86 the annoying delays from ad servers

[hlrguy]

Overview...noticed that Linux today uses, started using klipads.dvlabs.com as a new ad server. This server demands a reply from the client machine, for a full 5 minutes before timing out, before the page is allowed to load. I won't open up my firewall to allow for the ack from my closed ports, so started looking. Reference in thread...

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showt...hreadid=120746

Did a search on 'klipads dvlabs' in google. Came accross this...
http://everythingisnt.com/Hosts
# This Hosts file has been altered to block ad servers.
...
127.0.0.1 klipads.dvlabs.com
...


Basically, you just add the annoying ad servers to your hosts file, incorrectly telling your browser that the IP is local, it doesn't go to the web server, doesn't stall the page, and poof, linuxtoday is navigable without opening my firewall.

I find, more and more, that web pages require MANDATORY ack from the server port queries, or the pages load really slow or fail to load.

I am still investigating whether there is any security problem with adding these addresses to your hosts file.

Thoughts?

Note: This post may be deleted, because ads are the staple of content providers, however, demanding a hole in a firewall to be able to surf web pages is, in my opinion, simply wrong ad should not be tolerated. For the pages that use these ad servers, it is simply use one that doesn't require a security breach, or deal with people not coming to the site.

hlrguy

[ph34r]

No issues, as long as you don't want to surf to that particular domain. Even better if you use Mozilla is to use the userContent.css file to control display of images based on URL or path...

/*
 * This file can be used to apply a style to all web pages you view
 * Rules without !important are overruled by author rules if the
 * author sets any.  Rules with !important overrule author rules.
 */

/*
 * turns off "blink" element blinking
 */
blink { text-decoration: none ! important; }

/*
 * hides many ads by preventing display of images that are inside
 * links when the link HREF contans certain substrings.
 */

A:link[HREF*="ad."] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="ads."] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/ad"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/A="] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="?click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="?banner"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="=click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/ar.atwo"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="spinbox."] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="transfer.go"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="adfarm"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="bluestreak"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="doubleclick"] IMG { display: none ! important }

/* disable ad iframes */
IFRAME[SRC*="ad."]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="ads."]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/ad"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/A="]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/click"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="?click"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="?banner"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="=click"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/ar.atwo"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="spinbox."]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="transfer.go"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="adfarm"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="bluestreak"]  { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="doubleclick"]  { display: none ! important }

/* turning some false positives back off */

A:link[HREF*="download."] IMG { display: inline ! important }
A:link[HREF*="click.mp3"] IMG { display: inline ! important }
A:link[HREF*="newthread"] IMG { display: inline ! important }
/*
 * For more examples see http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html
 */
/* block some flash */
 embed[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"][src*="spd.atdmt.com"] {
   display: none !important;
   visibility: hidden !important;
}

blink { text-decoration: none ! important }
marquee { -moz-binding: none ! important }
:link, :visited { text-decoration: underline ! important }
img[src^="*/ads/*"] { display: none ! important; }

[ph34r]

Here's a screenie of the JL front page from Mozilla, using the adblocking in my above post. No messing with /etc/hosts or anything like that...

[hlrguy]

Thanks for the tip. I like your method better. I copied and created
userContent.css, and put it into
/usr/local/mozilla/defaults/profile/chrome/
however, I am still seeing adds from ad.doubleclick.net

Where did you put yours?

hlrguy

[ph34r]

It goes in your own mozilla folder ...

~/.mozilla/default/foo.slt/chrome

[Beavbo]

Thanks ph34r that might be one of the neatest tricks I've seen to date!

Just out of curiosity though, what would you add to the userContent.css file in order to get it to stop showing those ibm.com/open flash animations? All i can get from the source of the page is its getting referred to by www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads, but I can't seem to block that correctly. Please post back if you have the inclination.

[ph34r]

Playing with the src URL in :

/* block some flash */
 embed[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"][src*="spd.atdmt.com"] {
   display: none !important;
   visibility: hidden !important;
}

Should do it...

