Proxy Webmasters

Block Non-converting, Spam Traffic by Country : GeoIP PECL PHP Geo-Targeting

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:58:06 +0000

I’m sure webmasters have faced situations where they need a fast, affordable and working solution to block less converting or spam traffic to their websites or pages from certain countries, but either they had to implement slow, inefficient methods or costly professional solutions for their Geo targeting needs.

One of the most popular, free, open-source and hot web programming languages today is PHP. Today, I’m going to share a little trick which efficiently solves the geo-targeting issue; or making your website appear only to a certain demographic you’re targeting and block non-converting or spammy traffic from other countries. Perhaps you know that the IP of the visitors can be translated into country and other info; we are making use of the same in this tutorial.

Geo-targeting, GeoIP or IP to country implementation is a great solution for the following situations, but not limited to them :

* You have a site or web page targeted to visitors from a certain country; say : USA.
* You are getting spammed and fraud orders from a certain country; say : China.
* You don’t want people from certain country or area to access your site.
* You want to block countries which have less conversion for publisher programs like Google Adsense or YPN.
* Your web proxy is being abused and less conversion from ads from countries like China and the Middle East; using up system resources and bandwidth.

Now, let’s come back to the tutorial and setup GeoIP based web traffic filtering.

Requirements and softwares used :

* Preferably Linux OS on server. (tutorial based on Linux)
* Root access to the server or VPS.
* PHP 4.3 or higher installed .
* GeoIP PECL module for PHP.
* GeoIP C API from Maxmind. (We are using the free GeoIP DB, not 100% accurate)
* Moderate Linux Server Administration skills.

The Steps :
1. Login as root to your server through SSH.

2. Download and install latest GeoIP C API.
(remove the - in w-get, there’s some posting restrictions here.)

#w-get http://www.maxmind.com/download/geoip/api/c/GeoIP.tar.gz

Note the the GeoIP version downloaded.

#tar -zxvf GeoIP-[version number].tar.gz
#cd GeoIP-[version number]
#./configure
#make
#make install

The GeoIP free C API should be installed now.

3. Install GeoIP PECL module for PHP.

#pecl install geoip-0.2.0

v0.2.0 is the the current version at the time of writing this tutorial.
Check PECL GeoIP for more info and use the latest version in the above statement.

Note down where the “geoip.so” file is saved when the installer terminates.

Now, let’s add it to php.ini and restart the web server to take effect.

#whereis php.ini
#nano /path/to/php.ini

Add the following line, preferably in the dynamic extensions section :

extension = “/path/to/geoip.so”

Save and exit.

Restart the web server, assuming Apache on CentOS:

#/sbin/service httpd restart

To verify if GeoIP extension is running, make info.php containing phpinfo() function and upload to your domain
, open it with a browser and search the page for “geoip”.

4. Implement geo-targeting in your website and web pages as necessary.

Here’s an example php snippet if added to the top of a php file
blocks any traffic except USA, UK, Canada and Australia : ( replace [ with < below )

[?php
$country = geoip_country_code_by_name($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]);
if (!(($country == “US”) or ($country == “CA”) or ($country == “GB”) or ($country == “AU”))) { die(”Service Unavailable!”); }
?]

I hope the above tutorial would help you to address issues related to geo-targeting and banning unwanted traffic from non converting, fraud and spamming
countries.

Ask Me A Question proxy

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:47:43 +0000

a new proxy which is allows you to watch youtube,myspace videos and go on
all other blocked sites.

NepalProxy - Anonymous Web Proxy

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:45:59 +0000

NepalProxy.com is an anonymous web proxy service ensuring maximum safety and secure browsing

100+ proxy topsite list

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:50:21 +0000

Here is nice collection of over 100 proxy lists and topsites. Submit your proxy to them and gain an easy 25-50 uniques a day. Once the word is out your traffic will grow on its own.

How to Block WebSense

admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:06:53 +0000

Websense, Inc. is one of the busiest net abusers. Their stealth scanning never stops.

208.80.193.26 … "GET / HTTP/1.0" 403 4232 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; 3304; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)" "-" 208.80.193.37 … "GET /blog/music/ HTTP/1.0" 403 4232 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; Dealio Toolbar 3.1.1; Zango 10.0.370.0)" "-"

Primarily, the abuse is coming from 208.80.193.0/24.

