New Update AdBlock extension introduces local content caching solution

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CyberTech

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Nov 10, 2017
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AdBlock extension introduces local content caching solution

AdBlock, a popular adblocking extension for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and other browsers, and not to be confused with Adblock Plus, comes with a new local content caching option in its recent version for Chrome.

The feature is labeled as a beta right now, and it is only available in the Chrome version. Bleeping Computer reports that the feature will be introduced in the AdBlock Firefox extension as well shortly.

The new feature is disabled by default. It provides local copies of commonly used JavaScript libraries to achieve two primary goals: speed up the loading of web pages and reduce the risk of being tracked.

AdBlock local content caching
adblock-local-content-caching.png


You need the latest version of AdBlock for Google Chrome to enable the feature. Open the AdBlock options after installation or upgrade, and check the "Enable local content caching for popular website libraries" to enable the feature.

The "what's this" link leads to a help page that offers additional information. Neither the linked support page nor the blog post that revealed the new feature list which libraries AdBlock replaces with local copies when you enable the feature.

Bleeping Computer asked the makers of AdBlock for specifics and was told that jQuery is supported right now, and that new library will be added in future versions of the extension.

Benefits
jquery-local-load.png


As far as the benefits are concerned; it should be clear that it is faster to load a library from the local system than from a server on the Internet. The anti-tracking benefit requires a closer look as it may not be clear right away.

There is no benefit when it comes to tracking if a site loads it from its server. There may be a benefit, however, if a site uses a content distribution network to do so. These big networks have a wide reach, and that reach gives them tracking options as they may connect the dots as they are used on a lot of sites on the Internet.

You can check which resources are loaded from the cache using the browser's Developer Tools. The request URL should begin with "chrome-extension".

Closing Words
AdBlock is not the first extension to cache commonly used libraries locally to improve page load time and privacy. Decentraleyes, a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome, introduced the feature years ago. We reviewed the extension in 2015 for the first time.

The extension is the better choice right now as it supports more libraries than AdBlock and includes additional features such as the blocking of resources that cannot be loaded locally.

Source: AdBlock extension introduces local content caching solution - gHacks Tech News
 

Prorootect

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AdBlock’s new content caching feature speeds up page loading, protects your privacy
- on blog.getadblock.com/: AdBlock’s new content caching feature speeds up page loading, protects your privacy

It’s been nearly 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the web. And as it has matured, the websites that populate it have become increasingly complicated. High-quality images, dynamic content, and videos have become prevalent on the most popular websites. And while these sites look amazing, all that content can take a long time to load, especially for visitors not on high-speed Internet connections.
To address this issue, many websites now rely on content delivery networks, or CDNs, to make streaming a song or loading a page faster. A CDN is a network of computers located all over the world. Each node in the network caches the building blocks of a site and serves them to visitors who are geographically closest to it. This means that visitors to most websites today aren’t forced to wait for content delivered from a server that may be halfway around the world. Instead, a YouTube viewer in the US can watch a video that’s coming from a server in California, while a viewer in Africa is watching the same video streamed from a server in Nairobi, both enjoying the reduced latency associated with not having the video served on a computer in the UK.

There are a few tradeoffs with this approach. For starters, many of the most widely-used CDNs are operated by large technology companies, like Google and Microsoft. And it is possible that these companies are tracking requests to their CDNs in a way that could be tied back to individual users. And to be clear: there are very real concerns about letting these conglomerates hoover up more data about your online behavior.

In addition to the tracking concern, CDNs aren’t always the fastest way to service up a file. Sometimes it makes sense to store the most widely-used files locally. And that’s where AdBlock can help. Our most recent update to AdBlock for Chrome introduces our brand-new local content cache feature. By redirecting requests for the most commonly used of all website building blocks, JavaScript code libraries, to cached versions built right into AdBlock, we’re able to speed up page loading and to help AdBlock users maximize their bandwidth.

1*JTcG5o9yOGoYMIg93QjzVg.png

Opt-in to this feature on the AdBlock options page
This will make it harder for companies to track you and will help speed up page load times, which will be most noticeable for people on slower data connection. To opt-in and give it a try, please visit our Options page from the AdBlock extension. Please take a look and let us know what you think!

_____________________________________________

...and MORE...

AdBlock has Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) Mining Protection List - from:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hoshsadiq/adblock-nocoin-list/master/nocoin.txt
...and too: Adblock Warning Removal List, and EasyPrivacy...and other lists.
You could, if you wish, easily untick the case of this feature: "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" (in Options/General Options);)

Adblock for Firefox has Size 915.1 KB (Version 3.8.0 Released Nov. 14, 2017) , and for Chrome has Size: 2.35 MB (Version: 3.26.1 Updated: March 1, 2018)...
 
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