SOME SITES YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO ALLOW [Updated 21 DEC 2012]

General discussion about the NoScript extension for Firefox
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Tom T.
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Posts: 3620
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:58 am

SOME SITES YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO ALLOW [Updated 21 DEC 2012]

Post by Tom T. »

Introduction:

Many users have requested some type of "blacklist", perhaps subscription-based, to make the decision of whether to allow scripts from SiteX. There are some downsides to that, but this post is not intended to discuss that issue. Rather, it is to provide a list of some sites that you might not want to allow, either because they are unnecessary (merely advertising) or privacy-invasive. If you see one in the NoScript menu that matches, you can click "Mark as Untrusted", if you like. Then, that script source will never again show in the main NS menu. This can shorten the menu greatly!

Reminder: Even if you do nothing, these sites are automatically denied by NoScript, unless you allow them. This thread may help to clarify the difference between "default-denied" and actually marking "Untrusted".

Q.: What if I want to allow it temporarily at a site I want to support, but not elsewhere?

A.: The NoScript FAQ provides some ways to do that permanently, with just a bit of tech knowledge, and NoScript 3.x will make that easier even for novice users. In the meantime, simply point to Untrusted in the NS Menu, then find the desired script and click "Temporarily Allow". Be sure to click "Revoke temporary permissions" before leaving the site, or else restart the browser before going elsewhere. Otherwise, the permission will continue at *all* sites until you close the browser.

NOTE: The following list is not meant to cast any aspersions on any of the companies listed. Advertising is a legitimate business that supports many free Internet web sites and freeware products. If a user finds a particular ad, or ad agency, distracting, intrusive, distasteful, etc., that is their individual choice to make, and this forum is not responsible for any user's choices. This list is provided for informational purposes only, and was drawn directly from Yahoo's Privacy Policy, which lists their *present* advertising partners. That will surely change over time. For more information about these companies and what types of practices they engage in, please check the primary source.

updated 2 Jan 2012 with listings from Microsoft's Privacy Policy, marked with "MS".

Also please note that the name that shows up in the NS Menu may be slightly different from the company's proper name.


Advertisers:

# 24/7 Real Media (http//www . 247realmedia.com) (MS)
# aCerno,Inc. (MS)
# Ad Bean
# AdBlade (MS)
# AdConion
# AdDynamix
# Aegis added 8 Sep 2012
# AdFusion (MS)
# AdiFy
# Ad Gear
# Adinterax (owned by Yahoo!) ..... thanks to eradic8 for the addition
# AdShuffle
# AdTech
# Adteractive
# Advertising.com, Inc. (an AOL company)
# AKQA
# American Express (uses Omniture services)
# Aggregate Knowledge
# Alena | Performance Marketing Group | Intermix Media
# AppNexus (MS)
# APT (a Yahoo! company)
# Aranet Online
# Atlas DMT (a Microsoft company)
# Bane Media (MS)
# Bluestreak, Inc.
# Brand.net
# Bridgetrack
# Brightroll
# Broadband Enterprises
# BuySight added 21 Dec 2012
# CasaleMedia (MS)
# C3 Metrics
# Chitika added 8 Sep 2012
# ClickTurn powered by Widgetbox
# Cnet
# Cox Enterprises added 21 Dec 2012
# Crisp Wireless
# The Cobalt Group
# Collective Media
# Conviva added 21 Dec 2012
# Cossette Media
# Criteo Media
# Dapper
# DataXu
# DoubleClick, Inc.
# Double Verify
# Dynamic Logic
# Evidon
# eyeReturn Marketing
# EyeWonder, Inc.
# Facilitate
# FactorTG, Inc.
# Flash Talking
# Flite added 8 Sep 2012
# Flurry
# Foresee added 21 Dec 2012
# Fox Interactive (MS)
# Hotwire
# Inadco added 21 Dec 2012
# InsightExpress
# interCLICK
# Interpolls
# Invite Media
# Jivox
# Legolas Media added 21 Dec 2012
# LinkStorm
# Liquidus added 21 Dec 2012
# Markit On Demand added 8 Sep 2012
# Mediamath
# Mediamind
# Media.net
# Medialets
# Mediaplex
# Millennial Media
# Mixpo
# NewsRight, LLC added 3 Mar 2012
# NexTag
# Nielsen
# Omnicom Media Group
# Omniture (an Adobe company)
# Optaros
# Pictela
# PointRoll
# PrecisionClick (MS)
# Pulse 360
# Quinstreet
# RadiumOne
# Right Media - a Yahoo! company
# Ringleader Digital
# Rocket Fuel Inc.
# ROI Media (MS)
# Rovion
# Safecount
# Social Media (MS)
# Specific Media
# SuiteSmart
# Tag-Man
# TapAd
# Teracent
# Tidal TV
# TradeDoubler
# Traffic Marketplace
# Tribal Fusion
# TruEffect
# TRUSTe
# Turn Inc.
# Turner
# Unicast
# ValueClick Media
# Velti
# Vindico added 8 Sep 2012
# Vizu
# Wall Street on Demand
# Webtrends added 21 Dec 2012
# X+1 Technologies
# Ybrant Digital added 8 Sep 2012
# YuMe
# Zedo
# Zumobi (MS)