$ nice gunzip -c | egrep '^208.80.19' | awk '{print($1)}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -r -n

35 208.80.193.31
34 208.80.193.44
33 208.80.193.33
30 208.80.193.27
25 208.80.193.37
25 208.80.193.32
22 208.80.193.46
22 208.80.193.30
21 208.80.193.35
20 208.80.193.42
19 208.80.193.45
18 208.80.193.29
16 208.80.193.39
15 208.80.193.40
14 208.80.193.48
14 208.80.193.34
12 208.80.193.47
11 208.80.193.36
6 208.80.193.41
6 208.80.193.38
5 208.80.193.26
4 208.80.193.59
4 208.80.193.50
2 208.80.193.54
1 208.80.193.43

Here are Websense’s netblocks. Block all of them.

* 66.194.6.0/24 * 208.80.192.0/21 * 204.15.64.0/21

Anti-AdBlock V2

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:22:53 +0000

How it works…
When a normal user visits your site. Their browser will use the CSS within the “advertisement.js” file, which will override the previously posted CSS. When this happens, the “Notice” is not displayed, the page is shown to the viewer.

However, if the user has enabled ad-block, they will not download the advertisement.js file, thinking it is a advertisement. Then CSS will not be overrideen, and the page will be blocked from view, and a notice displayed.

Example: http://d3xt3r.net/development/adblock_banner_test.php

Instructions…
Copy SCRIPT-B into a blank text file. Name the file “advertisement.js” and upload to the root of your webserver.

Input SCRIPT-A directly below on any and all pages you wish to use this system. Be sure to modify the location of the .JS file to the location on your server.

Modify SCRIPT-A to fit your needs, but DO NOT remove the link to D3xt3r.net, only if you purchase the system.

Notes…
Make sure that there are no unneeded tags within your pages. Otherwise the system will only block the page to that point.

This system has been tested on many browsers, working on 68 out of 69 tested. However, I am not responsible for the use of this system, you agree to that by using it.

If a person has javascript disabled, the system automatically shows the override codes, and the person is not shown the ad-block notice.

SCRIPT-A

Please Disable Ad-Block To View This Website.

Anti-AdBlock V2 By D3xt3r.net

SCRIPT-B

document.write('');

ByPass Ad Blockers

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:00:46 +0000

If you’re like me and you’re seeing something like 60 - 70 percent of page views not displaying ads, you might want to let your visitors know that what they’re doing is immoral and ad blocking is going to kill the free internet. I regard 60 - 70% of page views as a staggering proportion that leans dangerously close to making advertising pointless. If that percentage holds true for other sites you can rest assured that their days of either being a free service or even around are numbered.

It’s done using JavaScript with a little creativity to provide some safety against savvy web users who in addition to blocking ads, would otherwise try and block your blocking or notifying them.

The JavaScript

This is done in two parts. The first block of code must be placed at the END of your page, just before the <*/body*>tag.

var bd = document.getElementsByTagName("body"); var pc = bd[0].innerHTML; bd[0].innerHTML = “”;

What this code does is take the entire contents of your page, stuff it in a variable and then remove it. The reasons for this will be explained shortly.

The next thing we need to do is add this code to within your <*head*><*/head*> tags.

var l = “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789″;
var dn;
for(var i=0; i<20; i++) dn += l.charAt(Math.round(Math.random()*l.length));
var msg = “Put your message here - maybe something about how ad blocking threatens the free nature of the internet, or how people who block ads are essentially stealing the time, effort and money you put into providing your website.”;

window.onload = function() { var b = document.getElementsByTagName("body"); b[0].innerHTML = pc;
document.getElementById(”content”).innerHTML = “” + document.getElementById(”content”).innerHTML; var z = document.getElementById(dn);
if(window._AdblockFiltered || z.offsetHeight < 60 || z.style['display'] == ‘none’) { document.getElementById(dn).innerHTML = msg; } else if(document.getElementById(dn) == undefined || document.getElementById(dn) == null) { b[0].innerHTML = msg; } }

This code does several things. The first thing it does is generate a unique, random identity for a containing the ad. This is to prevent FireFox users from applying custom CSS to hide both your ad and your message. If you hard-code an id, rest assured that plenty of ad blockers will also block your notice. Because they’re cool people like that.

