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Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

9to5google.com

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Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#171

Post by isr »

estranhosidade wrote: post #15
kibwen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When" they do that, it will be because they have judged that they have, by then, thoroughly extinguished all competition. If you (the royal "you") want there to exist an alternative browser to which to jump to when the time comes, then consider making the jump today, when your influence might still make some small contribution to the competitiveness of the browser market.

Chrome serves me just fine nowadays. Unlike you, I'm not some kind of Gandhi of the tech scene or anything like that. If it serves me fine I won't stop using it. If Chrome ceases to support adblock extensions then I will go look for some other browser, I would probably change to Vivaldi or anything like that, or even Firefox, they sure as hell will be there.

You totally missed his point. Which was:

For as long as you, I and everyone else continues to use Chrome, we effectively support Google's ability to monopolise the browser space.

Google's continuing monopolisation of the browser space will (and is?) leading to a dearth of alternatives.

So, by waiting for the time when Google finally puts that final straw on the haystack which makes this whole thing too onerous to bear - and then you say "right, now I've finally had enough - I'm switching ...."

... you may find that there's nothing left to switch to.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#172

Post by Chirael »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #103
OrwellianChild wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you help a newbie understand why I'd want to use this instead of Firefox + uBlock Origin? Seems like a lot of extra maintenance overhead...

You only need to set it up once per network, instead of once per browser, and it is capable of filtering (most) ads even on closed platforms (e.g. apps on non-rooted phones). The downside is that it is much less granular and harder to set up exceptions.

The other downside is that if you have a laptop and take it outside your home network, the ads will reappear.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#173

Post by hu3 »

EastSmith wrote: post #125

I wonder what MS will do with Edge(Chromium)? I've been using it for couple of weeks now as a secondary browser to Brave (separate sessions etc) and it is looks and behave like a normal Chrome. Hope MS fight this.

This is a big opportunity for MS to keep this functionality as a side-patch that's maintained and applied to every new version of Chromium they use.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#175

Post by floatingatoll »

There’s a lot of bias in this article title. I’m kind of disappointed in them for it. “Complex ad blockers” would have been just as informative but without the blocker-favoring tilt.

Bonus irony for realizing that a properly configured blocker as they’re favoring with this title would reduce their site’s revenue, being both JavaScript and ad-heavy.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#176

Post by jchw »

AaronFriel wrote: post #152

[deleted]

Actually no! In fact, responses like this make me afraid to post at all.

Because, either I make honest disclosures that I work for Google, when talking about Google software or other things, or I try to be pseudonymous and not disclose. If I do the latter, well, that could have a lot of repercussions, it would be a violation of the social media policy as well, so it's not really worth considering, plus it even just feels dishonest.

But if I do the former, I'm stuck with people reading it like I'm some corporate marketing drone, despite the fact that before I joined Google, I was already prominently on internet communities like Hacker News. I'm trying to follow both internet etiquette and company policy by disclosing that I work for Google, but invariably whenever I speak on something there's this weird conspiracy that I simply must be on the corporate payroll astroturfing; despite that I'm, practically speaking, just a rank and file software engineer.

Also, I am not trying to mislead people. Average consumers are obviously not going to use the enterprise policy features. They should, however, be available on any Chrome installation, if the article is referring to what I think it is. The article claims it is a 'paid' feature, and I don't think there is a such thing.

I don't even understand this accusation. I straight up have been personally using and recommending Firefox since Quantum came out.

As for the frequency of discussing Google stuff... I mean come on. The frontpage of Hacker News is sometimes covered in discussions about Google stuff. I can't escape it even if I want to. It is actually a big downside of working for a large employer; it becomes fairly difficult to disconnect from work when on vacation (as I currently am, actually.)

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#177

Post by fiblye »

thrower123 wrote: post #88
roca wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you miss the part where these Google decisions affect all Chromium browsers?

Microsoft might just have the horsepower to keep up with any particularly shitty changes that Google might potentially try to push through, better than some of the other Chromium skins. At least if they want to.

Microsoft displays ads within their OS. They would join arms with Google if they honestly decided to tackle adblocking.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#178

Post by ryan-c »

mises wrote: post #77
enitihas wrote: post #54

Another big issue is that if chrome makes it difficult to disable ads such that 99% of chrome users aren't able to do it, websites may simply choose to block Firefox as it would be easy to do so without losing a large part of user base while making sure no users are blocking ads. Right now there are far too many users using ad blockers.

Blocking a user agent? Oh no, whatever shall we do? Thankfully, we can still just change it, though I suppose a really insidious web site could use feature checks.

A trivial way to check for Firefox in javascript:

    !!{}.toSource
There are many others, of course.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#179

Post by tlburke »

irrational wrote: post #85

I don't get it. I've used Firefox and Chrome for years. Firefox is easily as good and capable as Chrome. The barrier to switch from Chrome to Firefox is almost non-existent. Is Google counting on the majority of people not being knowledgeable enough or motivated enough to switch browsers?

Google Chrome (desktop) does not contain ads/"suggested content" on the New Tab page. For that reason alone I'll continue using Chromium on desktop until they actually pull the trigger and remove/neuter uBO.
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