Browser add-on blocks Rupert Murdoch's websites

by Stephen Hui on July 23rd, 2011 at 7:58 AM

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Has the phone-hacking scandal made you never want to see a website owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation again? Well, there's a new browser extension for that.

Available in the Chrome Web Store, the app called Murdoch Block gives users of Google's browser a warning every time they attempt to load any of more than 100 Murdoch-controlled sites. Users have the option of unblocking the site and continuing on.

News Corp. sites include those of the Fox TV channels and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal newspapers.

According to the Chrome store, the Murdoch Block app has more than 1,800 users.

A Firefox version, which doesn't block the sites, is also available. The Murdoch Alert add-on just displays a warning box whenever users visit a News Corp. site.

The extension's page explains:

NewsCorp agents in multiple countries have been arrested for hacking into the phones and computers of at least thousands of innocent people. Since the Murdoch family controls 100+ high-traffic domains, it is difficult for average users to know which sites could potentially place them at risk.