***You must 'allow' the domain of your subscription's host site in Cybersitter. Failing to do so will corrupt the subscription file causing many false-positives!!!***
**Originally started by Dirk in the "General False-Positives" topic. Evolving topic ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the 13 Feb 07 EasyList list I see two new element that are blocking most of the content on any page I load. The two entries are:
*//*
.
Were these added to the list? Or is someone modifying your list? I can send a screen shot if desired. I have four machines running your lists and three had these entries and one only had the "." entry and not "*//*" which makes me think that someone is editing the list maliciously.
*CyberSitter corrupts subscription downloads [warning]
That is not in the list. Just update the list again and see if it is gone.
I think what happens from time to time is that a user is downloading the list at the EXACT time I am uploading an update. I think some things get 'crossed up' when that happens.
There have been a couple of isolated reports of odd filter 'pieces' in the list, but they are not actually in there. Just update the filter again and all should be well.
I think what happens from time to time is that a user is downloading the list at the EXACT time I am uploading an update. I think some things get 'crossed up' when that happens.
There have been a couple of isolated reports of odd filter 'pieces' in the list, but they are not actually in there. Just update the filter again and all should be well.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
You're the only one. I just updated mine here and all is well.
Are you sure they are in MY subscription or in "Advertisement filters"?
I guess you could have a corruption of some kind. If so, try deleting the subscription ... close/reopen Firefox and then resubscribe.
Are you sure they are in MY subscription or in "Advertisement filters"?
I guess you could have a corruption of some kind. If so, try deleting the subscription ... close/reopen Firefox and then resubscribe.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
Ah - a light has dawned.
I tried to update my other three machines and I found that it still was broken. This was strange but then I realized that I have CyberSitter turned on for these machines and for the one that was "fixed" it was disabled when I did the update. Comparing lists I found that "adultfriendfinder." was getting blocked and turned into a "." - I didn't look at the others but I am sure it is an issue where the content blocker is editing the list for me
To fix I have added your site as one that is not filtered for content. I'm surprised others have not had this issue. Amusing that the Ad blocker list is getting blocked!
I tried to update my other three machines and I found that it still was broken. This was strange but then I realized that I have CyberSitter turned on for these machines and for the one that was "fixed" it was disabled when I did the update. Comparing lists I found that "adultfriendfinder." was getting blocked and turned into a "." - I didn't look at the others but I am sure it is an issue where the content blocker is editing the list for me
To fix I have added your site as one that is not filtered for content. I'm surprised others have not had this issue. Amusing that the Ad blocker list is getting blocked!
Thanks Dirk ... that is a great piece of information!
Wow, I didn't realize that CyberSitter would 'parse' a simple text file like that. Geez ... well that is not good
Wow, I didn't realize that CyberSitter would 'parse' a simple text file like that. Geez ... well that is not good
Last edited by rick752 on Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
Right Dogg. Not only did it disallow the filter, but it removed only that part of the string that was blacklisted ... leaving just the huge 'false-positives' remains. WOW ... that sucks.
This may stir some things up in the ABP forum and also answer some of those filter questions.
This may stir some things up in the ABP forum and also answer some of those filter questions.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
Dirk:
Can CyberSitter be set to allow file types? I was thinking along the lines of allowing
... if this info is true, you have no idea how many odd problems you have just solved for us and at the Adblock Plus forum. Thank you for your "proof ". I have already posted this on the ABP forum and hope to hear from Wladimir soon on this.
Maybe Wladimir can coax CyberSitter to allow text files ... I don't know why they would (knowingly) parse those types of files anyway.
... and what other 'babysitting' blockers are also doing this? ... NetNanny and others?
I will wait for Wladimir's reply before I post a "warning/workaround" here.
Can CyberSitter be set to allow file types? I was thinking along the lines of allowing
Code: Select all
*.txtMaybe Wladimir can coax CyberSitter to allow text files ... I don't know why they would (knowingly) parse those types of files anyway.
... and what other 'babysitting' blockers are also doing this? ... NetNanny and others?
I will wait for Wladimir's reply before I post a "warning/workaround" here.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
.txt can be displayed in your browser as a web page, so I doubt they will allow .txt files as that would give pornsters a way to bypass that program. Just a thought. And If they allowed it to be set that would get complains too so I doubt they will even allow it to be set, but i could be wrong on that one. Hopefully this will get worked out somehow though.
I could trim the filter strings affected so that ALL of that info is removed (I hope).
eg:
becomes
...without the "."
That way, if the word "adultfriendfinder" is parsed from the subscription, then there is no "." false-positive remaining. The ENTIRE line would be removed. I would need to know which filters were affected though and what part of them remains. It can't be that many affected. Dirk?
eg:
Code: Select all
adultfriendfinder.Code: Select all
adultfriendfinderThat way, if the word "adultfriendfinder" is parsed from the subscription, then there is no "." false-positive remaining. The ENTIRE line would be removed. I would need to know which filters were affected though and what part of them remains. It can't be that many affected. Dirk?
