µMatrix - the HTTP Switchboard successor

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by tlu, Oct 25, 2014.

  1. @luxi @gorhill

    Thanks, I had read it completely wrong. Just had read a paper on usage of these one pixel tags. I interpreted something which was not there until I read the comment of Luxi, so ublock is allready doing what I was asking for, my bad :blink:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 5, 2014
  2. tlu

    tlu Guest

    Kees, I'm not sure that I understand. µBlock actually does not block 3rd party images unless they are blocked by one of the hosts files/filterlists. With Dynamic Filtering you can block (1st party and) 3rd party scripts and iframes but not images. µMatrix can do this.
     
  3. Thx Thomas.

    I understand now. When Luxi asked and Raymond posted the link again, I noticed I was completely wrong. The dunglish in the post tries to explain that (so to repeat what you are explaining: uBlock does filter third party scripts and iframes, uBlock does not filter third party image tags).
     
  4. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    I am always curious to read about that sort of things. Is it something I can get hold of and read online?
     
  5. tlu

    tlu Guest

    I guess he was talking about web bugs.
     
  6. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    He said "a paper". I am curious if there is something new to learn in that paper.
     
  7. Thomas, yes web bugs also known as webbeacons and pixel tags.

    Raymond,

    I was briefly given a paper for a new service based on existing browser profile and network footprinting PoC's to calculate a unigue RGB ID and pass it the way Chrome describes it on its website. When combining this ID with the 'visit interval frequency', the service could manipulate displayed prices on a per session basis. E.g. when someone is shopping for something it would see lower stock and or increasing prices to stimulate the potential customer to buy.

    The paper stated that comparison websites already trick users into buying decisions to increase the click-through-purchase rate (and increase their kick back fee per click). The advantage of that new service would be that the vendors selling the products could implement this independently.


    Regards Kees
     
  8. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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  9. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Thanks, just installed it. I will have to study all options and see how it goes.
     
  10. NSG001

    NSG001 Registered Member

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  11. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the heads up, puff-m-d.

    Raymond, awesome as usual.
     
  12. fs2com

    fs2com Registered Member

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    thanks puff-m-d... and gorhill especially... now I retired the httpsb (which is already good for me btw) for the new and shiny umatrix :D
     
  13. tlu

    tlu Guest

    I'm sure you'll find its usage definitely superior compared to HTTPSB. Changing scopes on the fly gives you a much better control over what your browser is doing. This is what Noscript should have had from the beginning.
     
  14. oneeyed25

    oneeyed25 Registered Member

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    Just installed umatrix.

    First impression : Great.

    What I like so far (over HTTPSB) :
    * The UI is much cleaner. All the features I used are still there, but it take less clicks and the interface is less cluttered.
    * The rules tab is awesome. Rules in my config take only 1 line each, so it's much easier to locate and read them all in a glance.
    * 1st-party is nice. I don't use it in my setup, but I tried the alternative in HTTPSB and the temporary stuff made a mess, so the new system looks much better.

    One change I'm not sure if newbies will like is in httpsb the hostdomain showed up as *.example.com while in umatrix it's example.com. The * made it a bit much clearer that it applied to all subdomains too.

    Good work !
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2014
  15. fs2com

    fs2com Registered Member

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    I think with default option after installing, the page load faster than httpsb... did you mean on the fly that after we changed it we don't have to reload the page anymore?
     
  16. tlu

    tlu Guest

    No, I was referring to what is described here. The HTTPSB issue mentioned therein illustrates that point very well. This problem doesn't exist anymore in µMatrix.

