🔧Custom Browser User Scripts: Unblock Brave Browser from Archive.is

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(Edited)

In this video I go over another troubleshooting video and this time look at using custom browser user scripts to augment or change the way any particular website appears. And in this particular instance, I show how to unblock the Brave browser from the Archive.is (and mirror sites Archive.vn and Archive.today) archiving webpage website tool.

The Brave browser is similar to Google Chrome in that they both use the same Chromium browser architecture but Brave allows users and publishers to earn cryptocurrency in the form of Basic Attention Token (BAT). I had switched from Google Chrome to Brave about 6 months ago and everything was working fine until all of a sudden the Archive.is webpage archiving tool which I had been using for years no longer supported the Brave browser. I did some digging and found that the owner of Archive.is has an issue with retrieving the BAT tokens that his website earned and as a result decided to not allow Brave browser users to access Archive.is. I include the email conversation the owner had with Brave so feel free to read through the back-and-forth communications at your leisure.

If you want to download Brave, please use my referral link: https://brave.com/tmx306

Although this particular video was in regard to unblocking Brave from Archive.is, the general tutorial on using custom browser user scripts with the Violentmonkey script manager and Greasy Fork script sharing service can be applied to many different scenarios of changing how a website is rendered on a browser. Let me know if you have some cool user scripts that you are using!

The topics covered in this video are listed below with their time stamps.

  • @ 1:06 - Topics to Cover
  1. @ 1:26 - Introduction to Archive.is and the Brave Browser
  2. @ 3:36 - Archive.is Website No Longer Supports the Brave Browser
    • @ 8:24 - Solution: Custom Browser User Script
    • @ 13:13 - MES Custom User Script Modification

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🔧Custom Browser User Scripts: Unblock Brave Browser from Archive.is

User Scripts Brave Unblock From Archive.jpeg

Topics to Cover

  1. Introduction to Archive.is and the Brave Browser
  2. Archive.is Website No Longer Supports the Brave Browser
    • Solution: Custom Browser User Script
    • MES Custom User Script Modification

Introduction to Archive.is and the Brave Browser

As I have stated many times before, to ensure that websites and webpages are preserved from either censorship or simply lack of maintenance, it is important to always archive webpages.

I had been doing so mainly with the website Archive.is and mainly with their browser extension.

Note that the https://archive.is site appears to be mirrored alongside https://archive.vn and https://archive.today, so any of them can be used to archive webpages and will be viewable on the other sites as well; I will reference them all as Archive.is.

Note that the browser extension can be downloaded from here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/archive-page/gcaimhkfmliahedmeklebabdgagipbia

I used to use the Google Chrome browser but for the past 6+ months, I have been using the new Brave browser which uses the same "Chromium" web browser architecture but allows users and publishers to earn cryptocurrency in the form of the Brave Attention Token or BAT for short.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_(web_browser)

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/wip/PC1df

Chromium (web browser)

Chromium is a free and open-source software project from Google. The source code can be compiled into a web browser.

Google uses the code to make its Chrome browser, which has more features than Chromium. Many other browsers are also based on Chromium code, most notably Microsoft Edge and Opera.

Essentially, Brave has the same user experience as the Google Chrome browser I was using before but now I earn crypto and which can be converted directly into cash on an exchange.

You can learn more about Brave on their website but please use my referral link if you would like to download it!

MES Browser Referral Link: https://brave.com/tmx306

I had no issues archiving using the Archive.is website until a few days ago when the archive.is extension and website stopped working for the Brave browser.

Archive.is Website No Longer Supports the Brave Browser

Now, when I try to archive webpages on the Brave browser, the Archive website(s) redirect to the following error page stating to change browser.

https://archive.vn/unsupported-browser

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: Not available

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I did some digging and found out that the founder of the Archive website has a grudge against Brave for some of their country-specific token reward policies.

https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/i7u8fa/brave_isnt_supported_with_archiveis_anymore/

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/wip/BDyJ6

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It appears that there were some issues regarding Brave's KYC or Know Your Customer policy, as well as some miscommunication over Brave's referral program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

Retrieved: 16 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/wip/TNZ7T

Know your customer

The know your customer or know your client (KYC) guidelines in financial services requires that professionals make an effort to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship. The procedures fit within the broader scope of a bank's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy.

https://blog.archive.today/

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200814212843/https://blog.archive.today/

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Anyways, go through that chat if you so wish.