Last edited by rick752 on Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
I will generate you a list of all the one I'm hitting but understand that what is blocked depends on what the user selects to block. So if I block sites then I might get a problem someone who is not blocking that type of site would never see. Even on my four the list of what is blocked is not the same so I saw different strangeness in the Easylist on each machine. List later today... I am guessing about 4 entries given what I was seeing - these would also be "new" entries since it was only on the last update that I had a problem like this - it also means it might have been blocking some stuff all along that it shouldn't but it was not extreme enough for me to notice.
For Cybersitter I white listed your site on my laptop and now it downloads the file without any parsing - that is the best solution.
Your suggestion to change the filter so if it blocks it doesn't "break" the system is a good idea but again it depends on the filtering software. The good news would be, at least for Cybersitter, is that it does filtering of ads as well - so even if it parses your list it also means it is probably going to block the ad that your list would no longer block. For users that are not sophisticated and might have filter software running and not know how to make it white list fixing your list so it doesn't "break" them would be a good goal.
For the specific one you just listed - if you create a new list with the "." and without I could try updating on a machine with the filter and see if it fixes the problem for that entry...
For Cybersitter I white listed your site on my laptop and now it downloads the file without any parsing - that is the best solution.
Your suggestion to change the filter so if it blocks it doesn't "break" the system is a good idea but again it depends on the filtering software. The good news would be, at least for Cybersitter, is that it does filtering of ads as well - so even if it parses your list it also means it is probably going to block the ad that your list would no longer block. For users that are not sophisticated and might have filter software running and not know how to make it white list fixing your list so it doesn't "break" them would be a good goal.
For the specific one you just listed - if you create a new list with the "." and without I could try updating on a machine with the filter and see if it fixes the problem for that entry...
Also - *.txt is not something it directly lets you white list - just sites. It filters all text transmitted or received - so I typed gAambling (mis-spelled to pass) in last post as the type of site and it blocked it from the post (second line) Cool huh?
Cool huh?That's not true. I have had *adultfriendfinder." in the list for a few months now. Have you updated CyberSitter lately?Dirk wrote:I am guessing about 4 entries given what I was seeing - these would also be "new" entries since it was only on the last update that I had a problem like this
ps: This isn't YOUR post on ABP is it? This one was just posted too.
http://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9578
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
The guest post is not me. Cybersitter updates it's filters periodically as well - so maybe this got added recently and that caused the collision when your list was re-downloaded. When this happened to me I saw only text from the original site - no images etc - a real mystery until I disabled the two I posted on.rick752 wrote:That's not true. I have had * friendfinder." in the list for a few months now. Have you updated CyberSitter lately?Dirk wrote:I am guessing about 4 entries given what I was seeing - these would also be "new" entries since it was only on the last update that I had a problem like this
ps: This isn't YOUR post on ABP is it? This one was just posted too.
http://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9578
So - here is the good news - I did a text compare between a white listed download and one with the filter on for my main machine and removing the "." fixed that entry - no line appeared for that entry and so it fixed that one.
Bad news - on the next machine I have ad blocking turned on in cybersitter and the impact is not minor - next post.
Bad news continued.
Without white listing the machine I have that blocks ads with cybersitter reported the following blocking:
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM ACCESSED http://easylist.adblockplus.org/adblock_rick752.txt
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ATDMT.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED QKSRV.NET
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ZEDO.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ADULTFRIENDFINDER
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED BANNERS.WUNDERGROUND.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED DOUBLECLICK.NET
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
so entries like */ads/* gets turned into *//* when blocked and http://adsatt. turns into http://att. - there were about twenty entries effected and these are not "fixable".
So if the user is not blocking ads in cybersitter it is likely the fix you just made to the one entry that resulted in "." would solve the major impact that caused me to contact you. Even those with ad blocking turned on it appears that the trashed entries, for the most part did not cause the browser to not work most of the time - the impact was not extreme - the trashed entries were not blocking good content noticeably.
To set cybersitter to white list open the cybersitter control panel, select "user files" tab, then paste [easylist.adblockplus.org] under always allowable sites and all the issues go away. You will need to delete your current filters, close firefox, open again and then reload the easylist filters. Note that mine is an old version of cybersitter(2003) so others may find the steps different.
Without white listing the machine I have that blocks ads with cybersitter reported the following blocking:
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM ACCESSED http://easylist.adblockplus.org/adblock_rick752.txt
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ATDMT.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED QKSRV.NET
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ZEDO.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED ADULTFRIENDFINDER
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED BANNERS.WUNDERGROUND.COM
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED DOUBLECLICK.NET
02/17/07 05:29:40 PM FILTERED /ads
so entries like */ads/* gets turned into *//* when blocked and http://adsatt. turns into http://att. - there were about twenty entries effected and these are not "fixable".
