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Anti Federalist
09-13-2010, 09:52 AM
In light of the Righthaven suits, here's how to block all their content from Firefox.


http://claytonecramer.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-you-dont-accidental-visit.html

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
How To Make Sure You Don't Accidentally Visit Organizations That Don't Want You
To make sure that you don't unintentionally copying and pasting too much, and getting sued by Righthaven LLC, it is perhaps wisest to not visit any of the news organizations associated with the Stephens Group--who apparently are funding at least part of Righthaven's actions. The Stephens Group has a lot of different newspapers. While the list of these organizations has been floating around for a couple of weeks, someone pointed out this useful Firefox add-on.

1. Install this Firefox add-on by clicking this link and following the instructions: http://bit.ly/dnCc8I

2. Copy the following into a .txt file and save it somewhere on your computer. The easiest way to do this is Start, All Programs, Accessories, Notepad. Come back to your browser, then select the following text with your mouse, and pull down the Edit menu and pick Copy. Then go back to Notepad, and pull down Notepad's Edit menu and pick Paste.

[BlockSite]
http://www.stephensmedia.com/
http://www.stephensmedia.com/gamingwire/
http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/
http://www.boonevilledemocrat.com/
http://www.charlestonexpress.com/
http://www.courier-tribune.com/
http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/
http://www.thedailyworld.com/
http://www.eltiempolibre.com/
http://www.elynews.com/
http://www.greenwooddemocrat.com/
http://www.hilohawaiitribune.com
http://www.hilohawaiitribune.com
http://www.herald-democrat.com/
http://www.herald-democrat.com/
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/
http://www.reviewjournal.com/
http://www.reviewjournal.com/
http://www.arkansasnews.com/
http://www.arkansasnews.com/
http://www.thevidette.com/
http://www.nwaonline.net/
http://www.paris-express.com/
http://www.pbcommercial.com/
http://www.pressargus.com/
http://www.southernnevadahomeandgarden.com/
http://www.snhomes.com/
http://www.swtimes.com/
http://www.vanburencountydem.com/
http://www.viewnews.com/
http://www.stephensdc.com/
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/
http://www.1st100.com/
http://www.FOIArkansas.com/
http://www.LasVegasNewsPapers.com/
http://www.NWAOnline.net/
http://www.FortSmith.com/
http://www.PineBluff.com/
http://www.Van-Buren.com/
http://www.CasinoGaming.com/
http://www.LasVegas.com/
http://www.LA.com/
http://www.Hawaii.com/
http://www.lvrj.com/
http://donrey.koz.com/
http://www.texomalink.com/

This puts this list in Notepad. Now pick File, Save in Notepad, and save the file in My Documents with the file name SummersEve.txt.

3. Goto Tools > Add-ons in your copy of FireFox and click the Preferences button for the BlockSite add-on.

4. Make sure the blacklist radio button is selected and use the import button to import your list from My Documents\SummersEve.txt.

5. Enable BlockSite, warning messages, and link removal.


Now, you won't be able to unintentionally visit one of the Evil Empire's websites. Obviously, you can disable the Add-On, or change the list if you need to. This is primarily to protect yourself from the infamy of putting even a fraction of a penny in the pocket of these creeps.

UPDATE: From the comments here:

There is an extension for chrome called 'SiteBlock' that seems to do the same thing for that browser.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pfglnpdpgmecffbejlfgpnebopinlclj?hl=en

And from a comment over at Snowflakes in Hell:

If you want to join in on the Stevens Media boycott with Safari, GlimmerBlocker is an open source proxy based solution for Mac OS X (10.5+).

Yieu
09-13-2010, 10:18 AM
Here is a much better way that isn't browser specific and doesn't involve using a firefox add-on you may not use already which could take up a little extra RAM. This method uses your hosts file to redirect you to your own PC when you accidentally click a link you blocked yourself from, essentially routing you to nowhere and making any link you use this method for inoperable.

Find your hosts file, it should be located in:
32bit Windows:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
64bit Windows:
C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\drivers\etc

The hosts file is likely marked as "read only". If it isn't, it should be marked read only after you're done editing it to prevent unauthorized programs from editing it. First thing you'll need to do is make the hosts file not read only to be able to edit it by right clicking on it, selecting Properties, then unchecking "read only".

Then, add the following to the *end* of the file. Note that the hosts file has no file extention. It should be opened in notepad to edit it. Also note that it looks like there is no space between the "home" IP address (127.0.0.1, which is your own PC) and the address to redirect to "home", but it is tab separated. And finally, it might take a few minutes before the sites are blocked if you recently visited one of the sites, because it may be in your DNS cache, so wait a few minutes and try again and it should be blocked.



