intensified.

In doing a bit of trial and error, I have noted the following:

1) Adblock (regardless of 'brand' or developer) will correctly identify and filter ie block the ad domains found in the source code of her home page (lanistaads.com, cas.criteo.com). Despite this, a group of the usual bizarre ads complete with disgusting photographs (why?!?!?) will display - but a temporary pause is noticeable before they render.
2) If Adblock and other countermeasures (eg NoScript) are disabled then typical Google-style ads that seem to have some relevance to browsing history, keywords, etc. will display (eg if you've looked at shoes on Amazon, then ads for shoes will display).
3) If Adblock is enabled, then the 'strange' ads - always the same group of them - will display.
4) NoScript (in Firefox) does not block the ads unless all JavaScript is blocked. Similarly, blocking Lucianne.com in the privacy/content section of Chrome does not work even though it is the top-level or host domain - blocking all JavaScript will, similar to Firefox/NoScript, stop the ads.
5) Site functionality (eg post, respond, search) seems to be unaffected by the complete disabling of JavaScript. However, this is probably not practical since it may render other sites unusable.
6) A view of the page source at Lucianne.com reveals huge blocks of script and multiple references to randomized numbers. I'm not a code expert by any means but it's clear they are attempting (and, for now, succeeding) into hoodwinking adblockers, script blockers, and browsers in general into displaying certain ads if their regular ads are defeated.
7) Blocking individual elements allows a block of 'nth of type' graphic and line of code but 'nth' is a random number so blocking it once has no effect on future page loads ie reloading the page reloads the ads.
8 ) Adding her ad domains to a firewall or a hosts file has no effect although the blocks are logged and/or valid in testing.

In sum, the site is doing an end-run around ad and script blocking by checking to see if their ads have been blocked and if so they are displaying the usual clickbait.

Annoyance factor aside, this is a very dangerous game for any webmaster to play as malicious sites could employ the very same tactic with the potential for much more destructive outcomes.
lewisje
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by lewisje »

I noticed that I don't see many ads on that site, so I'll go through what bits of my heavily customized uBlock Origin setup (with the uBlock Protector extension, which is like a combo of uBO's surrogate scripts and the Anti-Adblock Killer) actually block or hide content:
  • Google ads and Criteo ads are blocked respectively by ||googlesyndication.com^ and ||criteo.com^, found in
  • Google Custom Search Engine branding is blocked by ||google.com/coop/cse/$third-party,script, found in Fanboy's Enhanced Tracking List
  • Facebook-sharing and Twitter-sharing images are blocked respectively by /images/*facebook.jpg$domain=~facebook.com and /twitter.jpg, found in Fanboy's Annoyance List
  • A tracking script for Lanista Ads is blocked by /www/delivery/*, found in EasyList
  • An ad-image from Lanista Ads is blocked by /servead?, found in EasyList
  • A donation-request button is blocked by ||abmr.net^$third-party, found in EasyPrivacy
  • A frame (perhaps to host more ad-content) is blocked by ||lucianne.com^*_*.html, found in EasyList
  • A tracking script from GetClicky is blocked by ||getclicky.com^, found in the same three lists as Google and Criteo ads, and also in Blockzilla
  • Google ad-placements are hidden by ##.adsbygoogle, found in EasyList and Blockzilla
  • A Tweet button and a Facebook share button are hidden respectively by ##[href^="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?"] and ##a[href*="facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?"], found in Fanboy's Annoyance list
(The Disconnect lists are available only as bare domain-lists, incompatible with ABP; the list at pgl.yoyo.org comes with uBO, but I used a variant that skips over two domains that I think ought not to be blocked altogether.)

I also have an ad-blocking HOSTS file, but it likely contributed little to my setup in Chrome; that's mostly for other applications that access the Web.

---
Consider subscribing to the Adblock Warning Removal List, and also using the AAK-Cont (Anti-Adblock Killer Continued) UserScript and filter-list: https://xuhaiyang1234.gitlab.io/AAK-Cont/

If you switch to a Chromium-based browser and uBlock Origin, you should use the uBlock Protector List and its extension, instead of AAK-Cont: https://jspenguin2017.github.io/uBlockProtector/

---
Additionally, ensure that you don't have malware on your system, and that no extensions have been hijacked (the two cases in the news lately were Chrome-only, but you can never be too cautious); I tried disabling uBO on that site and found nothing too garish; even the Taboola ads weren't off-putting, and I found only perfectly ordinary domains in the logger (of course, the site took much longer to load).
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
iceberg22
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by iceberg22 »

I will mimic your setup and thank you for the details but I must ask one burning question:

Are you able to suppress the ads in question? :?:
lewisje
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Re: Ads no longer being blocked

Post by lewisje »

iceberg22 wrote:I will mimic your setup and thank you for the details but I must ask one burning question:

Are you able to suppress the ads in question? :?:
I don't see any "bizarre ads complete with disgusting photographs" even when I disable uBO, which leads me to suspect that the problem is a malware infection on your computer; even though you clearly use a Mac, you are still susceptible to malware.

A quick scanner is Malwarebytes for Mac (formerly known as AdwareMedic); as with the Windows program, you only need the free version: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

A fairly good resident AV program is Sophos for Mac, which (unlike the Windows version) is free: https://home.sophos.com/mac

Finally, I haven't given you enough info. to mimic my setup, but I will post this info. shortly.
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
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