451 - Browser extension

Project and Goals:

Champions:

Niels ten Oever (ARTICLE 19), dkg (ACLU), Joe Hall (CDT)

Background:

HTTP error code 451 (RFC7725) is an error code to report legal obstacles for serving a webpage. During the hackathon we will focus on implementing and measuring this status code to make censorship more transparent.

Purpose:

As part of ietf99, a browser plugin which would report to the user, and optionally to the webcrawler, cases of HTTP error code 451

Official Page: https://www.ietf.org/registration/MeetingWiki/wiki/99hackathon

Download

Firefox: Not published yet

Chrome: Not published yet

Opera: Not published yet

Installation/Testing instructions

1. "Download Zip" from Github repository
2. Extract contents
3. Chrome --> 3 dots -> More Tools -> Extension -> ensure "Developer Mode" is checked -> Load Unpacked Extension
4. Firefox --> Go to the addon page-> Click on the wheel -> Debug Addons -> Load Temporary Addon
5. http 451 will check current tab's url for censorship with an indication
6. Sample websites to test:

• https://github.com/adadgio/safari-reader-js -> Apple's original work
• https://github.com/mikey1234/plugin.video.itv -> Pirated BBC stream

Changelog

1.0.6

• http 451 now updates on currently active Tab
• Removed popup
• Removed non-needed permissions

1.0.5

• Added different icons for status codes
• Black for no 451 and Red for 451

1.0.4

• Removed click button to check
• Extension now grabs current page and checks for 451

1.0.3

• Added specific check for 451
• Extension now gives output to user in cases of censorship

1.0.2

• Polishing some logo designs

1.0.1

• Basic check functionality for websites

1.0.0

• Logos drafted