Easylist allowing googlesyndication?

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:34 pm

Sorry if this is not the correct place to post this.

I've been using Firefox & AdBlock Plus for a few years without problems. I've noticed recently that Easylist if downloading filters which allow googlesyndication & doubleclick. Is there a way that I can edit the Easylist filters, or do I just have to delete the whole thing?

MonztA · Post by **MonztA** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:03 pm

EasyList has certain whitelist filters that have to be there. Otherwise page content like videos would not load. But you can disable the green whitelist filters by clicking on the green dot on the right in the options menu.

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:06 pm

Thanks very much.

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:11 pm

Biscuit wrote:I've noticed recently that Easylist if downloading filters which allow googlesyndication & doubleclick.

I suppose this filter is what worries you?

Code: Select all

@@.googlesyndication.$image

Rather than jumping to hasty conclusions, I suggest you read this thread: http://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1469

As for doubleclick, did you examine the filter completely?
Take a read from this post onwards: http://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 1755#11755

Biscuit · Post by **Biscuit** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:25 pm

You like walloping noobs, right?

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:47 pm

Biscuit wrote:You like walloping noobs, right?

That was not my intention

I just wanted to show you that the whitelists are there for a good reason, and not because rick has secret deals with the adcompanies.

rick752 · Post by **rick752** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:42 pm

@Biscuit

That whitelist does NOT allow the normal 'googlesyndication.js' (Afaik, googlesyndication is always served as a script). On these sites the server creates a false request for an IMAGE of the same name that MUST be seen by the server to allow the site to work ... it is really not a file at all, only a 'request'. It has to be served as a 'image' though because the script version already exists (they cannot be exactly duplicated). The tip-off is the using of 2 requests of googlesyndication which look the same but are of different files types.

Simply whitelisting the 'image' version of that same address causes any site trying to use this trick to work while still blocking the normal 'script' version.

Oddly enough, this whitelist strategy can ONLY work in ABP as far as I know.

Hope that helps.

Freedom · Post by **Freedom** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:37 am

What site has need of this entry?

@@.googlesyndication.$image

I can't seem to find an example.

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:44 am

Freedom wrote:What site has need of this entry?

@@.googlesyndication.$image

http://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1469

Freedom · Post by **Freedom** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:01 am

Weird I can't get the adblock page to appear there even though I don't have the whitelist entry and I am blocking all google stuff.

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:07 am

Freedom wrote:Weird I can't get the adblock page to appear there even though I don't have the whitelist entry and I am blocking all google stuff.

It seems that virusphoto.com has given up for now. But xooit.xooit.com/index.php still have a yellow nag screen up, meaning they still detect you without
@@.googlesyndication.$image.

And in my opinion we might as well maintain that filter to show google they already lost and that they might as well give up that method.

Here is the nagscreen:

So it is still being used, and as the situation is now it might be used by other site in the future. But if we remove @@.googlesyndication.$image, then this method will definitely be used more popularly.

rick752 · Post by **rick752** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:51 pm

Once the webmasters realize that this type of detection can be beaten and they stop some of these silly actions, I will remove it.

Why can't they just understand that ABP users will NOT click on those ads anyway because they HATE ads? If they didn't waste time trying do stuff like this so we have to waste time fixing it, it would be a win/win for both sides because nothing would change anyway ... the ads still would'nt be clicked on by ABP users AND it just gives user's MORE of a reason to hate ads

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:05 pm

rick752 wrote:Once the webmasters realize that this type of detection can be beaten and they stop some of these silly actions, I will remove it.

But rick what about google? I do not think this particular issue will be over as long as google offer this detecting service, someplace somewhere it likely that someone is using it as long as google offers it.

Edit: Or maybe I misunderstood how this works, and it is not actually a countermeasure offered by google?

rick752 · Post by **rick752** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:25 pm

I don't think that google really wants to play the 'bad guy' ... even yahoo and msn have lightened up.

I actually think most larger adserver companies are starting to realize that this not the way to do things. This game is just an annoyance to themselves, and users and blockers alike .... it really does no one any good. People who use adblocking software obviously hate and won't click on ads anyway. Some users actually like ads and want to see them and WON'T use adblocking software or don't mind them. Others will just use an adblocker and simply will add some that just really annoy them without blocking everything.

So what's the use of putting up 20 ads on a page if people are just going to be annoyed with seeing them and not pay attention or click on them anyways? Adblocking saves both parties bandwidth and gives the user a more favorable impression of the site. Users may also recommend a site who they are adblocking to others who may not be using adblocking. I actually think that ad companies are starting to see that and are just accepting this fact.

Adblock Plus Fan · Post by **Adblock Plus Fan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:52 pm

No what I meant was: Is this a situation of an actual detection method offered by google? Or is it the webmasters of xooit.xooit.com/index.php and virusphoto.com who found out a clever way to use those google scripts?

Easylist allowing googlesyndication?

Easylist allowing googlesyndication?

Re: Easylist allowing googlesyndication?