FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

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Pallid Planetoid
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FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Pallid Planetoid » 2018-09-20, 20:59

I've found that if "spot.im" is requested by a Fox News website then this request has to be denied (not allowed) to avoid an eventual lock-up of the Pale Moon browser (after 2-3 minutes on the site).

I'm using Pale Moon 28.1.0 (but this requirement was probably present in previous PM builds). This situation was tested using Safe-Mode.

The task (denying "spot.im") can be accomplished by using NoScript (which I use), uBlock (advanced mode) or uMatrix and simply not allowing (denying) the "post.im" request by the site in any of these add-ons. If this is not done the browser will eventually completely lock-up while attempting the "spot.im" request which will ultimately require the Pale Moon process to be stopped (aborted). (The app WhatIsHang doesn't provide any additional information - perhaps using the browser "Error Console" would shed light on the problem -- but I didn't bother since I've found what solves the issue.)

Btw, the same situation is present in Basilisk as well....

The example URL where I discovered this issue is: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/20/kavanaugh-accuser-christine-ford-opens-door-to-testifying-next-week.html.
Last edited by Pallid Planetoid on 2018-09-20, 21:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by therube » 2018-09-20, 21:06

So is that all that is required; visit that page in an "unprotected" browser & within a few minutes PM will lock up?

(BTW, spot.im does turn up there.)
Last edited by therube on 2018-09-20, 21:06, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Pallid Planetoid » 2018-09-20, 21:18

Please define "unprotected" (in order to answer your question)... If you're referring to other site requests -- there are a number of requests that need to be allowed i.e. in my case "h-cdn.com" needs to be allowed, otherwise subsequent videos will fail with an error (others are necessary as well i.e. if I recall correctly akamailhd.net and others....)

I found this situation continues to occur with the browser in "Safe-Mode".
therube wrote:... (BTW, spot.im does turn up there.)
Yes, I know -- that is why I posted this FYI thread. I found this to be the case in the URL I posted which as stated will after 2-3 minutes (in my case) totally lock the browser (which is at the time the browser is locked-up requesting "spot.im" which is what led me to try denying this request which is what I found solved the browser lock-up problem ;)).
Last edited by Pallid Planetoid on 2018-09-21, 00:59, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by therube » 2018-09-21, 01:01

unprotected
No NoScript, no uBlock, no uMatrix...
Last edited by therube on 2018-09-21, 01:05, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Pallid Planetoid » 2018-09-21, 04:13

therube wrote:
unprotected
No NoScript, no uBlock, no uMatrix...
Testing in "Safe Mode" (which I did) has zero extensions -- so yes as you define "unprotected" the browser will lock-up within 3-4 minutes of opening the website -- at least that's my own experience testing in "Safe Mode" which in my case can be resolved by denying "spot.im" (which of course would require one of these three extension to do so, hence not use "Safe Mode") a request denial that does not appear to otherwise negatively impact the rendering of the website in any way that is observable to me.
Last edited by Pallid Planetoid on 2018-09-21, 07:33, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-21, 08:03

Pale Moon Rising wrote:I've found that if "spot.im" is requested by a Fox News website then this request has to be denied (not allowed) to avoid an eventual lock-up of the Pale Moon browser (after 2-3 minutes on the site).
Strange. Did a test with Pale Moon 28.1.0 x64-bit.
Neither gets Pale Moon locked-up nor can I see a request for "spot.im".

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Tomaso » 2018-09-21, 13:44

No lockups at my end, using Pale Moon v28.1.0,x64 under Win8.1Pro.

I can confirm the requests to spot.im though.
The requests were blocked by the following rule in 'AdGuard Spyware filter' (which I'm using in 'uBlock Origin'):

Code: Select all

||pix.spot.im/api/*/pixel
On a side note; there are ongoing issues regarding video playback @ FoxNews.com, if you're using one or more of the following filters:
* EasyPrivacy
* hpHosts Ad and tracking servers
* MVPS HOSTS
* Peter Lowes Ad and tracking server list


I reported the issues to the respective filter authors last month..
Amongst the HOSTS file authors that I reported the problems to, only Dan Pollock updated his filter to fix it, while the rest of them refused to.

Two exception rules were also added to 'EasyPrivacy, but as you can see from my issue report here, one of those exceptions is only semi-working:
https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/1685/

To fix the problem for all of the filters mentioned above, I made these exception rules, and added them to my personal filter:

Code: Select all

@@||demdex.net^$third-party,domain=foxnews.com
@@dpm.demdex.net$domain=foxnews.com
@@metrics.foxnews.com$domain=foxnews.com
Last edited by Tomaso on 2018-09-21, 13:49, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-21, 15:55

Well, during my test uBlock was active.

I don't use AdGuard Spyware filter but EasyPrivacy and it also blocks "spot.im" by default.

Code: Select all

spot.im/api/tracker/
spot.im^*/pixel?
EasyList which is also active on my end blocks as well "spot.im" by default.