So if the user is not blocking ads in cybersitter it is likely the fix you just made to the one entry that resulted in "." would solve the major impact that caused me to contact you. Even those with ad blocking turned on it appears that the trashed entries, for the most part did not cause the browser to not work most of the time - the impact was not extreme - the trashed entries were not blocking good content noticeably.
To set cybersitter to white list open the cybersitter control panel, select "user files" tab, then paste [easylist.adblockplus.org] under always allowable sites and all the issues go away. You will need to delete your current filters, close firefox, open again and then reload the easylist filters. Note that mine is an old version of cybersitter(2003) so others may find the steps different.
Then I will now write to CyberSitter and get them to change the parsing of text files.
This will not be the only program that this filtering will effect. Any text data imported thru a browser will be parsed basically rendering it "unusable".
CyberSitter will have to correct this error.
This will not be the only program that this filtering will effect. Any text data imported thru a browser will be parsed basically rendering it "unusable".
CyberSitter will have to correct this error.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
Good luck - I think they are trying to provide a service with the ad blocking - even if it is pretty poor.
I think a better approach to them might be to see if they can white list your site for all users so the txt files are not corrupted. They allow local users to do this so I would suspect they might be able to do that directly in their filter engine.
Also understand that like adblock I can turn off the cybersiter filtering if I can not get content that I expect. Being a father of two young teenage girls I would rather have them have problems and not see a good site versus letting thru some of the garbage that is on the net. Even letting ads thru would be preferable if I could not have fixed it thru a white list entry. i know that I take that risk when filtering software is installed. This time it was just a surprise.
I think a better approach to them might be to see if they can white list your site for all users so the txt files are not corrupted. They allow local users to do this so I would suspect they might be able to do that directly in their filter engine.
Also understand that like adblock I can turn off the cybersiter filtering if I can not get content that I expect. Being a father of two young teenage girls I would rather have them have problems and not see a good site versus letting thru some of the garbage that is on the net. Even letting ads thru would be preferable if I could not have fixed it thru a white list entry. i know that I take that risk when filtering software is installed. This time it was just a surprise.
Last edited by Dirk on Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
I believe cybersitter is doing that on purpose because there is a large amount of "content" on the web that can be accessed as text files that contain material I would not want my girls reading.
That said, I do not think they parse PDF files (at least my version) or zip files so it may be you could "fool" the parser by renaming the file type fom .txt to another extension.
Still not what you want to hear I'm sure.
That said, I do not think they parse PDF files (at least my version) or zip files so it may be you could "fool" the parser by renaming the file type fom .txt to another extension.
Still not what you want to hear I'm sure.
Finished writing to CyberSitter. We will see what they say first.
I also pointed them to this post.
If they don't want to do anything, I would have no other option than to publicly announce the fact on many forums that CyberSitter is "breaking' our subscription downloads and possibly many other 'blocking-type program' downloads (including hosts files which are also text).
Now that we finally know what is to blame for "ABP blocking everything", it won't be long before the users would know. Now I finally understand what people have been talking about .. I just thought that most were just incompetent.
I also pointed them to this post.
If they don't want to do anything, I would have no other option than to publicly announce the fact on many forums that CyberSitter is "breaking' our subscription downloads and possibly many other 'blocking-type program' downloads (including hosts files which are also text).
Now that we finally know what is to blame for "ABP blocking everything", it won't be long before the users would know. Now I finally understand what people have been talking about .. I just thought that most were just incompetent.
"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"
After thinking about this more. I have to agree with Rick on this. Editing text files is not a good idea. I know lots of update programs that use a text files too. Or what if you are working on a text file and it removes part of it? For example password files, this WILL get very ugly if they don't fix it. I can even see some MS files (help files?) getting screwed up by this. This is got to be on oversite on their part as this has HUGE implications if not corrected. Not just to filtersets or host files. Bad move!!
Heck Firefox uses cookies.txt and others itself. Do a search on your hard drive for *.txt and see what all comes up. If they go around editing these files on the fly it could kill your apps if not your whole system.
Heck Firefox uses cookies.txt and others itself. Do a search on your hard drive for *.txt and see what all comes up. If they go around editing these files on the fly it could kill your apps if not your whole system.
I think you misunderstand how cybersitter is working - it is monitoring the communication ports and filters input and output data to/from the internet. It will not touch files on the hard drive that are already there and it will not block content from .cab, .zip or .exe files you download. It will not monitor data from CD-ROM or floppies either. This means regular apps downloaded will not be corrupted. It is editing text downloading from the internet - be that html files or straight text. I don't know if it does this based on file type or general stream of data ignoring file type but my experience for the past four years is that it may over block content on the internet but it does not generally corrupt downloads.