Ad Block Plus

[YellowFox]

Hey guys I have yet another question to ask.

I've had Ad Block Plus for a while now and it's done it's job but I still feel odd about it so I took a look in it's scripts and found something called a public suffix list. Most of the links were shortened versions of links and some looked Malicious. So should I be afraid or is this something used for good? Also I got Ad Block Plus from the site. AdblockPlus(dot)org.

Fox.

[DavidR]

Well the lists in themselves aren't malicious as those are what is going to be blocked. My only consideration would what would this additional list bring to the party. I'm not entirely sure what this list is meant to be preventing.

This list http://publicsuffix.org/ seems to be about blocking super cookies (whatever that definition means) and for me this is pretty low key if you are already using NoScript and possibly CookieMonster add-ons for firefox. There may also be some crossover (duplication) from other adblock plus lists you have installed.

Personally if this is about cookies, etc. supper or otherwise I don't see why it should be on adblock plus anyway.

[YellowFox]

I didn't install any list. Also I'm not using ad block for Firefox I'm using it for Chrome. This is the only way I got into the dev tools. At first I was checking for any scripts that could be used to track my keystrokes then I looked for odd looking things. I found the public suffix list in the resources part of the dev tools its in the tab scripts and it's called Publicsuffix.js. What I want to know is if the site adblockplus(.)org is the actual site.

[polonus]

The Chrome equivalent: https://codereview.chromium.org/15140003/
inclusing this: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/log/45cfff9c781f/netwerk/dns/effective_tld_names.dat

polonus

[DavidR]

I didn't install any list. Also I'm not using ad block for Firefox I'm using it for Chrome. This is the only way I got into the dev tools. At first I was checking for any scripts that could be used to track my keystrokes then I looked for odd looking things. I found the public suffix list in the resources part of the dev tools its in the tab scripts and it's called Publicsuffix.js. What I want to know is if the site adblockplus(.)org is the actual site.

Well from that link I posted and other links on that page, as it says this is a Mozilla initiative, so perhaps it has nothing to do with adblock plus, but an attempt by Mozilla to prevent the actions mentioned in that page.

[YellowFox]

But is adblockplus(.)org the actual site that you get Adblock Plus from? Also I saw the suffix list my take on it is that they don't change much between updates for the Chrome version and that was just added in.

[polonus]

When updating src/net/base/registry_controlled_domains/effective_tld_names.dat:

1. Obtain the new effective_tld_names.dat, probably by downloading
   http://goo.gl/Ji2bB

2. Remove whitespace from the ends of the lines.
   You could possibly use something like:
     sed -i -e "s/\s*$//g" \
         src/net/base/registry_controlled_domains/effective_tld_names.dat

3. Add the Chromium note back in just after the license at the top, and just
   before '===BEGIN ICANN DOMAINS==='. Ensure there is an empty line above and
   two empty lines below the note. The note should say:
// Chromium note: this is based on Mozilla's file:
//  http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/netwerk/dns/effective_tld_names.dat?raw=1

4. Build tld_cleanup (the "(net)" > "tld_cleanup" project)

5. Run it (no arguments needed), typically from src/build/Release or
   src/build/Debug. It will re-generate
   src/net/base/registry_controlled_domains/effective_tld_names.gperf.

6. Run gperf on the new effective_tld_names.gperf:
     pushd src/net/base/registry_controlled_domains;
     gperf -a -L "C++" -C -c -o -t -k '*' -NFindDomain -D -m 5 \
         effective_tld_names.gperf > effective_tld_names.cc;
     popd;
   It will produce a new effective_tld_names.cc.

7. Check in the updated effective_tld_names.dat, effective_tld_names.gperf,
   and effective_tld_names.cc together. 

From http://src.chromium.org/svn/trunk/src/net/tools/tld_cleanup/README

polonus

polonus

[YellowFox]

I'm no longer worried about the Suffix list I'm just wanting to know if the adblockplus.org is the legit site.

[DavidR]

But is adblockplus(.)org the actual site that you get Adblock Plus from? Also I saw the suffix list my take on it is that they don't change much between updates for the Chrome version and that was just added in.

Well if you get your add-ons directly from the Mozilla add-ons site it shouldn't be an issue, if you have AdBlock Plus installed in firefox it will have a link back to the home page (addons > ABP > More), which confirms that domain as correct.

[polonus]

Yep, this is the site for firefox: http://adblockplus.org/en/firefox
This is for Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/empty-title/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb

polonus