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Comment by tonetegeatinst | Hacker News Reader

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tonetegeatinst·

https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20250103061402/https://...

Pesky paywall begone.

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"Why can't we nowadays find any quality content?"

Hence why.

That link didn’t work for me, a few paragraphs down it just shows a swirling “please wait why we verify access”.

In case anyone else has the same issue;

https://archive.is/2025.01.02-101341/https://www.nytimes.com...

For those who don't know it yet, "bypass paywall" extensions are an alternative for a smooth browsing experience. I just can't bother with archive links.

see. (https://github.com/bpc-clone/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean)

How do we know that this extension can be trusted ?

We read the source code.

Then it auto-updates.

Then we blindly trust that someone else is still reading the new version’s code and will raise the alarm if something bad happens.

I highly recommend turning off auto updates on browser extensions.

I suggest looking into the Obfusicated C contest before relying on your own reading of code to verify lack of malicious intent.

There's no source provided in the repo? It seems to just be a discussion of how to download the xpi from somewhere else.

You run it in a VM that you only use for casual web browsing, so the scope of possible damage is limited.

We simply can't, I guess. Not after the original repo is long gone due to DMCA. Therefore, better to mention to do your own due diligence.

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