The iOS 9 Content Blocker thread

[Apple_Robert]

From their Twitter feed.

Silentium ‏@silentiumapp 8 hours ago
Today we released an update for the cookie-law removal tool. Open Silentium to update you filters!

 

[Rigby]

I have Peace installed on iOS, and Ghostery on OS X. Having done this, unless you whitelist getsupport.apple.com it's impossible to submit an iTunes support request. It seems that even Apple rely on trackers to some degree!

At what point exactly does the getsupport site fail? I just visited the site and don't see any 3rd party trackers (the only 3rd party object is from Edgekey, which is legit and belongs to the Akamai CDN). This seems more likely a case of a broad URL filter used by the blockers that produces a false positive. There is a fine line between trackers and legitimate site analytics that have nothing to do with marketing.

 

[LV426]

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ghostery/id472789016?mt=8

That does not appear to be a content blocker.

 

[LV426]

At what point exactly does the getsupport site fail? I just visited the site and don't see any 3rd party trackers (the only 3rd party object is from Edgekey, which is legit and belongs to the Akamai CDN). This seems more likely a case of a broad URL filter used by the blockers that produces a false positive. There is a fine line between trackers and legitimate site analytics that have nothing to do with marketing.

iTunes | Support (at bottom) | Contact Support | Contact iTunes Store Support... Spinner appears and page doesn't load.

If you whitelist getsupport.apple.com, no spinner and you see a bunch of tiles with support options.

NB, Apple Support appear to be using / relying on Omniture (Adobe Analytics).

 

[hank moody]

Did you report the sites in Purify?

It doesn't make any sense, to throw away an app you just bought, just because it showed some ads on particular websites. How is the developer supposed to be able to make the app better, if people buy an app and then throw it away, because it doesn't block every ad right away on every website traversed?

but i don't want to work for free to that developer IF i already have another app that blocks all!

you do that with every other app? if you buy a to-do list app that don't fill all your needs, do you report to dev or do you simply buy another one? especially if you already have one that works well!


if i change to another app, that app MUST be as good as the previously. If not, i am sorry but i will delete it.

So, until now i NEVER saw an app as good as Adblock Fast is. And it didn't need ANY update.

 

[tosbsas]

Toggle for Ads and tracking is on. I tried the others and the websites looked all out of order, missing things.

Empty sites in whitelist?

Please delete webdata and check again

 

[Rigby]

iTunes | Support (at bottom) | Contact Support | Contact iTunes Store Support... Spinner appears and page doesn't load.

I just looked at the page with the web inspector. There is no tracker. Your blocker probably falsely flags either the content coming from Akamai or one of Apple's own metrics URLs as a tracker.

It's important to understand that the block lists used by the blockers are not perfect.

 

[LV426]

I just looked at the page with the web inspector. There is no tracker. Your blocker probably falsely flags either the content coming from Akamai or one of Apple's own metrics URLs as a tracker.

It's important to understand that the block lists used by the blockers are not perfect.

You are mistaken. Here is what shows up in web inspector for web page https://getsupport.apple.com/Issues.action (when trackers are permitted):

<script src="./pages/omniture/js/omniture_tracking.js?v=5.0" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" aria-hidden="true"></script>

 

[gaanee]

I have noticed this on Windows using Chrome and Ghostery.
Apple support site wasn't loading and given Apple's push for content blockers, that wasn't expected. I paused blocking .... there it was.

I have Peace installed on iOS, and Ghostery on OS X. Having done this, unless you whitelist getsupport.apple.com it's impossible to submit an iTunes support request. It seems that even Apple rely on trackers to some degree! I've submitted a suggestion to Apple that they design their support site to work properly without trackers.

 

[Rigby]

You are mistaken. Here is what shows up in web inspector for web page https://getsupport.apple.com/Issues.action (when trackers are permitted):

<script src="./pages/omniture/js/omniture_tracking.js?v=5.0" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" aria-hidden="true"></script>

This is not a marketing tracker. The script is hosted on Apple's own site. Without having looked at the code, it's probably there because they use Adobe SiteCatalyst to collect site analytics.

 

[LV426]

This is not a marketing tracker. The script is hosted on Apple's own site. Without having looked at the code, it's probably there because they use Adobe SiteCatalyst to collect site analytics.

It's still a tracker, and correctly identified as such. And Apple appear to rely on it being there. Very many sites incorporate tracking scripts (supplied by third parties like Adobe) within the site itself. It happens in my company's websites.

 

[mariusignorello]

This is not a marketing tracker. The script is hosted on Apple's own site. Without having looked at the code, it's probably there because they use Adobe SiteCatalyst to collect site analytics.

Apple uses Adobe's products??


Kidding, I know that this happens often.

 

[Rigby]

It's still a tracker, and correctly identified as such. And Apple appear to rely on it being there. Very many sites incorporate tracking scripts (supplied by third parties like Adobe) within the site itself. It happens in my company's websites.

Yes, and there is nothing wrong with this. Big sites need analytics to properly maintain their web pages. The problem is when ad networks start tracking you across sites. That's not what's happening here.

 

[LV426]

Crystal has updated its block list to version 6.

http://m.courier.co.uk still not working.

Whoopee-doo. That's the important thing: where do these numerous blocking apps obtain their blacklists from? Today's blocker might be next to useless next week unless it aggressively keeps up with the advertisers and trackers. Some lad in his bedroom (not Crystal I hasten to add) isn't best placed to do that. An outfit like Ghostery are much more geared up to the job, because they rely on a proportion of their users constantly updating their blacklist.