127.0.0.1 www.stephensmedia.com
127.0.0.1 www.stephensmedia.comgamingwire
127.0.0.1 www.examiner-enterprise.com
127.0.0.1 www.boonevilledemocrat.com
127.0.0.1 www.charlestonexpress.com
127.0.0.1 www.courier-tribune.com
127.0.0.1 www.columbiadailyherald.com
127.0.0.1 www.thedailyworld.com
127.0.0.1 www.eltiempolibre.com
127.0.0.1 www.elynews.com
127.0.0.1 www.greenwooddemocrat.com
127.0.0.1 www.hilohawaiitribune.com
127.0.0.1 www.hilohawaiitribune.com
127.0.0.1 www.herald-democrat.com
127.0.0.1 www.herald-democrat.com
127.0.0.1 www.lasvegascitylife.com
127.0.0.1 www.lasvegascitylife.com
127.0.0.1 www.reviewjournal.com
127.0.0.1 www.reviewjournal.com
127.0.0.1 www.arkansasnews.com
127.0.0.1 www.arkansasnews.com
127.0.0.1 www.thevidette.com
127.0.0.1 www.nwaonline.net
127.0.0.1 www.paris-express.com
127.0.0.1 www.pbcommercial.com
127.0.0.1 www.pressargus.com
127.0.0.1 www.southernnevadahomeandgarden.com
127.0.0.1 www.snhomes.com
127.0.0.1 www.swtimes.com
127.0.0.1 www.vanburencountydem.com
127.0.0.1 www.viewnews.com
127.0.0.1 www.stephensdc.com
127.0.0.1 www.westhawaiitoday.com
127.0.0.1 www.1st100.com
127.0.0.1 www.FOIArkansas.com
127.0.0.1 www.LasVegasNewsPapers.com
127.0.0.1 www.NWAOnline.net
127.0.0.1 www.FortSmith.com
127.0.0.1 www.PineBluff.com
127.0.0.1 www.Van-Buren.com
127.0.0.1 www.CasinoGaming.com
127.0.0.1 www.LasVegas.com
127.0.0.1 www.LA.com
127.0.0.1 www.Hawaii.com
127.0.0.1 www.lvrj.com
127.0.0.1 donrey.koz.com
127.0.0.1 www.texomalink.com


Remember to mark the hosts file as "read only" after editing it!

specsaregood
09-13-2010, 10:22 AM
Here is a much better way that isn't browser specific and doesn't involve using a firefox add-on you may not use already which could take up a little extra RAM.

This method (hosts files) is what I would recommend as well. But it is more difficult to toggle on/off. The bonus being it affects all applications on your computer.

Yieu
09-13-2010, 10:27 AM
This method (hosts files) is what I would recommend as well. But it is more difficult to toggle on/off. The bonus being it affects all applications on your computer.

It is generally for sites you have no intention of visiting. If someone is boycotting, they generally don't plan on visiting a site. But it is more efficient, streamlined, and uses the least RAM.

specsaregood
09-13-2010, 10:32 AM
It is generally for sites you have no intention of visiting. If someone is boycotting, they generally don't plan on visiting a site. But it is more efficient, streamlined, and uses the least RAM.

I do it also to block trackers. I have most of google and major advertisers in my hosts file.

Such as:

Google Analytics is easily thwarted by 2 entries in your hosts file
(c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts)
pointing their domains at localhost. That's what i do.

127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com

Yieu
09-13-2010, 10:37 AM
I do it also to block trackers. I have most of google and major advertisers in my hosts file.

Such as:

Thanks for that entry. Here's another one to use if you use zonealarm... note that you'll have to comment it out with #'s if you want it to autoupdate:


127.0.0.1 register.zonelabs.com
127.0.0.1 zonelabs.com

Also, I just tested the entries regarding the OP in my hosts file and it didn't work... I forget, do you need to reboot first or did I enter it incorrectly in post #2?

specsaregood
09-13-2010, 10:42 AM
Also, I just tested the entries regarding the OP in my hosts file and it didn't work... I forget, do you need to reboot first or did I enter it incorrectly in post #2?

No, you shouldn't have to reboot, but it wouldn't hurt.

You can alternatively try running this from a command line:
ipconfig /flushdns

Yieu
09-13-2010, 10:44 AM
No, you shouldn't have to reboot, but it wouldn't hurt.

You can alternatively try running this from a command line:
ipconfig /flushdns

Way ahead of you there, that was my first thought. Got an error when I tried to flushdns though. =\

Edit: Just checked again, it's working now without having changed anything... I guess it just took a moment for the DNS entry to clear. So the list in post #2 should be good to use as a hosts file.

Edit 2: Now, about the hosts entry you posted above about analytics... doesn't the Firefox ad-block+ extention with the 2 standard lists block google analytics?

specsaregood
09-13-2010, 10:59 AM
Edit 2: Now, about the hosts entry you posted above about analytics... doesn't the Firefox ad-block+ extention with the 2 standard lists block google analytics?

Dunno, I don't use it.

Yieu
09-13-2010, 11:01 AM
Dunno, I don't use it.

I could be wrong, I'll have to double check, but I thought it does. No harm in blocking something twice if so.