Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads
Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads
Google ramps up its campaign against ad blockers on Chrome.
Google's campaign against ad blockers across its services just got more aggressive. According to a report by PC World, the company has made some alterations to its extension support on Google Chrome.
Google Chrome recently changed its extension support from the Manifest V2 framework to the new Manifest V3 framework. The browser policy changes will impact one of the most popular adblockers (arguably), uBlock Origin.
The transition to the Manifest V3 framework means extensions like uBlock Origin can't use remotely hosted code. According to Google, it "presents security risks by allowing unreviewed code to be executed in extensions." The new policy changes will only allow an extension to execute JavaScript as part of its package.
Over 30 million Google Chrome users use uBlock Origin, but the tool will be automatically disabled soon via an update. Google will let users enable the feature via the settings for a limited period before it's completely scrapped. From this point, users will be forced to switch to another browser or choose another ad blocker.
Remember like 2 weeks ago when Google's very own ad networks were distributing malware?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
59It’s not perfect but PiHole will still catch a lot of the ads if you have the know-how to set one up. Tis a relatively cheap and easy solution that has the benefit of being able to block ads network-wide, providing your router lets you set a custom DNS.
48Its a good thing I've been using Firefox for almost 2 decades then.
44Moved to Firefox some months ago, it's fine. Small adjustment but browsers generally offer high interchangeability
41And thus, this day will be remembered as the great browser migration.
35Bust this trust.
15I'm not sure what Mullvad is based on - i think it's on Tor, which is Firefox based?
I do use mostly LibreWolf, but if FF also went to shit, I wonder if Tor, and thus Mullvad, would keep on going or not. Because I suppose LibreWolf would have troubles with keeping up, if Mozilla would enshitify FF, since they would probably have to fork and continue development on their own.
13This is the perfect time to go aggressive on telling your friends to switch to Firefox
12Netscape Navigator is clearly superior to Internet Explorer. except that Andreessen guy became a Facebook bro. Shame nothing came of that. Oh well, guess I'll use Firefox.
6the big companies, technological or not, always do the same thing... they launch a good product, very cheap (or free). When they already have a big market, they start cutting back. In the case of food, they raise prices, cut products, slightly change the taste... In the case of technology, they raise prices, cut the product, eliminate features....
That a company like Google, dedicated to data, has its own browser and pays to include it as standard in cell phones, it is clear that it is not going to stand still when an addon for its browser blocks part of its business...In this case, very few will switch browsers. That means changing habits. Already did with Google Photos.... . Tiene miles de millones de fotos y vídeos de menores, de fiestas, íntimas... Ofrece espacio gratuíto y después, le pagas por ello, porque tienes tu vida ahí.... Or with Google Maps. It's a great service, but it knows where you go, what for, your schedules... a brutal security problem...or with email.... it reads everything. Because otherwise it will add you to the calendar when you take a flight without having opened the confirmation email...
I've never stopped using Firefox. Google pays it too, but it's the only one that's independent. And then there's Waterfox, Librewolf, PaleMoon... Run away from Google... there are alternatives.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
6I'm not sure if it's related, but I've been getting popups that prevent navigation away from pages on the Google Android browsers
3Honestly, I blame developers who, some years ago, decided it was a good idea to centralize the browsers into the same engine. Yeah, it was hellish to maintain code for all browsers at the time (IE5, IE6, Firefox, Safari, etc), but it was paradise compared to our current scenario: at least we really had options: WebKit, Trident, Gecko, as well as lots of smaller, almost unknown engines. Now, all modern browsers are different wrappings of Chromium or Firefox, while most modern sites are developed without the active worry to keep Firefox compatible (one can notice how modern HTML5 features varies across both of them). It has no easy solution. Don't update, maybe? (Until sites start to complain about the outdated version)
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