After it creates the random id it puts the page’s content back where it originally was - remember we took it out at the end of the page? The reason we put it back in in the window.onload event is so that the same wonderful people who would block your ads would also override your javascript preventative measures - if they could. So, we take all the content out of the page, and if that function is allowed to run we put it back in.

The next step in the script is to setup our CSS styling for our notice. Because the id is generated randomly you can’t hard-code it in to your external CSS or stylings.

Then we get to the crux of it - the actual detection of whether a user is blocking the advertisements, and the behavior the browser should exhibit if they are.

The variable z becomes a shortcut to our div with the random id. The loop below is where it actually detects whether the ad has been blocked:

if(window._AdblockFiltered || z.offsetHeight < 60 || z.style['display'] == ‘none’) { document.getElementById(dn).innerHTML = msg; } else if(document.getElementById(dn) == undefined || document.getElementById(dn) == null) { b[0].innerHTML = msg; }

The first thing you’ll notice is that AdBlock gets it’s own special mention. Fortunately, the authors made AdBlock set a property in the browser to say when ads were being blocked. That value will either be true, false or nothing. If it’s true then the user gets to see the message. The other conditions that will force the user to see the message there are if the height of ‘z’ is less than 60, or if ‘z’ has display: none set.

The else if let’s us do one more check - making sure that ‘z’ exists. ‘z’ is our div with the ad (or message to ad blockers) in it. If it doesn’t exist, the code above will replace the entire page’s content with the letter. Drastic, but boo hoo. People blocking advertisements make a conscious choice to bypass the only revenue stream 99% of the internet has available.

Now - if you know javascript you might be wondering where exactly ‘z’ comes from. All we’ve done in the code is generate an id for ‘z’. We haven’t actually created it as an element on the page.

The third and final step is to create our ‘z’ div element with our advertisement:

<---- put your adsense, or other ad code here ----->

We now have placed JavaScript in 3 locations throughout the page - in the , just prior to the tag and where we place the actual ads.

The only simple way for a user to bypass the message and the advertisements is to turn off JavaScript. I doubt many people will bother. If you think a message is too subtle, you can modify the code to redirect people running ad blockers like so:

if(window._AdblockFiltered || z.offsetHeight < 60 || z.style['display'] == ‘none’) { document.location = “/no-ad-blockers-allowed.html”; } else if(document.getElementById(dn) == undefined || document.getElementById(dn) == null) { document.location = “/no-ad-blockers-allowed.html”; }

Please remember though - part of what has sparked the irrational dislike of *all* ads is the unseemly behavior of *some* ads. If you use this method to ensure your user sees 3 “smiley” banners and “punch the [whatever]“, you are reinforcing what they’re fighting against - gaudy, annoying ads. If you use discrete advertising methods like AdSense or YPN, you can inform the users that there are no pop-ups / pop-unders, malicious or distracting ads, and hopefully they will unblock your site. `

Surf Unblocked - Free Proxy Server

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:59:55 +0000

Surf Unblocked is a proxy server, aimed at providing people the freedom to surf anonymously online. We offer free proxy service, which will allow anyone in the world to visit websites anonymously and browse under our ip address. Our free proxy is very user friendly, very fast and secure, no pop up’s, no pop under ads or other aggressive advertisement.

We support the valid use of proxies in honest ways. If you want to surf from work, thats your business. On the other hand, people trying to avoid IP bans, or promote scams, are not really being honest, are they?

Sneaking Proxy - Surf Anonymously

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:35:43 +0000

Using a free proxy like this is helpful for many reasons: security, data caching (to reduce bandwidth usage), and evading censorship. Using proxies insulates you from objectionable elements of webpages such as cookies, advertisements, and dynamic content like JavaScript, Java applets and ActiveX controls. This proxy can even encrypt your web communications, protecting you from routine monitoring or even dedicated surveillance. Don’t allow your internet usage to be controlled and limited. While using this proxy, you are making yourself anonymous and freeing yourself from the restrictions of one server and instead accessing ours, bypassing all policies and allowing yourself to surf the web at will!

Mad Proxy - Myspace Proxy

admin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:30:03 +0000

Browse the web securely with freedom with www.madproxy.net and access your favorite websites from anywhere, at your school or at your work. Its a quick and secure web based service which protects your online identity and privacy.