AdBlocker-Blocker on v3.co.uk

[jonathansampson]

Did you search for similar issues before submitting this one?
Yes

Describe the issue you encountered:
Users are unable to read content from http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/feature/3001670/ten-desktop-browsers-to-try. While scrolling, the user encounters an adblocker-blocker message requesting they turn off any adblockers that may be running.

Blocking scripts preserves the content.

Expected behavior:
The user should be able to read online content uninterrupted.

Platform (Win7, 8, 10? macOS? Linux distro?): Windows 10

Brave Version (revision SHA): 0.12.15

Screenshot if needed:

• Any related issues:

[lukemulks]

It appears they're using an anti-ad blocker, but instead of having the AAB replace the ads, the AAB blocks content instead.

I took a look at this script, which appears to run some detection by baiting the client with some white/blank ads:

http://assets.v3.co.uk/javascript/live/v3/javascript-v3.head.min.js

The script above contains:

22: [function(require, module, exports) {
		var utility = require("./utility.js"),
			DetectAdBlock = function(options) {
				this._options = {
					checkOnLoad: !1,
					resetOnEnd: !1,
					loopCheckTime: 50,
					loopMaxNumber: 5,
					baitClass: "pub_300x250 pub_300x250m pub_728x90 text-ad textAd text_ad text_ads text-ads text-ad-links",
					baitStyle: "width: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; position: absolute !important; left: -10000px !important; top: -1000px !important;",
					debug: !1
				}, this._var = {
					version: "3.2.1",
					bait: null,
					checking: !1,
					loop: null,
					loopNumber: 0,
					event: {
						detected: [],
						notDetected: []
					}

The bait call and the content masking appear to be made using opentag and cloudfront:

728x90 "bait" ad call
https://d3vuqzsqy1r5zj.cloudfront.net/Pub/AAB/www.v3.co.uk/ad.js

Opentag script that initiates the content blocking:
https://d3c3cq33003psk.cloudfront.net/opentag-53775-238465.js

There's also this call that takes place which appears to respond once the content has been blocked:

http://assets.incisivemedia.com/rezonance_fonts/kill_switch/v3/TestKillSwitch.json

{
	"blockContent": "true"
}

Blocking recommendation:
I'd suggest attempting to blocking these requests:

https://d3vuqzsqy1r5zj.cloudfront.net/Pub/AAB/www.v3.co.uk/ad.js

https://d3c3cq33003psk.cloudfront.net/opentag-53775-238465.js

I suspect the assets.incisivemedia.com domain may be more of a confirmation event than an execution, but I am not 100% sure.

[luixxiul]

the milestone was reset to 0.13.3

[alexwykoff]

Hey @lukemulks if you could dig into this a bit more when you have time, that'd be rad.

[lukemulks]

Will do @alexwykoff

I am going to do a big sweep through the backlog this week. :-)