6 ms·

This reminds me of old websites blocking right clicking on a webpage since that's how you viewed the source code, yet there's always a way to get the source. Sa

by mimsee 5y ago

This reminds me of old websites blocking right clicking on a webpage since that's how you viewed the source code, yet there's always a way to get the source. Same in this case, there's always a way to capture the "protected" content. Edit: granted, not only old websites do this. Instagram lays a full width/height transparent div atop the picture to prevent right-click copying of the image.

eloeffler 5y ago
Haha yes. I think I first saw this on social media websites, so it's a very close comparison. This introduced me to developer tools and the funny 3d view of html layers that Firefox had.
DocTomoe 5y ago
Some legislations have pretty rubbery rules about "circumventing effective DRM" to tack extra charges onto you if you find a way to save content the content creator does not want saved. I would argue that a DRM that can be circumvented is no longer "effective", but lawyers and judges might think differently about that.
Gigachad 5y ago
Except the platforms are getting better at it. Android has an API which allows apps to completely block the screenshot functionality. For the average android user, there is no way to get around this. Computers are getting locked down more and more to the point where these kinds of restrictions actually start working.
- ddalex 5y ago
  > these kinds of restrictions actually start working. This - it didn't use to be true because most computer users were literate enough to bypass simple restrictions, and if a platform was restricted, others were available. With the latest changes in Windows, Android, and demographics, now a vast majority of users cannot easily bypass restrictions; the war on general computing has been won. Yes, a small number of highly skilled people can easily dump binary data through hacked devices, but in the grand scheme of economics, that doesn't matter.
  - johnisgood 5y ago
    Yeah, and it is pretty sad. :/
  - Gigachad 5y ago
    It’s not just demographics. With the hardware attestation/safety net and locked bootloaders today. I don’t even know how to bypass these restrictions.
- SomeHacker44 5y ago
  How DO you get around this screenshot block? I never figured it out and I am probably not average.
  - arsome 5y ago
    Xposed modules (can even be targetted at specific apps in a root-less way using Taichi), patching system libraries with smalipatcher to disable the "secure flag" system wide or root screen capture tools like scrcpy.
    - tyilo 5y ago
      Do you know how Tai Chi compares to VirtualXposed?
  - vmception 5y ago
    With another device that takes pictures I’m glad I’m privileged enough to have multiple devices with cameras Its a low bar, but I was told to check my privilege and I do love doing that now
  - RMPR 5y ago
    One trick is to use scrcpy then make the screenshot with your computer instead
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  iOS has the same bug. That feature should be removed out of respect for the users.
- 323 5y ago
  Windows has that API to. If you try to screenshot the Netflix app or video on some websites you get a black rectangle where the video is.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Yeah, it's so tiresome. It's my device, I should be able to do anything if I want to. Then Android comes up with some API to let apps subvert my will. Who cares if the app doesn't want to be screenshotted? I'm the user. What the app wants doesn't matter, it's never mattered. I could fight this by rooting my phone and using custom implementations that lie to the apps and only pretend to be secure. Then Google comes up with hardware attestation and now there's no way to fake things anymore. It's like we're the enemy that the phone is being secured against. I barely have words to describe how much I hate these companies and the way they try to control me. We have free software everywhere except phones. I wonder why organizations such as GNU aren't working on free software clients for these popular services like WhatsApp and Telegram. The potential for a positive impact is enormous.