Solution: Custom Browser User Script

The solution to this particular issue was also included in the Brave subreddit referenced earlier.

https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/i7u8fa/brave_isnt_supported_with_archiveis_anymore/

image.png

The "REDDITWASRIGHT" user wrote a custom browser script, or "user script" or "userscript", that bypasses the Archive.is restrictions, and which can be viewed on Pastebin, which is a text storage and sharing website.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userscript

Retrieved: 16 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/y1G1D

Userscript

A userscript (or user script) is a program, usually written in JavaScript, for modifying web pages[1] to augment browsing.

In order to use the script, we would first need to install a browser script manager, such as Violentmonkey.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/violentmonkey/jinjaccalgkegednnccohejagnlnfdag

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/wip/QPzWO

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We can now create a new script and just copy and paste the custom one from Pastebin.

https://pastebin.com/cc9urNKn

Retrieved: 15 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/YAsxd


// ==UserScript==
// @name        Unblock Brave from archive.is
// @namespace   Violentmonkey Scripts
// @match       https://archive.is/*
// @grant       none
// @version     1.0
// @author      -
// @description 8/11/2020, 6:55:34 PM
// @run-at      document-start
// ==/UserScript==
(function() {
    "use strict";

    const inject = function() {
        "use strict";

        function delete_cookie(name) {
            document.cookie = name + '=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT;';
        }
        delete_cookie('unsupported-browser');

        Object.defineProperty(window.navigator, "brave", {
            get: function() {
                console.log("ok bro");
                return undefined;
            }
        });

    }


    const script = document.createElement("script");
    const target = document.head || document.documentElement;
    script.text = "(" + inject.toString() + ")();";

    target.appendChild(script);
    target.removeChild(script);
})();

REDDITWASRIGHT also included the script on the script sharing website, Greasy Fork, and which automatically can install onto Violentmonkey. #InterestingInternetNaming

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/408612-unblock-brave-from-archive-is

Retrieved: 14 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/R3wRN

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Once installed, make sure the user script is Enabled.

image.png

When the script is working it should indicate on the browser icon that it has matched with the Archive.is website.

image.png

MES Custom User Script Modification

Since the Archive.is website has multiple mirror websites such as Archive.vn and Archive.today, I have made a slight modification to account for all of these.

https://pastebin.com/3Rb4EuN5

Retrieved: 16 August 2020
Archive: https://archive.vn/wip/34leh

MES Paste: Archive.is Support for Brave Browser


// ==UserScript==
// @name        Unblock Brave from archive.is
// @namespace   Violentmonkey Scripts
// @match       https://archive.is/*
// @match       https://archive.vn/*
// @match       https://archive.today/*
// @grant       none
// @version     1.0
// @author      -
// @description 8/11/2020, 6:55:34 PM
// @run-at      document-start
// ==/UserScript==
(function() {
    "use strict";

    const inject = function() {
        "use strict";

        function delete_cookie(name) {
            document.cookie = name + '=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT;';
        }
        delete_cookie('unsupported-browser');

        Object.defineProperty(window.navigator, "brave", {
            get: function() {
                console.log("ok bro");
                return undefined;
            }
        });

    }


    const script = document.createElement("script");
    const target = document.head || document.documentElement;
    script.text = "(" + inject.toString() + ")();";

    target.appendChild(script);
    target.removeChild(script);
})();

Alternatively, you can just manually edit the previous user script directly in Violentmonkey.

For further info on coding with Violentmonkey, you can check out there website: https://violentmonkey.github.io/api/matching/

This the first time I had used a custom browser user script before and it is great to be able to circumnavigate any unnecessary restrictions on the internet.

Let me know if this tutorial helps!

cryptocurrency brave basicattentiontoken bat archive userscript violentmonkey greasyfork troubleshoot technology
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6 comments
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I also installed Brave on August, 6th. I did not know You use it, and did not use Your invitation code.

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No worries. Brave is similar to other browsers but only difficulty is when you would like to withdraw funds, which requires creating an Uphold.com account and verifying your ID.

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Yes, I already created Uphold for that. But whereas on phone I get a lot of ads, on PC I get almostt 0 ads.

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haha that's the same for me too. I use Brave mainly on my PC

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Today I finally started obtaining Brave Ads on PC!

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haha finally!

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