BarbBlock Autor: Paul Butler

BarbBlock is a content blocking extension. It blacklists sites which have used DMCA takedowns to force removal from other content blocking lists. Such takedowns are categorically invalid, but they can be effective at intimidating small open-source projects into compliance.

BarbBlock was created in response to a troubling instance where a company used the DMCA takedown process to force a domain blacklist to remove its domain. In reaction to this, some people added the domain to their personal blacklists, even those who weren’t blocking it before the takedown. This phenomenon is called the Streisand Effect, and it (indirectly) gives BarbBlock its name. In essence, this extension exists to automate the Streisand effect.