this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
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Privacy

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Hello, I'm wondering if there is a way to download webpages anonymously, without actually having to visit the website. I want to access this website, but it requires Javascript. So, instead I'm just wondering if theres a way to download the webpage (I want to download the webpage with its functions, like any audio features along with it, for say, Ultimateguitar.com). I recall there being some GNUWebProxy downloading tool or whatever, I just forgot the name of it.

Thank you!

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[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You could hit the page via Tor to anonymize your access, then use the Save Page As context menu item to save the page.

[–] Zeon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yes, but I would need to enable Javascript, Ultimateguitar.com completely blocks access if Javascript is disabled. Thank you for the tip though! I did not know of that feature.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

There is no way to anonymously access a website that requires Javascript.
Javascript is code that runs on your computer.
How is it going to get there without your IP address?

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

JavaScript is often used in modern websites to actually render content, as-in, generate what you see on the page. Blocking access is possible if you don't have JavaScript enabled, but it's rare. More likely it's just not showing content because it's not there.

Disabling JavaScript in and of itself is not something I understand as a viable way to interact with the internet.

You are better off anonymizing your browser. You can do this by launching separate instances without any profile in incognito mode and only use it on one site before closing it down.

You can also automatically "crawl" websites using tools like headess Chrome and Puppeteer. No doubt there are websites that will do this for you, for a fee.

Ultimately, JavaScript is a programming language, nothing more, nothing less.

[–] Nursery2787@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago

Disabling JavaScript in and of itself is not something I understand as a viable way to interact with the internet.

Almost all the Tor de-anonymization attacks rely on JavaScript. Not being pwned is a standard of living many users are willing to live under. Plenty of actual text and images are still viewable over tor this way. And if you can’t access content on one site this way then that site wasn’t respecting your privacy.

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Why don’t you want to visit ultimate guitar? Has it changed in the last ten years since I’ve used in last? It used to be great

So, my information may be outdated, but a given webpage is made up of:

  1. HTML - basic structure and content
  2. CSS - how it looks
  3. Scripting - interactive elements

You could probably fetch the basic parts of the page with wget or curl or something like that. But depending on how the media is obtained, you would likely have issues fetching the audio

[–] Zeon@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

I want to use it, but it requires Javascript in order to view the webpage. I'm wondering if there's a utility that would allow me to download the webpage over Tor, with all the sites functions (audio, elements, etc.)

Wget could work, I'll give it a try soon. Thank you! (I don't necessarily need the audio, but it would be nice to have)

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

JavaScript would be required if any of the media elements require AJAX to work (like the audio).

I don’t believe wget would do what you want

[–] Zeon@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

Just edited my comment. It's not a necessity for me, but would be nice to have. Thanks for the info!

[–] transitinoir@slrpnk.net 1 points 20 hours ago

I think Startpage had some feature like "Anonymous Web Page View"

[–] blackberry@midwest.social 1 points 1 day ago

check out Kiwix and Zims. they also have tools to automatically download sites for offline use. anonymous? no. but you can share .zim files without being connected to the internet