 

[LV426]

Yes, and there is nothing wrong with this. Big sites need analytics to properly maintain their web pages. The problem is when ad networks start tracking you across sites. That's not what's happening here.

Wrong. Our company hosts many large websites that attract millions of users. Although we make use of trackers, we don't require them to function in order for our sites to operate correctly. Because we know that a certain proportion of users will certainly be blocking them. If our sites stopped working for those users, all hell would break loose.

 

[Rigby]

Wrong. Our company hosts many large websites that attract millions of users. Although we make use of trackers, we don't require them to function in order for our sites to operate correctly. Because we know that a certain proportion of users will certainly be blocking them. If our sites stopped working for those users, all hell would break loose.

Yeah, well, then obviously you are more brilliant than Apple. That doesn't change the fact that this is not a 3rd party tracker and should not be blocked by Ghostery. The blocklist rule is probably just a leftover from years ago when Omniture was still a separate company and actually provided tracking services for marketing purposes.

When it comes to detecting trackers, Privacy Badger from the EFF has the best approach. It can detect programmatically when a 3rd party site pops up across multiple sites you visit and then block it. Much better than relying on static (and probably outdated or buggy) blocklists.

 

[LV426]

Yeah, well, then obviously you are more brilliant than Apple. That doesn't change the fact that this is not a 3rd party tracker and should not be blocked by Ghostery. The blocklist rule is probably just a leftover from years ago when Omniture was still a separate company and actually provided tracking services for marketing purposes.

When it comes to detecting trackers, Privacy Badger from the EFF has the best approach. It can detect programmatically when a 3rd party site pops up across multiple sites you visit and then block it. Much better than relying on static (and probably outdated or buggy) blocklists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniture

See the section labelled 'Criticism'

 

[Rigby]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniture

See the section labelled 'Criticism'

Yes. And then look at the date of the sources.

 

[LV426]

Yes. And then look at the date of the sources.

Like 2014. And for a system that is still being used today with a different marketing name. You're flogging a dead horse here, mate.

 

[Rigby]

Like 2014. And for a system that is still being used today with a different marketing name. You're flogging a dead horse here, mate.

Actually the sources from your "criticisms" date back to 2008, "mate". But whatever, if you think it's every web page's responsibility to work around your buggy blockers, that's your business.

 

[Apple_Robert]

but i don't want to work for free to that developer IF i already have another app that blocks all!

you do that with every other app? if you buy a to-do list app that don't fill all your needs, do you report to dev or do you simply buy another one? especially if you already have one that works well!


if i change to another app, that app MUST be as good as the previously. If not, i am sorry but i will delete it.

So, until now i NEVER saw an app as good as Adblock Fast is. And it didn't need ANY update.

Every post you make, you twist it like a pretzel, so you can promote Adblock Fast. It is well past old.

As I stated previously, it doesn't make sense to buy an app, have a problem on one website, and then toss the app aside for something else. That kind of thinking and expectation is illogical, in my opinion.

Adblock Fast is not perfect. It doesn't block every ad on every website. It has problems just like any other blocker. Stop promoting it as if it were perfect in every situation. It isn't.

If you find a problem website and report it, and the developer is not responsive even after acknowledging that there is a problem, it may be time to look elsewhere. At least give the developer a reasonable chance to provide customer service. Too many people here expect a content blocker to block any website they go to and when that doesn't happen, they complain, bad mouth it, and look for the next app that they can rally around as the next be all content blocker. If anyone wants to get an example of what I am referring to, they can look at your post history. It's classic.

Reporting a problem website is not working free for the developer. Beta testing would be working free for the developer.

 

[ardchoille50]

I visited Macrumors . com with it on, ads were showing. Visited the same site with adblock on, no ads anywhere. I don't want to have to report every site that is showing ads, it should work. Getting a refund.

You must be new to software.

 

[LV426]

Actually the sources from your "criticisms" date back to 2008, "mate". But whatever, if you think it's every web page's responsibility to work around your buggy blockers, that's your business.

I'm not getting through to you, am I. Omniture is a tracker. The clue is in the name of the hosted javascript file omniture_tracking.js). I'm going to the pub now, so you'll have to do without further illumination. But you may care to submit a question to Ghostery if you want to carry on your bluster.

 

[hank moody]

Every post you make, you twist it like a pretzel, so you can promote Adblock Fast. It is well past old.

As I stated previously, it doesn't make sense to buy an app, have a problem on one website, and then toss the app aside for something else. That kind of thinking and expectation is illogical, in my opinion.

Adblock Fast is not perfect. It doesn't block every ad on every website. It has problems just like any other blocker. Stop promoting it as if it were perfect in every situation. It isn't.

If you find a problem website and report it, and the developer is not responsive even after acknowledging that there is a problem, it may be time to look elsewhere. At least give the developer a reasonable chance to provide customer service. Too many people here expect a content blocker to block any website they go to and when that doesn't happen, they complain, bad mouth it, and look for the next app that they can rally around as the next be all content blocker. If anyone wants to get an example of what I am referring to, they can look at your post history. It's classic.

Reporting a problem website is not working free for the developer. Beta testing would be working free for the developer.

but the user you replied to, has another app that fills his needs! he only tried purify and saw it isn't as good as the previously. So he deleted it and went back to the first adblocker.

i think this is a normal attitude. why would he waste precious time reporting to dev if he already owns an app that is perfect for him? the dev is the one whom must be worried, not the customer.

 

[ardchoille50]

That does not appear to be a content blocker.

Updated February of 2015. I don't think it's meant to be a content blocker for iOS 9, it's too old (iOS 9 was announced at WWDC in June).