[Beavbo]

Yea, thats where I tried changing it to www.justlinux.com/RealMedia but to no avail. I'll keep messing around with it and post should I figure it out. Thanks

[Hayl]

add this - it should stop the rest:

/* remove Ads */
*[src*="mds.centrport.net"],
*[src*="images.deviantart.com/shared/topads.gif"],
*[src*="view.atdmt.com"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/intm/linux/www.justlinux.com/index/706227077/468x60-2/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/dealtime_750_2.html/38653$
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/bg-left.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/sp.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/Hoovers_Online_4e"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/index/1238038594/house_ribbon/House_Ent_Linux_Fall03_1n/elforumsave-03.gif"],
*[src="www.justlinux.com/index/1238038594/house_ribbon/House_Ent_Linux_Fall03_1n/elforumsave-03.gif"],
*[src="http://www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/intm"],
*[src="http://www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.cgi"],
*[src="http://www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/Nortel_Networks_Email_1b/sp.gif"],
*[src="http://www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/Nortel_Networks_Email_1b/right-bg.gif"],
*[src*="hardwarecentral.dealtime.com"],
*[src*="http://http.edge.ru4.com/smartserve"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/go.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/logo.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/bg-right.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/80211-ribbon.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/icom_includes/"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/intm/linux/www.justlinux.com/"],
*[src*="www.internet.com/corporate/"],
*[src*="http://hosting.verio.com/index.php/vpsmanaged_vps.html"],
*[src*="hardwarecentral.dealtime.com/BannerIn"],
*[src*="www.verisign.com/images/landing/lan6031/ecom_form_160x209.gif"],
*[src*="hardwarecentral.dealtime.com/xKW-"],
*[src*=".qz3.net"],
*[src*="ads.pointroll.com"],
*[src*="mirror.pointroll.com"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedai"],
*[src*="a.tribalfusion.com"],
*[src*="/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/cdxpo-top.gif"],
*[src*="fmads.osdn.com"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/cdxpo-top.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/80211-ribbon.gif"],
*[src*="/icom_includes/special/cdxpo/80211-ribbon.gif"],
*[src*="www.tinyminds.org/images/banners"],
*[src*="images/banners"],
*[src*="adfarm.mediaplex.com"],
*[src*="images.deviantart.com/affiliates/"],
*[src*="images.deviantart.com/shared/winzip.gif"],
*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads"],
*[src*="images.deviantart.com/banners/"],
*[src*="images.deviantart.com/shared/trillian.gif"],
*[src*="sfads.osdn.com"],
*[src*="ads.doubleclick.com"],
*[src*="cache.burstnet.com"],
*[src*="ads.doubleclick.net"],
*[src*="ad.doubleclick.net"],
*[src*="ad.doubleclick.com"],
*[src*="us.a1.yimg.com"],
*[src*="www.theregister.co.uk/media"],
*[src*=".qz3.net"],
*[src*="a207.p.f.qz3.net"],
*[src*="a207.p.f.qz3.net/7/207/2554/v001/eyewonder.download.qz3.net/2554/114720"],
*[src*="/RealMedia/ads"],
*[src*="www.burstnet.com"],
*[src*="/ads"],
*[src*="ar.atwola.com"],
*[src*="spd.atdmt.com"] {
        display: none;
        visibility: hidden;
}

[mdwatts]

Neato !!

Thank-you gentlemen as all of those now work great with Firebird.

[Beavbo]

Hooray, its working now! Apparently one of the tricks was I had to put it in the .phoenix/default/foo.slt/chrome/ directory (just like you said) unlike the .mozilla/default/foo.slt/ directory like my inner idiot was telling me to do

Basically I just compiled ph34r and Hayl's config files into one and put it in that directory and it works like a champ. In that code that Hayl posted, however, for me, the line that read:

*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/intm/linux/www.justlinux.com/index/706227077/468x60-2/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/dealtime_750_2.html/38653$

needed to be changed to:

*[src*="www.justlinux.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/intm/linux/www.justlinux.com/index/706227077/468x60-2/House_Dealtime_Promotion_1e/dealtime_750_2.html/38653$"],

For whatever reason, it was missing that last little bit of formatting. Anyway, thanks again guys, keep up the good work.

[hlrguy]

So now, how do I change the title to 'How ph34r 86ed the adserver delays'?

hlrguy

[ph34r]

New one... you can add one of the iframe lines to block stuff from www.verisign.com to get rid of that new big add on the right...

[Hayl]

Has anyone been able to remove this text-based part of an Ad yet?

I haven't been able to figure it out.

This is a trimmed screenshot of what the part that is getting through the userContent.css filter looks like:

<edit> NM: found it - just add hotjobs in as a filter </edit>

[Hayl]

the only ones I am getting now are the Nortel one and the Voice Over IP one

if you have a filter for them plz let me know.