NationStates++ | Browser Extension for NationStates

[Hobbesistan]

Well you can call it a FUD if you wish, frankly IDGAF...but my concern is VERY genuine, and as you failed to address my concern to my satisfaction (I'm not unreasonable), my assessment stands.

You're pretty unreasonable, no offense but thats not at all how github works.

[Moon Eclipse]

Afforess can still remotely alter and update this extension, DEATed or not, right?

Given his behavior, is it likely he would alter the extension to seriously fuck with everyone (like making people suddenly move into regions and endorse random people or make crude posts on the RMB) as revenge? He can basically make your nation do anything with the extension enabled, as well as collect passwords if he wanted to, right?

Should we be uninstalling this as a precaution?

:S

[Kandorith]

Afforess can still remotely alter and update this extension, DEATed or not, right?

Given his behavior, is it likely he would alter the extension to seriously fuck with everyone (like making people suddenly move into regions and endorse random people or make crude posts on the RMB) as revenge? He can basically make your nation do anything with the extension enabled, as well as collect passwords if he wanted to, right?

Should we be uninstalling this as a precaution?

:S

I would say yes. As a precaution, uninstall it, delete any trace of it and change all your nations/puppets passwords, just to be safe.

[Moon Eclipse]

Or can someone find where in the extension it specifically allows him to remotely update it, so we can keep all the cool features while it being safe that it can't be changed?

please and thank you

[Hobbesistan]

Afforess was DEAT'd before and didin't go ona rampage, that said, im going go try and get ahold of him on irc/skype to see how hes doing.

[Moon Eclipse]

yeah but, his behavior has been degenerating.

he really could cause a lot of trouble, given how many people have his extension installed, if he wanted to as revenge.

as I understand it, a DOS is still possible. then he would have nothing to lose.

[Hobbesistan]

I'm trying to get ahold of him.

[DWAsnia]

I know Aff well. He won't do anything bad with NS++. His Internet persona, Afforess, is closely linked to his RL identity. If he didn't anything against the law with NS++, he would almost certainly be released from his job and not be hired in the same field again.

[Geanna]

yeah but, his behavior has been degenerating.

he really could cause a lot of trouble, given how many people have his extension installed, if he wanted to as revenge.

as I understand it, a DOS is still possible. then he would have nothing to lose.

I wouldn't advise the use of the tool any further; this is the second time he's been deated, and this time he blackmailed and threatened to offer a tool to crack passwords. A DOS isn't the issue, all he'd need is the right tools to build a good SQL and launch a phish, hijack the servers connections [which act as roads] and try to break into local data through the extension ports to phish passwords and god knows what else.

[Moon Eclipse]

I know Aff well. He won't do anything bad with NS++. His Internet persona, Afforess, is closely linked to his RL identity. If he didn't anything against the law with NS++, he would almost certainly be released from his job and not be hired in the same field again.

okay, sure. except fucking with nations on NS is not against the law.

If he for example, made everyone move regions, that is not illegal. Password stealing might be illegal, but he could still make people move regions or endorse people just like he made people upvote a dispatch that one time.

That isn't illegal, especially since you waive a lot of your rights when you agree to install the extension. He really has you by the balls in a lot of ways.

Anyway, just putting it out there because it was a concern I had given his behavior.

If people choose to keep the extension installed, that is their choice and all the best to them.

[Hobbesistan]

The current NS++ version (Looked at the code) saves your passwords to your local/ bin, it doesen't send them through NS++'s servers, so if you uninstall you won't need to change passwords.

[DWAsnia]

I know Aff well. He won't do anything bad with NS++. His Internet persona, Afforess, is closely linked to his RL identity. If he didn't anything against the law with NS++, he would almost certainly be released from his job and not be hired in the same field again.

okay, sure. except fucking with nations on NS is not against the law.

If he for example, made everyone move regions, that is not illegal. Password stealing might be illegal, but he could still make people move regions or endorse people just like he made people upvote a dispatch that one time.

That isn't illegal, especially since you waive a lot of your rights when you agree to install the extension. He really has you by the balls in a lot of ways.

Anyway, just putting it out there because it was a concern I had given his behavior.

If people choose to keep the extension installed, that is their choice and all the best to them.

Sure, whatever you say Very nice FUD, though.

[Hobbesistan]

You also can disable automatic updates, at least in Firefox (menu, Add-Ons, click 'more' under NS++ and set 'Automatic Updates' to no)

[Moon Eclipse]

The current NS++ version (Looked at the code) saves your passwords to your local/ bin, it doesen't send them through NS++'s servers, so if you uninstall you won't need to change passwords.

Problem is this can be changed at any time, and stealing passwords isn't really the concern, because that would be too iRL illegal. It is more that he could simply control your in-game actions, like again, he did that one time with the dispatch.

So, how do we disable it from remotely updating?

