easylist-pac-privoxy

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easylist-pac-privoxy

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EasyList Tracker and Adblocks to Proxy Auto Configuration (PAC) File and Privoxy Actions and Filters

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# easylist-pac-privoxy
EasyList Tracker and Adblock Rules to Proxy Auto Configuration (PAC) File and Privoxy Actions and Filters

Converts [EasyList](https://easylist.to/index.html) tracker and ad blocking rules to efficient network-level blocks in a [proxy.pac](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/essandess/easylist-pac-privoxy/master/proxy.pac) file for automatic proxy network configurations and [Privoxy](http://www.privoxy.org) proxy servers.

Easily incorporates multiple blocking rulesets into both PAC and Privoxy formats, including [easyprivacy.txt](https://easylist.to/easylist/easyprivacy.txt), [easylist.txt](https://easylist.to/easylist/easylist.txt), [fanboy-annoyance.txt](https://easylist.to/easylist/fanboy-annoyance.txt), [fanboy-social.txt](https://easylist.to/easylist/fanboy-social.txt), [antiadblockfilters.txt](https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/antiadblockfilters.txt), [malwaredomains_full.txt](https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/malwaredomains_full.txt), and the anti-spamware list [adblock-list.txt](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dawsey21/Lists/master/adblock-list.txt).

## Deprecation Warning

The PAC-based approach used in this repo to block content no longer works with several common browsers: iOS Safari (#21), and Google Chrome (policy `PacHttpsUrlStrippingEnabled` disabled). Therefore, it is recommended that this approach be replaced wiht Privoxy configured for HTTPS Inspection:
```bash
sudo port install privoxy
port notes privoxy
```

Or:
```bash
sudo port install macos-fortress-proxy
port notes privoxy
```

## Purpose

Provide tracker and ad blocking at the kernel and network layers using the crowd-sourced EasyList blocking rulesets used by client-based browser plugins. This proxy configuration provides EasyList blocking rules for all devices on the LAN or VPN, beyond the capabilities of client-specific plugins.

A combination of a `proxy.pac` file with Privoxy and a webserver for CSS rules that perform element blocking is used to implement all the features of EasyList blocking rules.

*Blocking capability*       | Browser Plugin | proxy.pac | Privoxy | Privoxy+CSS
---------------------       | -------------- | --------- | ------- | -----------
**EasyList regex rules**    |        ✅      |     ✅    |    ✅   |     ✅
**EasyList element hiding** |        ✅      |     ❌    |    ❌   |     ✅
**HTTP**                    |        ✅      |     ✅    |    ✅   |     ✅
**HTTPS**                   |        ✅      |     ✅    |    ❌   |     ❌
**Client-level**            |        ✅      |     ✅    |    ✅   |     ✅
**Kernel-level**            |        ❌      |     ✅    |    ✅   |     ✅
**Network-level**           |        ❌      |     ✅    |    ✅   |     ✅
**Large rulesets**          |        ✅      |     ❌    |    ✅   |     ✅

## Proxy Auto Configuration (PAC)

### To Use: Localhost

Download the [proxy.pac](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/essandess/easylist-pac-privoxy/master/proxy.pac) file.

On macOS (without Server.app):

```
sudo cp ~/Downloads/proxy.pac /Library/WebServer/Documents
sudo apachectl start
```

Set your network Proxy Auto Configuration setting to:

> `http://localhost/proxy.pac` or `http://host-ip-address/proxy.pac`

***Advantages***

* Works for any mobile or desktop device on your LAN.
* Works with an upstream proxy if specified in the `proxy.pac` file.
* Individual update control and customization of the `proxy.pac` file and filter rules.
* Possible internet access if port 80 exposed outside the LAN firewall.

***Disadvantages***

* Does not work on mobile data networks.
* No internet access unless port forwarding to host is used.

## Path stripping/inclusion in `FindProxyForURL`

Many Easylist rules use URL path information to determine of the request should be blocked or not. Becasue the full URL with 
its path is necessarily visible to the browser, this information can be passed to the Proxy Autoconfig file, even if the URL 
uses HTTPS, which is an advantage of using a PAC file for filtering.

However, this behavior presents a security vulnerability if the OS is configured to use a malicious PAC file. This issue can 
affect any browser, including [Chrome](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=593759) and
[Safari](https://blog.checkpoint.com/2017/04/27/osx-malware-catching-wants-read-https-traffic/).

Recent versions of Chrome and Firefox are configured to only send the domain name to the `FindProxyForURL` function, which 
closes this potential security vulnerability, but also prevents blocks based on URL path information.

