Blog on chrispederick.com User Agent Switcher Posts

I have finally had the time to release a new version of the User Agent Switcher extension. The main changes in this release are the support for folders and separators in the user agent list as well as indicating a non-default user agent has been selected by more than just the icon color. The user agent list has also been updated to include both the Googlebot and the iPhone user agents. A full set of release notes is available.

Version 0.6.9 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This is a minor update fixing memory leaks and optimizing the code.

Version 0.6.8 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This is a minor update containing bug fixes and code optimizations.

Version 0.6.7 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This release adds Netscape support and some code optimization as well as being compatible with Firefox 1.5 Beta.

Note: The Netscape support was not working and I am not really sure why, so I have removed it for now and will look to add the support back in for a future release.

Update: The localized version was not working correctly and has been updated with a new version.

Version 0.6.6 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This is a patch release that fixes a bug where user agents containing backslashes did not work.

Version 0.6.5 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This release adds import and export support for the list of user agents and fixes a bug where user agents containing apostrophes did not work.

Version 0.6.4 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. This is a minor release that adds a help menu and fixes a couple of small bugs.

I started noticing recently a few web sites in my referrer logs that mentioned Surf Junky. I had no idea what Surf Junky was so I opened the sites to see what they were talking about and why they were linking to chrispederick.com. It turns out that Surf Junky is a service that pays you to surf the web. It works by popping up advertisements every 30 seconds and you can earn up to 75 cents an hour.

Now 75 cents an hour does not seem like much, but if you use the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week it can total over $500 a month. This, however, would require closing the popup ads every 30 seconds and so people have been looking for ways to scam the system and this is where my site comes in.

My Extensions

Apparently, the Surf Junky popup ads can be blocked using Firefox and because of this Surf Junky now block this browser. However, with my User Agent Switcher extension you can fool them into thinking that you are browsing with Internet Explorer. Combine this with an extension that reloads the page on a regular basis and you have a pretty efficient way of abusing the Surf Junky system.

Let me make it clear that I am not condoning or recommending the use of this technique in any way, but it does raise a couple of interesting points.

Firstly, there has already been an article about the possibility of the Web Developer extension getting me into trouble by “inducing” people to reverse-engineer a website’s functionality. If anything the Surf Junky situation appears more serious, as in this case it is directly taking revenue from the company. Is it beyond the realm of possibility that Surf Junky may look not only to take action against the individuals that are trying to abuse their system, but also against the software that is helping those individuals?

Other Extensions

And what about the role that extensions are going to play as Firefox becomes more and more popular. There are already extensions that change specific web sites—such as BetterSearch that “enhances search engines”—as well as extensions that allow the changing of any web site—such as GreaseMonkey that allows “you to add user scripts to any web page to change it’s behavior”. We have already seen strong opinions—both for and against—about the AutoLink feature in Google’s new toolbar. How will companies feel as they hear more and more about extensions that allow everything from the design to the behavior of their web sites to be changed?

Judging by the numbers in my referrer logs it does not take much for people to look for ways to exploit the revenue model of a web site. Of course, this is nothing new as there have always been programs designed to exploit systems, but the ease with which Firefox extensions can be created and the growing popularity of the browser could make unethical extensions easier to both create and distribute.

Honest Extensions

Extensions that are designed purely for “evil” purposes should be simple enough to target and the authors prosecuted, but what about those—such as User Agent Switcher—that are designed for legitimate uses and are then used (possibly in conjunction with other genuine extensions) to exploit a web site? Will we begin to see companies apply legal pressure to the authors of such honest extensions?

Only time will tell.

Update: CNET News.com discusses this topic focusing on the GreaseMonkey extension and the possibility of malicious scripts.

Version 0.6.3 of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. The full history is available, but the two main changes in this release are the hiding of the option to automatically reset the user agent when the browser closes and the addition of support for update notifications.

The reset option has been hidden because too many people were disabling it without reading the FAQ and understanding why it was enabled by default. If you understand the problem and still want to disable the auto reset functionality then just manually set the preference ‘useragentswitcher.reset.onclose’ to ‘false’.

Mozilla Update development is apparently continuing, but in the meantime they are not accepting extension submissions via Bugzilla and I cannot do the updates myself until the developer section is activated. This is frustrating, to say the least, therefore I have changed the User Agent Switcher extension so that it no longer uses Mozilla Update to check for updates. Going forward Firefox should indicate immediately when a new version has been released. I will be making the same change in the next release of the Web Developer extension.

A new version of the User Agent Switcher extension has been released. In this release the toolbar icon now changes when a non-default user agent is selected and both vendor and vendor sub can now be overridden. I have also improved the auto-reset functionality as there were some cases when it previously would not reset properly.

With this release I am also releasing a localized version that contains multiple languages. If you have new or updated translations simply contact me and I will add them to the localized version.