[HN Gopher] Bypass Paywalls repository is gone
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       Bypass Paywalls repository is gone
        
       Repository seems to be gone:
       https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean/
       Visiting the user profile says it has been blocked:
       https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/
        
       Author : sogen
       Score  : 141 points
       Date   : 2024-04-12 18:14 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
       | KomoD wrote:
       | Weird, someone said something about that earlier today but then
       | it got restored and now it's gone again?
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | What's the relation between the Gitlab repository and the Github
       | one? https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
        
         | koito17 wrote:
         | The Gitlab one is actually maintained. They haven't been using
         | GitHub for a while now. (Plenty of updates to the extension
         | have occurred within the past 6 months, the date of the last
         | commit on GitHub)
        
         | coretx wrote:
         | The gitlab one is "clean". But i don't remember the exact
         | details regarding what it means. Just not to use the "dirty"
         | one.
        
           | leoh wrote:
           | The clean one is not "clean" in that it still does all kinds
           | of tracking
        
             | michael9423 wrote:
             | What do you mean with this?
        
               | soap- wrote:
               | https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-
               | chrome/blob/c6...
        
               | cormorant wrote:
               | If you look at the source code in any of the mirrors
               | people have linked, you'll find that the "clean" one that
               | was taken down today does not have Google Analytics.
        
         | KomoD wrote:
         | The "clean" version is a fork made by someone else, non-clean
         | version has/had Google Analytics in it, and the fork is more
         | actively maintained
        
         | tristanj wrote:
         | The github repository isn't under active development. The
         | gitlab repository exists because a contributor was frustrated
         | with the slow updates, forked it, fixed many bugs and removed
         | google analytics, and actively maintained it.
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20240114042043/https://gitlab.co...
        
       | vertis wrote:
       | It's hard to know how up to date this is but:
       | 
       | https://github.com/eugenesvk/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean
       | 
       | (It does seem to be more up-to-date than other mirrors I've
       | found)
       | 
       | Edit: It's about 300 commits old.
       | 
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20240410093750/https://gitlab.co...
        
         | ZunarJ5 wrote:
         | These appears to be the most recent forks for the archivers. ;)
         | 
         | https://gitlab.com/Fernos/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean
         | 
         | latest: https://gitlab.com/expat.russia/bypass-paywalls-
         | firefox-clea...
         | 
         | https://gitlab.com/cjkpfit/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean
        
           | pogue wrote:
           | It's good that there are forks, but I was under the
           | impression that the head person running the project was the
           | one keeping all the paywall bypasses up to date. Even if
           | these forks work, if no one is actively keeping track of each
           | site that is being bypassed as it breaks or changes, they
           | won't be working for long.
        
             | ZunarJ5 wrote:
             | I am looking into uploading it on archive.org as well.
             | Fingers crossed someone takes the torch. Bless open source.
             | 
             | Looks like the official store one was last updated on March
             | 1, so the forked links from mid March are only slightly
             | ahead.
             | 
             | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-
             | paywal...
             | 
             | Hopefully the original user migrates to a new platform, but
             | if this store version gets removed I think we can all
             | assume they got struck with a lawsuit threat.
             | 
             | edit - done: https://archive.org/details/bypass-paywalls-
             | firefox-clean-ma...
        
               | cormorant wrote:
               | What did you mean by "Item details is no longer available
               | via the wayback machine"?
               | 
               | The Wayback Machine seems unable to archive the
               | JavaScript-based GitLab UI in general; it wasn't removed.
               | For example, another major repo: https://web.archive.org/
               | web/20240228225845/https://gitlab.co...
        
               | ZunarJ5 wrote:
               | Ah, that explains it! Will edit it (also with the updated
               | April 1 copy - https://archive.softwareheritage.org/brows
               | e/origin/directory...). Cheers.
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | Tell HN:
        
       | ktosobcy wrote:
       | So... any mirror out there?
        
       | idle_zealot wrote:
       | Do bypasses like this, which I assume just do things like
       | deleting "uncloseable" client-side modals and spoofing
       | UA/referrer headers, count as copy-protection circumvention
       | technology under the DMCA?
        
         | Karellen wrote:
         | Does the thing being bypassed prevent you from saving the page,
         | or from making in any other way a copy of any content you've
         | already fetched?
         | 
         | If not, how could it be classed as copy-protection?
         | 
         | Edit: One other thing: if spoofing UA headers was a problem,
         | all the browsers in the world would fall foul of it - because
         | non-Mozilla browsers all say that they're Mozilla, and Opera
         | said it was IE, and Chrome said it was Safari, and now a bunch
         | of browsers say they're Chrome - at the same time as saying
         | they're Mozilla. Except it's more complicated than that.
        
           | idle_zealot wrote:
           | I guess it's less copy-protection and more access-control.
        
