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Blocklist-Update.sh

Blocklist-Update.sh is a script that I wrote to manage blocklists from bluetack etc to be used in conjunction with Transmission torrent downloader in Linux/MacOS. The script can be taylored to work with Qbittorrent as well, but the placement of the blocklists means you'd have to redirect the blocklist to go somewhere locally manageable as Transmission uses its own blocklist directory in .config. I believe there are about 10 lists there now. It works well for my needs. It can be ran weekly using crontab in standard user profile.  To download:  blocklist-update.sh To download the others:  Github
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BRAVE BROWSER REVIEW AND FEATURES

 Using Brave for over a week now, I can safely say that this browser is one of the best open sourced pieces of software for viewing the web that I have ever used. It’s lightning fast and is pre-configured for people who are new to the internet or are wanting to learn bit currency. Brave uses BAT tokens to pay both creators and users alike with a Brave Rewards feature that can be set to automatically contribute to preferred creators while using the users’ wallets. Brave browser strips advertising scripts and trackers from web pages, but with rewards enabled, will occasionally send you ad notifications in the browser itself which when clicked will take you to a page for that ad and will add BAT tokens to your account. Brave has recently released their sync 2.0 which is touted to be much more comprehensive than their older synchronization function. This sync now allows users to sync not only bookmarks, but also history and passwords as well. Brave doesn’t use google synchronization as it uses a block chain style sync. This is unique to Brave as it only syncs data to various instances of the Brave browser and it is not stored on outside servers. This sync data is protected though as it uses keywords as a sort of passphrase. Brave also makes use of QR codes for sync and wallet features. Brave seems to start faster than regular Chrome which shares an open source back end with the browser. Braver runs marginally faster when surfing due to the ability to save bandwidth and time with a built in ad blocking extension that eliminates connection to ads and trackers on a site in a more efficient way than using third-party extensions. This built-in feature also allows for custom rules and rules used by the other extensions, however, by default it is not reliant on those rule-sets. The top-sites feature also has a sub-feature which allows users to get paid for seeing sponsored images. This is easily turned off under the customization button in the new tab page. Brave offers a built-in dark mode theme much like Firefox and unlike Chrome or Chromium. While this might have used to be dependent on system theming it appears to be an independent feature now. I am currently using Brave 1.13 which may or may not be the exact version when you read this. Brave prevents certain kinds of fingerprinting by randomizing your user agent elements on pages that are known to fingerprint. Brave shields has multiple layers of protection from standard to aggressive for both fingerprinting and ad blocking which might break some sites if set to the aggressive setting. Brave also provides quick access to a tor window if you’re so inclined, however, this is still a work in progress and does not fully anonymize you as would be the case in Tor Browser Bundle. At the moment, Brave prioritizes most of its security and privacy through the use of its shield function, however, you can still go into settings>privacy and security>site settings and change permissions for sites. All in all, I am impressed with this application. While Brave does use the Chromium engine, it is fully open source and functional. However, BraveSoftware is protective of its trademark name. The Brave browser provides many features that new users would love to have in other browsers. I will continue using it to see if it continues to improve, but my thoughts are good about this application. The Brave website will be linked below.


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