My OperaBlocking Facebook content on other websites
Thursday, December 2, 2010 2:28:08 PM
Like many of you may have noticed, Facebook is way overstepping its bounds lately -- with the help of third-party web developers who insist on linking-back to Facebook.
Have you noticed Facebook boxes appearing on WashingtonPost.com? How about FoxNews.com? No? How about Wired.com? Yahoo.com? Trust me, there's plenty of examples to share, and these are just but a few prominent sites that now feature Facebook content.
This technology now seems more prevalent than web bugs (1x1 transparent GIF/PNG images) and advertising/spyware cookies. Facebook can now track you almost anywhere you go on the web. (yes, Google is just as evil) Not good, IMO. But most people just don't care.
For those of you who do care, however, how do you combat it? I've been reviewing the source code on many of these sites, and have isolated a few scripts and inline frames that seem to be key. Blocking this content with Opera, OpenDNS, or a web proxy/firewall does seem to help -- and still keeps the primary Facebook website functional.
Without further ado, here's the content I've gleaned so far -- which seems to be safe to block:
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Oh, and if you do use Opera, be sure to change your primary cookie settings to "Accept cookies only from the site I visit":
...and if you've been using Opera for more than a month, then I also advise to enable the "Delete new cookies when exiting Opera". This will auto-delete any new, temporary advertising/spyware cookies each time you exit Opera (nice).
Finally, if you do find other prominent sites that still expose Facebook content even with these content blocking rules applied, then please share. I'll take a look, and update this blog post (if warranted).
Thanks, enjoy, and be safe.
Have you noticed Facebook boxes appearing on WashingtonPost.com? How about FoxNews.com? No? How about Wired.com? Yahoo.com? Trust me, there's plenty of examples to share, and these are just but a few prominent sites that now feature Facebook content.
This technology now seems more prevalent than web bugs (1x1 transparent GIF/PNG images) and advertising/spyware cookies. Facebook can now track you almost anywhere you go on the web. (yes, Google is just as evil) Not good, IMO. But most people just don't care.
For those of you who do care, however, how do you combat it? I've been reviewing the source code on many of these sites, and have isolated a few scripts and inline frames that seem to be key. Blocking this content with Opera, OpenDNS, or a web proxy/firewall does seem to help -- and still keeps the primary Facebook website functional.
Without further ado, here's the content I've gleaned so far -- which seems to be safe to block:
http://*.yimg.com/b/social_buttons/facebook-share-iframe.* http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/js/saveshare/fbshare.js http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php* http://static.ak.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php* http://www.facebook.com/connect/connect.php?* http://www.facebook.com/plugins/comments.php?* http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http* http://www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?* http://www.facebook.com/plugins/recommendations.php?* http://www.facebook.com/widgets/activity.php*site=* http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml
--
Oh, and if you do use Opera, be sure to change your primary cookie settings to "Accept cookies only from the site I visit":
...and if you've been using Opera for more than a month, then I also advise to enable the "Delete new cookies when exiting Opera". This will auto-delete any new, temporary advertising/spyware cookies each time you exit Opera (nice).
Finally, if you do find other prominent sites that still expose Facebook content even with these content blocking rules applied, then please share. I'll take a look, and update this blog post (if warranted).
Thanks, enjoy, and be safe.
dapxin # Monday, December 6, 2010 11:15:47 AM