  - 5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
    All Telegram clients are already fully open. (The server side is not, but there are third party implementations). https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram https://github.com/TelegramMessenger/Telegram-iOS https://github.com/TelegramMessenger/Telegram-iOS Plus a few web frontends, I am way too lazy to find them all. https://github.com/zhukov/webogram https://github.com/zhukov/webogram WhatsApp forbids third party clients IIRC.
  - Hackbraten 5y ago
    > It's like we're the enemy that the phone is being secured against. I barely have words to describe how much I hate these companies and the way they try to control me. I’ve had enough of it, too. Ordered a Librem 5 and can’t wait for the day it arrives – so I can finalize my divorce from the Apple ecosystem. > I wonder why organizations such as GNU aren't working on free software clients for these popular services like WhatsApp and Telegram. Regarding WhatsApp, it looks like it’s against their TOS, and Meta goes out of their way to detect usage of third-party apps and ban your account [1]. Regarding Telegram: not only do they allow third-party implementations, they even link to them [2]. Besides, Telegram’s own desktop client is FOSS under GPLv3 [3]. [1]: https://www.cultofmac.com/314343/use-a-third-party-whatsapp-client-and-you-could-be-banned-for-life/ https://www.cultofmac.com/314343/use-a-third-party-whatsapp-... [2]: https://telegram.org/apps#unofficial-apps https://telegram.org/apps#unofficial-apps [3]: https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop
moooo99 5y ago
I recently came across a fairly modern looking website that blocked my right click and displayed an alert “you’re not allowed to view this sites source code”. I could not help but to laugh out loud
- ThatMedicIsASpy 5y ago
  Chrome did introduce a configuration feature to block viewing source code recently. Javascript hijacking right click is prevented by shift-right click in Firefox.
  - Macha 5y ago
    Note that this is an enterprise policy and not something a website can enable, only your computer's administrator (you on your personal device, a school admin or employer in the intended case)
    - Gigachad 5y ago
      For now
      - pythonaut_16 5y ago
        Seems pretty impossible to enforce otherwise with how the web currently works. At some point the website is sending you HTML and JS to be interpreted on your computer.
        fsflover 5y ago
        Same as with the Telegram's DRM.
      - hbn 5y ago
        The difference between an enterprise device management feature and a web API are... pretty massive. It doesn't seem particularly unreasonable that a company dealing with sensitive data would want to prevent their less computer-educated employees from falling for self-XSS attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-XSS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-XSS
floatboth 5y ago
500px at some point started to use the right-click-blocker even on Creative Commons licensed images (!) — I quit the site over this. IIRC they eventually dropped the option to select a CC license entirely :/