    Another example: Say, you load a website www.example.com, and there is a 3rd party site www.wetrackyou.com which happens to be not blacklisted (because it's not in one of the hosts files) but only graylisted. This means that, by default, CSS, images (-> webbugs, tracking pixels?) and plugins (but you've selected click-to-play in the Chrome settings, haven't you?) are allowed. Now if you want to block wetrackyou.com completely, just chose the global scope, blacklist wetrackyou.com, save that rule and switch back to the domain-specific scope - and from now on that evil domain is blacklisted wherever you are. There are no longer inheritance problems as in HTTPSB which stemmed from the fact that rules from a broader scope were not visible in narrower scopes. In µMatrix, however, narrower scopes see rules created in broader scopes which allows for much better flexibility.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 7, 2014
  17. fs2com

    fs2com Registered Member

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    Oh okay I see it now what you mean tlu... thanks for the explanation...
    So it goes both way right? If I unblock some site on the global scope (*), save it and go back to domain specific scope...
    load different page with included the same site that I just unblock then it will be already unblock so I don't have to repeat the unblock again right?

    So my take is... if I block 3rd party in domain scope it only blocked it on that domain only. I have to blocked it again on different domain unless I blocked it on global scope.
     
  18. tlu

    tlu Guest

    Exactly! See also the youtube example in that HTTPSB issue. This is a non-issue in µMatrix.

    Yes, although it would still be graylisted (if not contained in one of the hosts files). But again, this would possibly mean that tracking pixels are allowed. Thus, blacklisting such a domain in the global scope is more thorough :D

    EDIT: Just to use a more precise wording. That domain would be "blocked" as you said - in that sense that scripting, XHR, frames, other are not allowed, so no major security concerns. But it would be only graylisted - thus, CSS, images and plugins are allowed by default. In order to block that, too, you have to blacklist that domain which means that any request to that domain is forbidden (that's the RequestPolicy part in µMatrix ;) ).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 7, 2014
  19. fs2com

    fs2com Registered Member

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    Cool... I learn a lot in above example you showed me tlu... thanks a lot...
    About the tracking pixels... I already had ghostery... Ghostery handles all of tracker type including this tracking pixels right?

    edit : Wow... it worked alright... I try it on unblock brightcove in global scope at dailymail.co.uk... then I open independent.co.uk which use brightcove for the video... check uMatrix, it just like you said... nice
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2014
  20. tlu

    tlu Guest

    According to gorhill's benchmark, Ghostery is very good. However, it only blocks what is on their list. The blacklists in µMatrix should cover most or even all of what is on Ghostery's list. But µMatrix blocks cookies, scripts, XHR, frames, other also for 3rd party domains which are not explicitly blacklisted but only graylisted. That's why I think that µMatrix blocks more and Ghostery should be redundant at best.
     
  21. fs2com

    fs2com Registered Member

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    about RequestPolicy... is it the "behind-the-scene requests" under privacy setting?

    Yes... I think triple combo µMatrix, µBlock and Ghostery is suited me best for my browsing session...

    btw I noticed for quite sometimes I can't see picture posted on imgur hosted link... don't know what causing it..
    even I can't access imgur.com... it just throw "This webpage is not available"...
    Can you access imgur.com tlu?
     
  22. tlu

    tlu Guest

    No, that's something different.

    I think with µMatrix and µBlock, Ghostery is superflous. If you use all of them it's probably even difficult to tell who's the culprit if something doesn't work as expected ...

    Yes, I can. Hm, are you perhaps using a hosts file that blocks that site?
     
  23. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    @ Gorhill

    Just a general question, but is it easy to port such an extension to Opera 25 (with the Blink engine)?
     
  24. oneeyed25

    oneeyed25 Registered Member

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    I agree with @tlu. Adding more extensions that have the same features will only waste memory/cpu, and could even lead to glitches.
    I don't even use ublock and with javascript/plugins disabled globally, I cut down like 99% of ads. The rest I can live with.

    But maybe I'm in the minority that doesn't mind ads as long as they are NOT annoying (video/audio that start automatically, scripts that change the UI, animation, etc...). I'm fine with simple images, but it seems it's a thing of the past for internet advertisers.
     
  25. gorhill

    gorhill Guest

    I posted today to the Opera store. Because of week-end, it should be approved next week.
     
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