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bongochong / CombinedPrivacyBlockLists

Ad-blocking hosts files, IP block lists, PAC filters, ABP / uBO / ADG subscriptions, and a whole lot more. All merged from multiple reputable sources, combined with my own research. Also, script-based utilities to help you create such things yourself. Updated at least once every two weeks, often more frequently.
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[RESOLVED] a-000*.a-msedge.net #6

Closed p1r473 closed 4 years ago

p1r473 commented 4 years ago

This is a CNAME for www.msn.com That means if you're using deep packet inspection for blocking, MSN will be blocked

bongochong commented 4 years ago

These domains are being blocked as a result of the supplementary anti-Windows-telemetry lists I maintain. While I doubt that most people are utilizing the contents of my lists as part of a DPI filtering setup, and noting that I did not create this repo with such users in mind, I do understand the issue. That being said, I have observed the following to be true:

  1. When utilizing my hosts files as they were intended to be used (as standard hosts files, or domain-blocking lists with ad-blocking extensions like uBlock Origin, or as part of a DNS-filtering setup in conjunction with dnsmasq, pi-hole etc...), the a-msedge.net entries in question do not prevent www.msn.com from being resolved and retrieved.

  2. Many anti-Windows-telemetry lists I periodically check no longer contain said entries.

In conclusion, while I don't consider the issue at hand to be a problem in the vast majority of use-contexts, I will carefully consider removing said domains from my anti-Windows-telemetry lists, in which case they would be removed from the larger compiled "meta" lists as well. If I deem the entries in question to be useless (which they very well could be), they will no longer be present in future updates of compiled lists. Give me a couple of days to figure that out, as I am currently away from the machine that I use to maintain my repositories (which is also powered off, so inaccessible remotely as well). Closing the issue for now, but will update you on how I proceed.

Again, thank you for the feedback, as my intent is for these lists (and the associated script utilities) to be useful for a variety of people.

p1r473 commented 4 years ago

Thanks!

bongochong commented 4 years ago

Update: I have decided to remove the entries in question from my Windows anti-telemetry lists, which means they will shortly no longer be present in the larger meta lists as well. After a fair amount of digging around, they do seem to be unnecessary at this point in time, though that may change in the future.

p1r473 commented 4 years ago

Thanks!