To allow this blocking capability:
* **Chrome**: Set the policy `PacHttpsUrlStrippingEnabled` to be `false`. In macOS:
> `defaults write com.google.Chrome PacHttpsUrlStrippingEnabled -bool false`
* **Firefox**: Set the configuration variable `network.proxy.autoconfig_url.include_path` to be `true` using the Firefox link [about:config](about:config).

## To Use: VPN

Configure an [OpenVPN Server](../../../essandess/macos-openvpn-server) to use the `proxy.pac` file hosted on your LAN.

This is the best option.

***Advantages***

* Works on any mobile or desktop device on any mobile data or WiFi network worldwide.
* Individual update control and customization of the `proxy.pac` file and filter rules.
* Security and privacy benefits of VPNs.

***Disadvantages***

* Necessity of VPN server.

## To Use: GitHub Host

Set your network Proxy Auto Configuration setting to:

> `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/essandess/easylist-pac-privoxy/master/proxy.pac`

***Advantages***

* Works on any mobile or desktop device on any WiFi network worldwide.
* GitHub server; private web server not necessary.

***Disadvantages***

* Does not work on mobile data networks.
* Does not work on iOS without an open blackhole with HTTP return code 200 for blackholed sites.
* Reliance on a third-party (me) for pass/block rule sets, updates, and `proxy.pac` integrity.

## Details

Using EasyList rules in a in a [proxy.pac](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/essandess/easylist-pac-privoxy/master/proxy.pac) file provides these benefits:

* Tracker and Ad blocking performed in all clients that use PAC files, browsers and non-browsers alike.
* Tracker and Ad blocking on both desktop and mobile devices, especially via [VPN](../../../essandess/osx-openvpn-server).
* Browser plugins or filtering proxies are not necessarily used (although PAC files work well in sequence with these).
* PAC files do not alter the webpage DOM, used by adblock detection methods.

The script `easylist_pac.py` downloads EasyList and EasyPrivacy [rules](https://adblockplus.org/filter-cheatsheet) and converts these to a combination of very efficient Javascript hash lookups and efficient NFA regular expressions. The size of the PAC file and rulesets are limited in the posted example to a total of over fifteen thousand (18788) to ensure efficient execution on modern mobile devices. For full rulesets, use in conjunction with a browser plugin and/or Privoxy.

Example hash (exact match) blocking entries look like:

```
"tracker.myseofriend.net"
"adwiretracker.fwix.com"
```

Example regular expression blocking rules look like:

```
online.*/promoredirect?key=
secureprovide1.com/*=tracking
```

### EasyList to `proxy.pac` converter

```
python3 easylist_pac.py
python3 easylist_pac.py -h
python3 easylist_pac.py -b blackhole-ip-address:port -d download_dir -p proxy:port -P proxy.pac.orig
```

The new file [proxy.pac](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/essandess/easylist-pac-privoxy/master/proxy.pac) will be created in the (default `~/Downloads` directory. See `easylist_pac.py -h` for options.

## Privoxy

The repo [adblock2privoxy](../../../adblock2privoxy) is used to achieve nearly full EasyList rule capability, complete with element hiding.

After installing [adblock2privoxy](../../../adblock2privoxy), an example production run with regular updates looks like:

```
adblock2privoxy -p /usr/local/etc/adblock2privoxy/privoxy -w /usr/local/etc/adblock2privoxy/css -d 10.0.1.3:8119 \
  https://easylist.to/easylist/easyprivacy.txt  \
  https://easylist.to/easylist/easylist.txt  \
  https://easylist.to/easylist/fanboy-annoyance.txt  \
  https://easylist.to/easylist/fanboy-social.txt  \
  https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/antiadblockfilters.txt  \
  https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/malwaredomains_full.txt  \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dawsey21/Lists/master/adblock-list.txt

# then every few days
adblock2privoxy -t /usr/local/etc/adblock2privoxy/privoxy/ab2p.task
# restart privoxy, e.g. sudo port unload privoxy ; sudo port load privoxy
```

## Public Service Announcement

This proxy.pac is configured to block all known tracker and adware content at the network level. Many websites now offer an additional way to block ads: subscribe to their content. Security and privacy will always necessitate ad blocking, but now that this software has become mainstream with mainstream effects, ad blocker users must consider the [potential impact](http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blocking-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love/) of ad blocking on the writers and publications that are important to them. Personally, two publications that I gladly pay for, especially for their important US political and other coverage, are the *[New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com)* and *[The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com)*. I encourage all users to subscribe to their own preferred publications and writers.

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