Blocking Facebook buttons and content
Hi,
I have been looking for a way of blocking facebook buttons and links, since I read of tracking issues with them here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563
So far I found an add on for Web Browser here http://trisquel.info/en/browser/addons/blocksite
In the preferences I added the facebook site and it blocks all facebook like buttons and links.
Hope this is useful, stay away from facebook! :D
I am a member!
Hi,
Not sure I'm yet ready to block the entire facebook domain, but, would
like to get rid of those in-line "share" frames that include buttons for
fb, g+, and others. I can share, manually, without the clutter. Maybe
this extension or addblock plus can help?
Best,
Dave Hunt
On 09/26/2011 09:11 AM, name at domain wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been looking for a way of blocking facebook buttons and links,
> since I read of tracking issues with them here:
> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563
>
> So far I found an add on for Web Browser here
> http://trisquel.info/en/browser/addons/blocksite
>
> In the preferences I added the facebook site and it blocks all
> facebook like buttons and links.
>
> Hope this is useful, stay away from facebook! :D
You could also use ShareMeNot, which works out of the box and covers more than Facebook.
I am a member!
Thanks!
I actually want to remove the buttons from my web experience, yet, be
able to manually go to facebook, twitter, g+, etc...
Will give these options a look.
Cheers,
Dave H.
On 09/26/2011 05:14 PM, name at domain wrote:
> You could also use [ShareMeNote http://sharemenot.cs.washington.edu/],
> which works out of the box and covers more than Facebook.
I see this add-on is published under the MIT license, which I think is compatible with the GPL. But it is not listed in the Web Browser add-on's.
The list is maintained by volunteers... such as you? :-)
From time to time I look for useful add-ons, How can I propose new add-ons for this list?
Mmmm... I believe this page used to be editable: https://trisquel.info/en/browser
It is written: "If you want to help, please ask in the forums/mailing lists" and, although I am on the forum, I do not know how you should proceed. I believe SitGrant can be more helpful (he does an admirable work on the English documentation). You can contact him via this link: https://trisquel.info/en/users/sirgrant/contact
You don't have to propose them. You can add new items via the "create content" menu on the right under your username. The only thing is please make sure it is a free software license. You can always ask if you have a question about that.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/MIT_License
"The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software on the condition that the license is distributed with that software. The license is also GPL-compatible, meaning that the GPL permits combination and redistribution with software that uses the MIT License."
I have added the add-on, Thanks SirGrant, Is there a forum FAQ? I never noticed the CreateContent link
I recommend NoScript:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoScript
It's GPL and it lets you block javascript from any number of sites. It also keeps a whitelist that you can easily change whenever you visit a web page. It helps you to avoid the javascript trap.
To block most applications from some fb stuff you might want to add this to /etc/hosts
0.0.0.0 www.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 facebook.com
0.0.0.0 static.ak.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 www.static.ak.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 login.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 www.login.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.net
0.0.0.0 fbcdn.com
0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.com
0.0.0.0 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
0.0.0.0 www.static.ak.connect.facebook.com
There probably are even more domains though...
UC Berkeley made a Firefox add-on called Priv3, released under a BSD license, which aims to block just the tracking code from social networking websites, including Facebook.
Here's the add-on on the Mozilla website: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/priv3/
And here's the official page for the add-on: http://priv3.icsi.berkeley.edu/
"Priv3 does not block third-party interactions completely. Instead, it selectively suppresses the inclusion of third-party web cookies"
Sounds very weak as cookies are the least part of the problem. They're highly visible to the end user and easy to remove or block. I personally use a short whitelist for cookies and block everything else. I currently have 33 cookies, when did you last time check how many do you have?
A much bigger threat are e.g. various web bugs and ways to ID a user, e.g https://panopticlick.eff.org/.
I just checked my cookies for the first time in many months. I'm surprised that I have well over a hundred cookies stored. I think I'll follow your example and use a short whitelist.
Thanks for the link to Panopticlick on the EFF website. Very helpful.
I am a member!
You might want to look at the Tor project's documenation for how the Tor Browser Bundle is made. They probably are the ultimiate authoritative source to enhancing privacy and anonymity. The actual Tor software though can open one up to certain attacks as intermediaries can see what sites you visit even though they may not be able to identify you. Except possibly where you might be logging into a non-SSL site.
If anybody has a server with extra bandwidth setting up a Tor relay, bridge, or exit node is of great help to that project. It isn't terribly difficult to do either. If you do operate an exit node just be aware that you are opening yourself up to being momentarily threatened by the authorities, your ISP/host, or others persuing copyright infringment. There haven't been any threats which were more than an inconvenience / embarressment though. If setup right the risk of being inconvenienced for running an exit node is actually very low. There may be a DMCA take down request for instance once in a while and as far as the authorities go there have only been a handful of people inconvencied by police investigations over the many years. Running an exit node is legal in most countries although the authorities tend not to understand an IP address does not identify a user or the orginating problem computer even.
I use TBB -- https://www.torproject.org -- for everyday use. I use Abrowser only when in a non-SSL connection, or to do internet banking.
I use DuckDuckGo (-> settings -> HTTPS on)
And in both I use the Free add-ons I recommended here: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/duda-sobre-seguridad-en-trisquel-5#comment-14806 -- resuming:
· To whitelist what I want, NoScript, RequestPolicy, Cookie Monster.
· To work in the background, HTTPS Everywhere, AdBlock Plus, BeefTaco.
I personalize the add-ons' preferences a lot, mainly of the three firsts, and always modify TorButton configuration in TBB, which mess some things unless I intervene.
It would be hard to enumerate my changes here. A good one is "NoScript -> Options -> Advanced -> HTTPS -> Cookies" and have fun. Cookies, I deny all of them in Abrowser preferences and configure Cookie Monster to accept only the session ones, except for DuckDuckGo's cookies, the only ones I use in many sessions.