Block third party content

Install a Javascript blocker and then experiment with what happens when various parts of a website are blocked and unblocked.

Steps

The instructions below assume Firefox, but should work for several different browsers.

1. Install one of the following blockers in your browser.
   • uMatrix - recommended
   • noScript
2. Visit a large for-profit news website such as:
   • CNN
   • National Post
   • Global News
3. Unblock select Javascript sources. Most blockers default to blocking all Javascript from third parties. Try unblocking different Javascript sources one at a time, remember to re-load the website between each change to the blocking so you can see changes.
4. Visit a large publicly funded news website such as:
   • BBC
   • PBS
5. Repeat step 3.
6. Either keep or delete the plugin. If you keep it, make sure you know how to open a new plugin-free profile (firefox -p) or have another browser available as the plugin will break banking websites.

Self-reflection questions

• How did the two types of sites (for-profit and public) differ in terms of the amount and types of Javascript being used?
• How many different Javascript sources did you have to unblock to make the site usable?
• Did you feel like you would be able to selectively load just the parts of a site that you wanted to?

Other things to try

Try out other websites that you use frequently. The University of Waterloo for example. Large complex sites like Facebook can also be interesting to block bits of to see what happens.