What is whitelist and blacklist data?

xpcom whitelist blacklist
Xinus picture Xinus · Sep 21, 2009 · Viewed 86.6k times · Source

I was reading about development of XPCOM component. I came across these terms called whitelist data and blacklist data, I tried to find out on google but couldn't .. I do not know how its related to programming so forgive me if I placed the question at wrong place..

Answer

Dave Webb picture Dave Webb · Sep 21, 2009

White lists and black lists are two ways of filtering data. If you have a white list then you will filter in only data on the white list; if you have a black list you will filter out only data on that list.

For example, consider automatically rejecting incoming phone calls. You could have a black list of marketing companies, so everyone but them would be able to call you. Or you could have white list containing your friends' numbers, so only they would be able to call you.

TL;DR:

  • Whitelist - only these things.
  • Blacklist - everything but these things.

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