Code: Select all

spot.im/api/all/$xmlhttprequest,domain=iwatchonline.cr|iwatchonline.eu|watchonline.to
spot.im/api/newsfeed-sync/$xmlhttprequest,domain=iwatchonline.cr|iwatchonline.eu|watchonline.to
spot.im^$script,subdocument,domain=iwatchonline.cr|iwatchonline.eu|watchonline.to
However I did test also with a clean install and PaleMoon wasn't locked-up either.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Tomaso » 2018-09-21, 16:29

Since those entries weren't shown in uBO's logger here at my end, I guess 'AdGuard Spyware filter' catches it before other filters gets a chance to "react". :)
Last edited by Tomaso on 2018-09-21, 16:30, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-21, 16:38

Tomaso wrote:Since those entries weren't shown in uBO's logger here at my end, I guess 'AdGuard Spyware filter' catches it before other filters gets a chance to "react". :)
None of the blocked filter lists entries are shown in uBlock's logger.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Tomaso » 2018-09-21, 16:58

gepus wrote:None of the blocked filter lists entries are shown in uBlock's logger.
That's not the case for me.
After disabling 'AdGuard Spyware filter', this 'EasyPrivacy' rule shows up in uBO's logger (when visiting the page in the first post):

Code: Select all

||spot.im^*/pixel?

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-21, 17:34

Tomaso wrote:After disabling 'AdGuard Spyware filter', this 'EasyPrivacy' rule shows up in uBO's logger (when visiting the page in the first post):
Hmm, I can't see any entry in uBlock's logger and AdGuard Spyware filter is deactivated while EasyPrivacy and EasyList are both active.
Image

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Tomaso » 2018-09-21, 21:59

Perhaps it's a regional thing?:
Image
Image
..or perhaps you're using an additional blocker, which intercepts those calls before uBO gets a chance to take care of them?
What's that green shield icon in your toolbar?
Last edited by Tomaso on 2018-09-21, 22:15, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-22, 07:23

Yes, it could be a regional thing after all.
What version of uBO are you using? Mine is 1.16.4.4.
If you look at the source of that site, can you find any reference to "post.im"? I can't.

uBO is the only blocker I use.
The green shield is a basic toggle for JavaScript off/on (green means that scripting is enabled).
Meanwhile I replaced that icon with a self-explanatory one. :)

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Tomaso » 2018-09-22, 08:16

gepus wrote:What version of uBO are you using? Mine is 1.16.4.4.
Same here.
gepus wrote:If you look at the source of that site, can you find any reference to "post.im"? I can't.
Me neither.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by therube » 2018-09-22, 15:05

There may be a "leak" on that page, perhaps even outside of "spot.im" (i.e., without allowing spot.im), but in my zeal to get out of there (Fox, like, really ;-)), memory usage, during my stay, hadn't grown to a point where it would have caused a crash, certainly not within 2-3 minutes.

Maybe not a "leak", just persistent "crap".
Open browser... whatever happened to exist...
Set NoScript to 'Allow Globally'
Opened Fox News
-> memory shoots up, persistent but variable high memory, persistent I/O & CPU usage
Let things sit, & nothing changed, to speak of
Closed the Fox News page
-> memory drops, & has continued to do so, over time, I/O & CPU usage are nil
Palemoon Fox News Page memory & cpu usage.png
Last edited by therube on 2018-09-22, 15:22, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Pallid Planetoid » 2018-09-22, 16:12

Tomaso wrote:
gepus wrote:If you look at the source of that site, can you find any reference to "post.im"? I can't.
Me neither.
It is "spot.im" (not "post.im"). Here it is in uBlock 1.16.4.4:
Spot dot im.png
and in NoScript 5.1.8.7:
here it is in NS.png
here it is in NS.png (13.01 KiB) Viewed 1043 times
As Tomaso has pointed out EasyPrivacy blocks this site request:
EasyPrivacy blocks it.png
What I had done a while back is disable ABPrime (where I use EasyPrivacy) so "Spot.im" stopped getting blocked -- I've since enable EasyPrivacy so problem is resolved.
therube wrote:There may be a "leak" on that page, perhaps even outside of "spot.im" (i.e., without allowing spot.im), but in my zeal to get out of there (Fox, like, really ;-)), memory usage, during my stay, hadn't grown to a point where it would have caused a crash, certainly not within 2-3 minutes.
(my highlights in post) I have never gotten to the point of a "crash" -- PP just flat-out totally locks-up requiring the stoppage of the process if "spot.im" is NOT blocked (would it have eventually resulted in a crash if I waited long enough? -- don't know)
Last edited by Pallid Planetoid on 2018-09-22, 16:17, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by gepus » 2018-09-22, 21:09

Pale Moon Rising wrote:It is "spot.im" (not "post.im").
That was a typo. "spot.im" was meant as shown in my screenshot above.
Besides, it seems to be a regional thing (I'm connecting from Germany).
- uBO doesn't show for me any request related to "spot.im"
- uBO deactivated -> "Web Developer/Network" doesn't show for me any connection related to "spot.im"
- uBO deactivated -> if I sniff the request and response headers with a third party tool, nothing related to "spot.im" gets displayed

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Re: FYI: Regarding at least some if not all Fox News pages

Unread post by Pallid Planetoid » 2018-09-22, 21:23

^ hmm, regional that it is apparently :think: -- interesting....
Last edited by Pallid Planetoid on 2018-09-22, 21:23, edited 1 time in total.
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