New Technology Reviews!.: blocks

Disconnect browser extension keeps pesky cookies in check, blocks third-party tracking requests

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCykahkX531hn2gO0kvpfUnhoZi5DJk7TI9xmPDHy040wYGEwqs004hoB2x3gQwUyZhciUxdm0MDG9tsrhHdMf1up_-72aw5sZscWlw_zu8awlntMn_4iJx-AaxH9s6x4AsdUJ7e_zAGc/s1600/cookies-2010-12-03-500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCykahkX531hn2gO0kvpfUnhoZi5DJk7TI9xmPDHy040wYGEwqs004hoB2x3gQwUyZhciUxdm0MDG9tsrhHdMf1up_-72aw5sZscWlw_zu8awlntMn_4iJx-AaxH9s6x4AsdUJ7e_zAGc/s320/cookies-2010-12-03-500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> 
Internet Explorer 9 may block 'em in 2011, and the US government's on the case too, but you don't have to wait for Microsoft or bureaucracy to keep your privacy paramount if you browse with Rockmelt or Chrome. That's because former Google developer Brian Kennish just released Disconnect, an extension for either one, that banishes Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo tracking requests (more companies are on the way) as you make your merry way across the web. Install and you'll find a nice little "d" icon on your browser's status bar, with a drop-down menu exposing exactly how many requests you've blocked from each service, and the option to manually disable blocking at will. Why bother? Don't you want to keep that secret love of Thanko products all to yourself?

Disconnect browser extension keeps pesky cookies in check, blocks third-party tracking requests

Internet Explorer 9 may block 'em in 2011, and the US government's on the case too, but you don't have to wait for Microsoft or...

China blocks Wikileaks over latest stunt

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com////classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/Wikileaks_3-200-200.jpg"> China has announced that it has blocked Wikileaks due to its latest scandal, which saw <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/wikileaks-sparks-diplomatic-crisis-after-250-000-docs-leak-911452">250,000 secret documents</A> offloaded for public consumption. China has decided to block the site because it wants to keep its relations with the US, er, happy. Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said about the new leaks: "China takes note of the government reports. We hope the US side will handle the relevant issues. "As for the content of the documents, we will not comment on that." It's a rather muted response, but one that suggests it is up to the US to sort out where the leaks are coming from before something more serious is released. Name dropped China's name was mentioned in the documents released. It was in connection with the hack of Google which forced <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/google-looks-likely-to-pull-out-of-china-676844">the search giant to pull out of China</A>. The documents said that China's Politburo (a Communist group) was behind the hack.While this isn't proof, it is an allegation that China will certainly want to shy away from. This isn't the first time that Wikileaks has been blocked. It was banned <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/australian-government-takes-wikileaks-off-banned-website-list-585894">in Australia</A> back in May after it released details of what sites were blocked Down Under. The ban on the site in Australia has since been lifted.

China blocks Wikileaks over latest stunt

China has announced that it has blocked Wikileaks due to its latest scandal, which saw 250,000 secret documents offloaded for public consum...

How to Use Yahoo With Web Blocks

Open the computer's default Internet browser.Visit a credible, popular free web proxy website (see References). Web proxy websites allow users to browse to websites using anonymous and alternative IP address, unblocking access through most systems which block websites.Locate the proxy address bar where you can enter the URL of the site you are trying to visit. In the URL search bar, type "http://www.yahoo.com" just as you would normally when visiting the website. Click "Submit" or "Search," depending on the website's setup. This will allow the proxy to begin its anonymous web search to Yahoo!, bypassing web blocks and accessing issues.Browse through Yahoo! as you would normally once the proxy loads the web page. The proxy toolbar will normally remain throughout your web browsing experience, in order to allow for additional website surfing. If a proxy fails to connect you to a website, try another proxy website. Some proxy service sites offer a wide variety of proxy websites that are free and available for use (see References).

How to Use Yahoo With Web Blocks

Open the computer's default Internet browser. Visit a credible, popular free web proxy website (see References). Web proxy websites all...

Google blocks Facebook from its Contacts

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/Facebook/facebook-zuckerberg-200-200.jpg"/>The increasingly frosty relationship between Facebook and Google has grown a little colder, with the search giant making a change to its terms and conditions that will stop the social networking site having access to your email contacts. Facebook has previously been allowed to comb through your Gmail contacts to find potential matches, but Google is unhappy that its openness is not being reciprocated. A change to the site's Terms of Service – as reported on TechCrunch – means that any site that wants to use the Google Contacts API has to offer reciprocity. Pulled the plugFacebook does not allow the export of contact information for your friends – and this means that Google has pulled the plug. "Google is committed to making it easy for users to get their data into and out of Google products," said a Google statement. "That is why we have a data liberation engineering team dedicated to building import and export tools for users. "We are not alone. Many other sites allow users to import and export their information, including contacts, quickly and easily. But sites that do not, such as Facebook, leave users in a data dead end."So we have decided to change our approach slightly to reflect the fact that users often aren't aware that once they have imported their contacts into sites like Facebook they are effectively trapped."Ways and meansThere are still ways and means for users to export their own contacts and then convert them into a file that Facebook can read - although this is obviously a major hurdle for the average person and some way away from the convenience of the previous method."Google users will still be free to export their contacts from our products to their computers in an open, machine-readable format – and once they have done that they can then import those contacts into any service they choose, added Google "However, we will no longer allow websites to automate the import of users' Google Contacts (via our API) unless they allow similar export to other sites."This will be a major, although by no means critical, blow for Facebook – with its huge user base having already used the tool previously and dels with Yahoo and Microsoft (Hotmail) meaning they will not close off their contacts to the social networking giant.We're guessing that Mark Zuckerberg may not be receiving a Christmas card from Larry and Sergei this year. <img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f5e5fef/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

Google blocks Facebook from its Contacts

The increasingly frosty relationship between Facebook and Google has grown a little colder, with the search giant making a change to its te...