Has Amazon changed their ad server?

texaspete · 02-12-2013, 12:10 PM

I'm running the Kindle Touch with Special Offers, 5.1.2 firmware. I have pwnazon running as a fake ad server with Apache on my web server. I noticed when looking at the /system/.assets folder that I had not been downloading ads since around October. I deleted the contents of that folder.

I removed the entry from dnsmasq pointing to my web server and the Amazon ads appeared on my kindle. I added the entry back and deleted the contents of the .assets folder again. None of my fake ads were being populated and I saw no requests in my Apache logs (or errors).

I tried running the k4freeserver from Piero Toffanin's page on a different machine, changed the dnsmasq settings to point to that machine, reset my kindle to factory settings and watched the Ruby console. No ads were downloaded and nothing seemed to be going on with port 80. I deregistered the kindle and then registered it again with Amazon. Still no ads were downloaded. Then, upon examining the kindle, the banners were gone from the home screen and what seems to be the screensavers from the ad-free kindle started to appear. I checked at Amazon and it still lists my kindle as a special offers kindle. I pointed dnsmasq back to my web server and tried to register and deregister the kindle again to no avail. Yes, wireless was enabled on the kindle.

I'm not sure what's going on as this was a working configuration from a few months ago. I have another kindle on the network that had its wireless on for nearly a month and never downloaded the fake advertisements. It has the screensaver that says "Please wirelessly connect your Kindle to get special offers", or something like that.

I'm a little nervous to remove that dnsmasq line from my router, because I'm fairly certain that ads will appear on my kindle again. I guess I should be happy that I don't have them at the moment but I miss the images that I had on my kindle before.

Should I hook up Wireshark on my windows machine, point the adserver traffic to it and watch to see what happens? This is probably what I'll do next but I'm dreading sifting through all that data.

Suggestions are welcome. Thanks for listening!

texaspete · 02-12-2013, 05:07 PM

So, I hooked up wireshark and it looks like my kindle is sending SYN packets to port 443. If I knew a little more about what is involved with this handshake, I might be able to play around with the pwnazon code. I guess the kindle is looking for the real certificate of the ad server, which may be a dead end since I don't have said certificate available.

Any ideas guys? Is this something that can be faked somehow or is this a dead end?

Elfwreck · 02-12-2013, 06:57 PM

I suspect you're not going to get a lot of assistance here for trying to evade ads on a device that you purchased at a discount because it came with ads. The response is going to be "if you don't want ads on your Kindle, fork over the extra $20 and they'll go away."

Personally, I can understand the appeal of ad evasion, but I don't have any kind of wireless device, so have absolutely no advice about how one does-or-does-not manage any kind of contact with corporate servers. And if I had specific details, I wouldn't be posting them here, because it's against Mobileread's policies to support Terms of Service evasion.

HarryT · 02-13-2013, 01:57 AM

Moderator Notice
Please read and take note of our forum policy on ad evasion which is explained in the following sticky thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200942

Discussion of how to evade or remove ads from an ad-supported Kindle are not permitted.

Thank you.

texaspete · 02-13-2013, 03:14 PM

Sorry, guys. I misread the kindle screensaver hack as being a way to circumvent ads. I get the message.

HarryT · 02-13-2013, 04:03 PM

No problem, Pete.

02-12-2013, 12:10 PM	#1
texaspete Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 3 + 4	Has Amazon changed their ad server? I'm running the Kindle Touch with Special Offers, 5.1.2 firmware. I have pwnazon running as a fake ad server with Apache on my web server. I noticed when looking at the /system/.assets folder that I had not been downloading ads since around October. I deleted the contents of that folder. I removed the entry from dnsmasq pointing to my web server and the Amazon ads appeared on my kindle. I added the entry back and deleted the contents of the .assets folder again. None of my fake ads were being populated and I saw no requests in my Apache logs (or errors). I tried running the k4freeserver from Piero Toffanin's page on a different machine, changed the dnsmasq settings to point to that machine, reset my kindle to factory settings and watched the Ruby console. No ads were downloaded and nothing seemed to be going on with port 80. I deregistered the kindle and then registered it again with Amazon. Still no ads were downloaded. Then, upon examining the kindle, the banners were gone from the home screen and what seems to be the screensavers from the ad-free kindle started to appear. I checked at Amazon and it still lists my kindle as a special offers kindle. I pointed dnsmasq back to my web server and tried to register and deregister the kindle again to no avail. Yes, wireless was enabled on the kindle. I'm not sure what's going on as this was a working configuration from a few months ago. I have another kindle on the network that had its wireless on for nearly a month and never downloaded the fake advertisements. It has the screensaver that says "Please wirelessly connect your Kindle to get special offers", or something like that. I'm a little nervous to remove that dnsmasq line from my router, because I'm fairly certain that ads will appear on my kindle again. I guess I should be happy that I don't have them at the moment but I miss the images that I had on my kindle before. Should I hook up Wireshark on my windows machine, point the adserver traffic to it and watch to see what happens? This is probably what I'll do next but I'm dreading sifting through all that data. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks for listening!

02-12-2013, 05:07 PM	#2
texaspete Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 3 + 4	So, I hooked up wireshark and it looks like my kindle is sending SYN packets to port 443. If I knew a little more about what is involved with this handshake, I might be able to play around with the pwnazon code. I guess the kindle is looking for the real certificate of the ad server, which may be a dead end since I don't have said certificate available. Any ideas guys? Is this something that can be faked somehow or is this a dead end? Last edited by texaspete; 02-12-2013 at 05:17 PM.

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02-12-2013, 06:57 PM	#3
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	I suspect you're not going to get a lot of assistance here for trying to evade ads on a device that you purchased at a discount because it came with ads. The response is going to be "if you don't want ads on your Kindle, fork over the extra $20 and they'll go away." Personally, I can understand the appeal of ad evasion, but I don't have any kind of wireless device, so have absolutely no advice about how one does-or-does-not manage any kind of contact with corporate servers. And if I had specific details, I wouldn't be posting them here, because it's against Mobileread's policies to support Terms of Service evasion.

02-13-2013, 01:57 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Moderator Notice Please read and take note of our forum policy on ad evasion which is explained in the following sticky thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200942 Discussion of how to evade or remove ads from an ad-supported Kindle are not permitted. Thank you.

02-13-2013, 03:14 PM	#5
texaspete Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 3 + 4	Sorry, guys. I misread the kindle screensaver hack as being a way to circumvent ads. I get the message.

02-13-2013, 04:03 PM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	No problem, Pete.