       | zerof1l wrote:
       | Apparently this page works! You can download latest version from
       | here: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bpc-uploads/
       | 
       | EDIT: magnet link with all btc-uploads content magnet:?xt=urn:bti
       | h:7839e845f7965bed1035dc5d4635811d1ede73d2&dn=magnolia1234-bypass
       | -paywalls-uploads-master
        
         | cormorant wrote:
         | also: https://archive.org/details/bypass_paywalls_clean-3.6.3.0
        
         | spxneo wrote:
         | gitlab link does not work
        
       | cormorant wrote:
       | Archived copy that's newer than others mentioned:
       | 
       | https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/origin/directory...
       | Tip revision: 1c8f71997c1fb3b3f60957514ec2bce1591a1bfc authored
       | by magnolia1234 on 01 April 2024, 07:35:12 UTC
       | 
       | also the Firefox-specific repo:
       | https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/origin/directory...
       | 
       | also the bpc-uploads (XPI, CRX):
       | https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/origin/directory...
        
         | ZunarJ5 wrote:
         | I updated the archive.org copy with this one. Oh man, what a
         | great site.
        
           | cormorant wrote:
           | I think you need the "chrome" repository too.
        
             | ZunarJ5 wrote:
             | I'll put all 3 you linked up.
        
       | ta8645 wrote:
       | Edit: * Has been taken offline now. *
       | 
       | They didn't purge the xpi download repository, so you can still
       | download the latest XPI package signed by Mozilla:
       | 
       | https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bpc-uploads/-/raw/master/byp...
       | 
       | There are other xpi packages available in the same repo:
       | 
       | https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bpc-uploads/
        
         | garciansmith wrote:
         | I get 404s now following those links.
        
           | spxneo wrote:
           | how powerful do you have to be in the US to be able to take
           | down mirrors within an hour? this is disturbing to see
        
             | CatWChainsaw wrote:
             | Specifically for a tool for bypassing paywalls. I'd expect
             | this behavior if we were talking about CSAM or a stream of
             | terrorists beheading people.
        
       | NelsonMinar wrote:
       | This extension works remarkably well. But it requires frequent
       | updates to stay working as sites change. I sure hope there's some
       | statement on what's up soon.
        
       | ta8645 wrote:
       | Thanks to the Streisand Effect, I've installed this. Seems to
       | work pretty well on the few sites I've tried. Hopefully the
       | maintainer can find a new home and let people know on Twitter.
       | 
       | https://twitter.com/Magnolia1234B
        
         | nottorp wrote:
         | Streisand Effect indeed... I wasn't aware this existed but now
         | I've saved a copy.
        
         | tedivm wrote:
         | Wow, Gitlab has gotten ridiculous. They're making me sign up
         | for an account, verify email, go through two captchas, and fill
         | out a survey before they'll let me view the repository.
         | 
         | . . . and now that I've done all that the repository is 404ing.
        
           | xnx wrote:
           | Phone number verification also fails for Google Voice.
        
             | djbusby wrote:
             | Loads of services have that issue, not just GitLab. Some
             | are even blocking Twilio numbers.
        
         | spxneo wrote:
         | warning: gitlab link is taken down too, dont waste time
        
       | pswinslow wrote:
       | I have a six day old copy of the repository at
       | 'https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cS0uXgXdBjkI1ExmUr4ma23FGCw...'
       | and 'https://ibiza.seedhost.eu/smugchicken/filebrowser/api/public
       | ...'.
       | 
       | git log:
       | 
       | commit 1ec176a328c072114148b9359de4927ca4a1a095 (HEAD -> master)
       | Author: magnolia1234
       | <7676006-magnolia1234@users.noreply.gitlab.com> Date: Sat Apr 6
       | 07:23:50 2024 +0200                   Add Nordwest Zeitung
       | Fix Capital.fr (videos)
        
       | wkat4242 wrote:
       | There's also a version still in the Firefox catalog (the official
       | one has been banned from there too):
       | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...
       | 
       | This is a help in particular for mobile firefox because they
       | refuse to let us sideload addons.
        
         | lemoncookiechip wrote:
         | Pretty sure that's the version that kept calling Google
         | Analytics, and why we got a clean fork "Bypass Paywalls Clean".
         | 
         | EDIT: Actually, never mind, this isn't even that, this is a
         | fake according to the reviews.
        
       | CM30 wrote:
       | Seems like Gitlab seems to be even more ridiculous with their
       | responses to large businesses and potentially dubious copyright
       | claims than GitHub is. It's not the only time this month I've
       | seen them take down repositories related to projects that some
       | large company wanted removed despite it not necessarily being
       | illegal in any way.
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | Use DIllo, Lynx or Links on the URL's. If that fails, head to
       | gemini://gemi.dev, the section News Waffle, and paste your own
       | link. Use Lagrange, Gplaces or whatever Gemini client you like.
        
         | djbusby wrote:
         | Does Gemini have any news about being vegan?
        
       | latchkey wrote:
       | Previously (yesterday):
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40007670
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-12 23:00 UTC)