[Hobbesistan]

The current NS++ version (Looked at the code) saves your passwords to your local/ bin, it doesen't send them through NS++'s servers, so if you uninstall you won't need to change passwords.

Problem is this can be changed at any time, and stealing passwords isn't really the concern, because that would be too iRL illegal. It is more that he could simply control your in-game actions, like again, he did that one time with the dispatch.

So, how do we disable it from remotely updating?

I just posted how you can in Firefox, i rarely use chrome so not sure there.

[Hobbesistan]

I don't know if he can do those things like move and endorse (not about to look through every bit of code) without updating, so if your that paranoid about him fucking your shit up, probably best to uninstall.

[Ballotonia]

okay, sure. except fucking with nations on NS is not against the law.

Yes it is. It damages the game, it damages the users of the game. There is sufficient legal precedent for this wrt other online games, in various jurisdictions.

Ballotonia

[Moon Eclipse]

Problem is this can be changed at any time, and stealing passwords isn't really the concern, because that would be too iRL illegal. It is more that he could simply control your in-game actions, like again, he did that one time with the dispatch.

So, how do we disable it from remotely updating?

I just posted how you can in Firefox, i rarely use chrome so not sure there.

I was wondering more if you knew where in the source code that it allows it to remotely update, since you say you have looked at the code.

[Hobbesistan]

I just posted how you can in Firefox, i rarely use chrome so not sure there.

I was wondering more if you knew where in the source code that it allows it to remotely update, since you say you have looked at the code.

Remotely updating isnt in the code at all to my understanding, it's controlled by the respective addon installation software with each browser (i.e Chrome Web Store)

Afforess uploads the latest version and your browser checks automatically once in a while to see if a new version is available, disabling automatic updates in addons should remove this.

[Moon Eclipse]

I was wondering more if you knew where in the source code that it allows it to remotely update, since you say you have looked at the code.

Remotely updating isnt in the code at all to my understanding, it's controlled by the respective addon installation software with each browser (i.e Chrome Web Store)

Afforess uploads the latest version and your browser checks automatically once in a while to see if a new version is available, disabling automatic updates in addons should remove this.

hmmmmm... okay. I will investigate this later.

Also Ballo, I would be very interested in those precedents. My understanding of it is he has a lot of leeway to manipulate user's in game actions if he wanted to, but whatever. I fear I am harping too much on a fear right now.

People should just be aware of what the extension is potentially capable of, is all.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

I just posted how you can in Firefox, i rarely use chrome so not sure there.

A brief look revelas that there seems to be no easy way to disable auto-update for chrome extensions. In fact, there's quite a few people up in arms about it, asking for the option too. The best thing I found on short notice was this. It was also the one I found listed slightly differently on about a half dozen sources, which gives it a bit more legitimacy than some. Note that this is not anything official, and I would not say I'm more than moderately qualified at the greatest with the gits of computers. This, i can do though. It's not too hard.

(not mine)
"Navigate to C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\<PROFILE>\Extensions
USERNAME - Winodws username
PROFILE - usually Default, if you have created more users it might be like Profile 1, Profile 2 etc

Under the Extensions folder, there will be various folders. Each folder will have folder name of the chrome store link.
For Ex: For XMarks, the chrome store URL is:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... jiiejpodla

The folder for XMarks in profile folder is ajpgkpeckebdhofmmjfgcjjiiejpodla. So you can easily find which extension you'd want to disable.

Next go into that folder, inside version folder, find manifest.json. This is just a text file, open with notepad.
Find for:
"update_url": "http://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx",
Change the update URL to anything you want like http://localhost/crx.

Now that App shouldn't upgrade itself."

Feel free to give feedback or help if you know more about this stuff...

From my understanding, you're basically changing, on your computer, where the extension looks for updates. Ergo, if you set it to look in the wrong place, it won't find anything. Would be smart to save the proper address so you can fix it later if you wish....Though I bet uninstall-reinstall should work to fix it too. Hope that was some help.

[Hobbesistan]

People should just be aware of what the extension is potentially capable of, is all.

Not to be a buzzkill, but that conversation has been had 20-30 times now.

[Moon Eclipse]

People should just be aware of what the extension is potentially capable of, is all.

Not to be a buzzkill, but that conversation has been had 20-30 times now.

well I thought we'd have it again.

sorry, Hobbes

[Yokai Founder]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I'm trying my luck by simply asking the question again*: how exactly does the NS++ recruitment work? I'm looking into new ways of recruiting for my region and was interested in learning more. Couldn't find any info about it on the website, so here I am!

Thanks in advance.


* Going through 60 pages of comments seems a bit much... Perhaps this could be added to the website as an FAQ?

[Shaw Change]

To be clear, the kind of questions I had in mind:
- does this follow the simple rules of recruiting via API (1 rTG per 180 secs)?
- can you run multiple "campaigns" at the same time?
- ..

(apologies, apparently switched accounts - I'm Yokai Founder)