Browser based mining trend?

[Elixer]

For those that haven't been keeping up with this trend(?), a few sites are testing the waters by running mining software in your browser via JavaScript.

Some places don't tell you this, others do.

For example:

Hold on, give us a chance to explain without boring you to death. When you use your computer, for the most part, the CPU is sitting there not doing much of anything, which is a huge waste. The fine folks at Intel and AMD worked really hard on these things, so why not put them to good use and earn free bandwidth and even Pro service?

Basically, the process involves you opening a special web-page on our website, which will use your CPU to solve complex math puzzles. Don't worry if you're bad at math, you don't have to do anything as your CPU is exceptionally good at that kind of stuff. Each solution gives credit to your account. Once you get enough credits you can redeem them for things like resetting your usage on demand, permanently increasing your free bandwidth allowance, or even earning a free Pro account!

While I don't mind the above, since they are telling you exactly what is going to happen, I do object to sites that do this behind your back.

Of course, if you run noscript, they can't run javascript, and thus, they can't run the monero javascript client.

Anyone else see sites doing this to get extra revenue?

 

[shortylickens]

See?
No, I havent seen it.
But I wouldnt see it, would I?

 

[Elixer]

See?
No, I havent seen it.
But I wouldnt see it, would I?

Well, you would see your browser taking up 90-100% CPU time, so, things would feel sluggish.

 

[lxskllr]

That's pretty old. When bitcoin first started getting noticed, quasi malware sites would run a miner in the background. Never affected me. I don't generally go to lame sites(AT excluded :^P ), and I run a fairly tight ship.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Does that explain why some sites are just retardedly slow and load the browser right down?

 

[lxskllr]

Does that explain why some sites are just retardedly slow and load the browser right down?

Probably not. That's most likely "modern coding standards" Le sigh...

 

[sdifox]

That's pretty old. When bitcoin first started getting noticed, quasi malware sites would run a miner in the background. Never affected me. I don't generally go to lame sites(AT excluded :^P ), and I run a fairly tight ship.

You just called AT a lame site

 

[sdifox]

Does that explain why some sites are just retardedly slow and load the browser right down?

Nope. Most likely saturated ad server.

 

[Pick2]

NoScript for the Win !
Adblocker just in case

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Because my browser didn't crash enough?

 

[KMFJD]

heard that a certain bay occupied by buccaneers has been doing this for a while

 

[Ken g6]

Personally, given the choice, on a desktop machine, I'd rather run a browser based miner to support a site than have to look at ads.

Though I'd generally do neither.

 

[lxskllr]

Personally, given the choice, on a desktop machine, I'd rather run a browser based miner to support a site than have to look at ads.

Though I'd generally do neither.

I'm good with that, as long as it's prominently disclosed, and preferably opt in, though opt out isn't too bad as long as the process is highly visible.

 

[Red Squirrel]

heard that a certain bay occupied by buccaneers has been doing this for a while

ARRRRRR.

Sadly they have become rather sketchy in the past years. They have popups and crap now too that can somehow bypass the adblocker. I have not gone there in a long time so not sure if they're still doing that crap.

 

[sdifox]

ARRRRRR.

Sadly they have become rather sketchy in the past years. They have popups and crap now too that can somehow bypass the adblocker. I have not gone there in a long time so not sure if they're still doing that crap.

Noscript duh

 

[Red Squirrel]

Personally, given the choice, on a desktop machine, I'd rather run a browser based miner to support a site than have to look at ads.

Though I'd generally do neither.

Yeah same, especially if it was to also mean mean not being spied on. That's the issue with ads now days is not just the ads themselves but all the spying that goes with it. And even with adblockers etc they still manage to do it because they use all sorts of other avenues such as your IRL monetary transactions. They have ways to link all of that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Noscript duh

That makes the internet practically unusable, I used to use it but it was just too annoying. Would be nice if it blocked specific types of scripting instead of all or nothing based on domains. Trying to load pretty much any web site now days you need to unblock like 40 domains until the page finally even loads.

 

[sdifox]

That makes the internet practically unusable, I used to use it but it was just too annoying. Would be nice if it blocked specific types of scripting instead of all or nothing based on domains. Trying to load pretty much any web site now days you need to unblock like 40 domains until the page finally even loads.

You can allow all for a site...

 

[Red Squirrel]

You can allow all for a site...

Which defeats the whole purpose. That's why I just don't bother.

 

[pmv]

NoScript for the Win !
Adblocker just in case

Every time I feel guilty about adblocking and start whitelisting lots of sites that I feel deserve it, its never long before some malware-serving-ad scandal occurs on one or other site that I visit, and I decide it's too big a risk, and start adblocking them all again.

Still think script-blockers are worth it, even if it means having to sometimes enable scripts at random till I find the one that is actually necessary for a site to work. I find it amazing just how many layers-upon-layers of scripts some sites have (if you 'enable all' that just reveals another 20 scripts that piggy-back on the first lot, and so on). What do these hundreds of scripts actually _do_?
It's usually only one or two of them that turn out to be actually needed to make the site usable.

 

[Ken g6]

That makes the internet practically unusable, I used to use it but it was just too annoying. Would be nice if it blocked specific types of scripting instead of all or nothing based on domains. Trying to load pretty much any web site now days you need to unblock like 40 domains until the page finally even loads.

I like ScriptSafe in Chrome these days. You can set it to allow everything by default except "unwanted" sites. That generally gets the most onerous ones. But I'm used to manually unblocking, so I do that.

 

[sdifox]

Which defeats the whole purpose. That's why I just don't bother.

Shrug. I browse questionable sites from a vm when I am home.

 

[sdifox]

Every time I feel guilty about adblocking and start whitelisting lots of sites that I feel deserve it, its never long before some malware-serving-ad scandal occurs on one or other site that I visit, and I decide it's too big a risk, and start adblocking them all again.

Still think script-blockers are worth it, even if it means having to sometimes enable scripts at random till I find the one that is actually necessary for a site to work. I find it amazing just how many layers-upon-layers of scripts some sites have (if you 'enable all' that just reveals another 20 scripts that piggy-back on the first lot, and so on). What do these hundreds of scripts actually _do_?
It's usually only one or two of them that turn out to be actually needed to make the site usable.

I use pfblockerng on pfsense. I don't have to block ads in my lan.

 

[Elixer]

Stream & mine at the same time!

Two Showtime domains are currently loading and running Coinhive, a JavaScript library that mines Monero using the CPU resources of users visiting Showtime's websites.

The two domains are showtime.com and showtimeanytime.com, the latter being the official URL for the company's online video streaming service.
...
At least two ad blockers have added support for blocking Coinhive's JS library — AdBlock Plus and AdGuard — and developers have also put together Chrome extensions that terminate anything that looks like Coinhive's mining script — AntiMiner, No Coin, and minerBlock.
...
UPDATE [September 25, 12:55 ET]: The Coinhive mining scripts have been removed from the Showtime domains. Showtime still hasn't answered Bleeping Computer's request for comment.

 

[WelshBloke]

Probably not. That's most likely "modern coding standards" Le sigh...

It's fucking ridiculous how much computational power is needed just to use the Web now.