Hit-counters and trackers: ("Analytics Partners")

# AdXpose
# AdSafe Media
# comScore
# DoubleVerify
# KN Dimestore
# Visible Measures added 21 Dec 2012


added 20 Dec 2011:
Companies that Yahoo has acquired, and who have collected personal information, possibly under Privacy Policies that were different from Yahoo's. Yahoo may use this information already collected, while integrating the new acquisitions to Yahoo's Privacy Policy:

# 5to1
# AdInterax
# AltaVista
# Associated Content
# Citizen Sports
# Dapper
# del.icio.us
# Flickr
# FoxyTunes
# IntoNow
# Right Media
# Rivals.com
# Yahoo! Search Marketing

NOTE: Yahoo will be extending its data-retention policy to the same 18-month time period used by Google and Microsoft.


***************************************

Many other data-mining scripts may be safely ignored, because NoScript, by default, will run a Surrogate Script in their place, so long as you do not allow them. (Just leave them default-denied, or mark as Untrusted if you like.) This surrogate will satisfy the host page that the script was run, but returns no private information to the data-miner. The list of such surrogates can be found by opening about:config. In the Filter bar, type "sources" (no quotes).

In the Name field, many of them are abbreviated for the sake of concise listing. The Value field may give the full name. For example, in Name, you'll see:

noscript.surrogate.ga.sources

If you do not recognize "ga", look at Value:

*.google-analytics.com

The * (or "wildcard" as the geeks call it) means that *all* script sources whose names end in google-analytics.com will trigger the "safe" surrogate script, while blocking the actual data-mining one.

Another:

noscript.surrogate.qs.sources

Value:

edge.quantserve.com

"quantserve" is the script name of Quantcast Corporation.

Updated 3 March 2012:


There is now a post with a plain-English Listing of script sources for which surrogates are provided

**************************************************

This post is intended to be locked, and not a forum for discussion. However, if you have any questions about this material, suggestions to improve this sticky post, etc., please feel free to start a topic. Forum NoScript General is probably most appropriate. If there is an actual problem with site function, etc., then NoScript Support is indicated.

I hope you find this information useful.

Tom T.
with gratitude for the assistance of Giorgio Maone and my fellow Support Team members.

last reviewed on 21 Dec 2012 -- thanks to Thrawn for latest additions.
Last edited by Tom T. on Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:21 am, edited 8 times in total.
Reason: add link to post with list of script surrogates
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Tom T.
Field Marshal
Posts: 3620
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:58 am

Re: SOME SITES YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO ALLOW [Updated 8 SEP 20

Post by Tom T. »

Updated 8 Sep 2012, with six new additions of advertisers from Yahoo's Privacy Policy.
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Tom T.
Field Marshal
Posts: 3620
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:58 am

Re: SOME SITES YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO ALLOW [Updated 21 DEC 2

Post by Tom T. »

Thanks to Thrawn for adding a number of new ad agencies and a new "Analytics Partner".
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barbaz
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Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:45 pm

Re: SOME SITES YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO ALLOW

Post by barbaz »

A more customizable way to populate your NoScript blacklist is to use Adblock Plus filterlists - it has the advantage that different users can select different sets of blacklists based on what they personally don't want.
Here is a step-by-step guide for how to use ABP to help you populate your NoScript blacklist:

1) Install Adblock Plus if you don't already have it
2) Add subscriptions to block every type of content you don't want. Listings of available subscriptions can be found at https://adblockplus.org/subscriptions and https://filterlists.com/. Note that if you add too many subscriptions/filters, you can get a performance hit on your browser, especially at startup.
3) Visit a site that tries to call scripts from domains you aren't sure about.
4) Go to ABP menu -> Filter Preferences. If you don't see two columns, right-click a filter subscription and select "Show/hide filters". Once you see two columns, in the Filter Preferences window click Find then start typing one of the domains you're unsure about. If you see the domain explicitly blocked, meaning you find a filter along any of these patterns:

Code: Select all

||site.com^$third-party
||site.com^
://site.com^
://site.com/*
/site.com/*
go to NoScript menu -> Untrusted -> Mark (site) as Untrusted, because either that domain is not needed and is something you definitely don't want, or you won't need to allow it in any case thanks to surrogate scripts. (A list of sites for which NoScript has built-in surrogate scripts, as well as more information about surrogates, is available here.)
If it's not found, and if you don't happen to find any similar-looking or related domain in the process; or if you only find patterns like these:

Code: Select all

||site.com^$object-subrequest
||site.com/some/specific/path/*
/site.com/*$script,image
site.com###foofoofoofoofoo
subdomain.site.com#@#.FOOFOOFOO
@@||site.com^$domain=
which don't blacklist an entire domain (in fact, the last two would actually be whitelists) - it *might* be an OK domain, leave it alone for later trial-and-error.

If you want to know more about the Adblock Plus filter syntax, and why each pattern above is categorized the way it is, see https://adblockplus.org/en/filters.

Happy Blacklisting.
Last edited by barbaz on Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: add link to filterlists.com
*Always* check the changelogs BEFORE updating that important software!
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