by mimsee 5y ago

eloeffler 5y ago

Haha yes. I think I first saw this on social media websites, so it's a very close comparison. This introduced me to developer tools and the funny 3d view of html layers that Firefox had.

DocTomoe 5y ago

Some legislations have pretty rubbery rules about "circumventing effective DRM" to tack extra charges onto you if you find a way to save content the content creator does not want saved. I would argue that a DRM that can be circumvented is no longer "effective", but lawyers and judges might think differently about that.

Gigachad 5y ago

Except the platforms are getting better at it. Android has an API which allows apps to completely block the screenshot functionality. For the average android user, there is no way to get around this. Computers are getting locked down more and more to the point where these kinds of restrictions actually start working.

ddalex 5y ago
> these kinds of restrictions actually start working. This - it didn't use to be true because most computer users were literate enough to bypass simple restrictions, and if a platform was restricted, others were available. With the latest changes in Windows, Android, and demographics, now a vast majority of users cannot easily bypass restrictions; the war on general computing has been won. Yes, a small number of highly skilled people can easily dump binary data through hacked devices, but in the grand scheme of economics, that doesn't matter.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  Yeah, and it is pretty sad. :/
- Gigachad 5y ago
  It’s not just demographics. With the hardware attestation/safety net and locked bootloaders today. I don’t even know how to bypass these restrictions.
SomeHacker44 5y ago
How DO you get around this screenshot block? I never figured it out and I am probably not average.
- arsome 5y ago
  Xposed modules (can even be targetted at specific apps in a root-less way using Taichi), patching system libraries with smalipatcher to disable the "secure flag" system wide or root screen capture tools like scrcpy.
  - tyilo 5y ago
    Do you know how Tai Chi compares to VirtualXposed?
- vmception 5y ago
  With another device that takes pictures I’m glad I’m privileged enough to have multiple devices with cameras Its a low bar, but I was told to check my privilege and I do love doing that now
- RMPR 5y ago
  One trick is to use scrcpy then make the screenshot with your computer instead
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
iOS has the same bug. That feature should be removed out of respect for the users.
323 5y ago
Windows has that API to. If you try to screenshot the Netflix app or video on some websites you get a black rectangle where the video is.
matheusmoreira 5y ago
Yeah, it's so tiresome. It's my device, I should be able to do anything if I want to. Then Android comes up with some API to let apps subvert my will. Who cares if the app doesn't want to be screenshotted? I'm the user. What the app wants doesn't matter, it's never mattered. I could fight this by rooting my phone and using custom implementations that lie to the apps and only pretend to be secure. Then Google comes up with hardware attestation and now there's no way to fake things anymore. It's like we're the enemy that the phone is being secured against. I barely have words to describe how much I hate these companies and the way they try to control me. We have free software everywhere except phones. I wonder why organizations such as GNU aren't working on free software clients for these popular services like WhatsApp and Telegram. The potential for a positive impact is enormous.
- 5e92cb50239222b 5y ago
  All Telegram clients are already fully open. (The server side is not, but there are third party implementations). https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram https://github.com/DrKLO/Telegram https://github.com/TelegramMessenger/Telegram-iOS https://github.com/TelegramMessenger/Telegram-iOS Plus a few web frontends, I am way too lazy to find them all. https://github.com/zhukov/webogram https://github.com/zhukov/webogram WhatsApp forbids third party clients IIRC.
- Hackbraten 5y ago
  > It's like we're the enemy that the phone is being secured against. I barely have words to describe how much I hate these companies and the way they try to control me. I’ve had enough of it, too. Ordered a Librem 5 and can’t wait for the day it arrives – so I can finalize my divorce from the Apple ecosystem. > I wonder why organizations such as GNU aren't working on free software clients for these popular services like WhatsApp and Telegram. Regarding WhatsApp, it looks like it’s against their TOS, and Meta goes out of their way to detect usage of third-party apps and ban your account [1]. Regarding Telegram: not only do they allow third-party implementations, they even link to them [2]. Besides, Telegram’s own desktop client is FOSS under GPLv3 [3]. [1]: https://www.cultofmac.com/314343/use-a-third-party-whatsapp-client-and-you-could-be-banned-for-life/ https://www.cultofmac.com/314343/use-a-third-party-whatsapp-... [2]: https://telegram.org/apps#unofficial-apps https://telegram.org/apps#unofficial-apps [3]: https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop

moooo99 5y ago

I recently came across a fairly modern looking website that blocked my right click and displayed an alert “you’re not allowed to view this sites source code”. I could not help but to laugh out loud

ThatMedicIsASpy 5y ago
Chrome did introduce a configuration feature to block viewing source code recently. Javascript hijacking right click is prevented by shift-right click in Firefox.
- Macha 5y ago
  Note that this is an enterprise policy and not something a website can enable, only your computer's administrator (you on your personal device, a school admin or employer in the intended case)
  - Gigachad 5y ago
    For now
    - pythonaut_16 5y ago
      Seems pretty impossible to enforce otherwise with how the web currently works. At some point the website is sending you HTML and JS to be interpreted on your computer.
      - fsflover 5y ago
        Same as with the Telegram's DRM.
    - hbn 5y ago
      The difference between an enterprise device management feature and a web API are... pretty massive. It doesn't seem particularly unreasonable that a company dealing with sensitive data would want to prevent their less computer-educated employees from falling for self-XSS attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-XSS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-XSS

floatboth 5y ago

500px at some point started to use the right-click-blocker even on Creative Commons licensed images (!) — I quit the site over this. IIRC they eventually dropped the option to select a CC license entirely :/