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Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

forbes.com

11–20 of 66 posts

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#12
The interesting thing about ditching all of your ad blocking users is that you’ve ditched the segment that shows the slightest interest in improving their ux.

Hyperbole to assume all will leave of course, but I wonder what this will do to user expectations

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#13

I use Adguard DNS. It can help because it work at DNS Level to block Advertiser Domain. https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html

I just started using https://www.nextdns.io/ that offers so much customization and a whitelist

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#15

> Google is planning to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users only > the software giant is not backing down: It says the only people that can use ad blockers following the change will be Google’s enterprise users. > Google sent me a statement by email, which reads: "Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers. We’re actively working with the developer community to get feedback a…

Google isn't banning any ad blockers directly. They're just deprecating an API which many major ad blockers use, and the replacement API is different enough that those ad blockers can't be ported to it. They claim that the deprecation is about security and performance.

In particular, I don't think it's true that Google said "only people that can use ad blockers following the change will be Google’s enterprise users".

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#17
post #11

All the more reason to use Host block lists such as https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

yeah that's actually the point of the outrage. Using block lists is nice, but modern adlockers can do much, much more. If you just use lists, chances are the Ad industry - with the help of Google, will find a way to circumvent it. They probably already have, see anti-adblock-blockers.

Nowadays, you can invent clever ways to get around all this. With the new Chrome - you probably can't.

In the future, it'll probably be such that every website asks you to disable adblocking or you are blocked from the site.

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#18
It is worth noting that revamping the browser extension permissions model is something that should definitely be done. Browser extensions up until this point have been a massive security hole: they basically get read/write permissions on every web page you visit.

Of course, content blocking could've been part of that new security model.

As Google tightens its grip, I wouldn't be surprised if someone starts a genuine fork of Chromium. Not just Chromium plus some extra stuff like Brave and Vivaldi, but a real, doesn't-rely-on-upstream-changes-fork. Microsoft seems like the most likely candidate for doing so.

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#19
What a bogus story.

The issue google is trying to address here is that the adblockers get permissions to basically all browsing data.

Google specifically says "Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers."

There is going to be a content filtering approach that doesn't require folks give full access to all browser activity to a third party. For example, google could provide hooks for a pattern list that the extension could populate to block content. But no browsing data would be shared with the extension.

I know it's fun to go to immediate outrage - but Forbes is not the first place I'd be looking for thoughtful / balanced stories.

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#20
post #16

Okay, so they are crippling the webRequest API. I'm sure we can still block ads by injecting some masterfully crafted jQuery cocktails. Ad blocking will still be possible. (Edit: Whoever just downvoted me -- you work on the Chrome team, I guess?)

There was a time where I had to use some outdated ad blocker. ALL news sites would display this "Disable your Ad blocker if you want to read this site" full screen block (that was, of course, not blockable with an easy host list).

This is probably Google's roundabout way to defeat adblocking as a whole.

Disable your adblock, or don't visit any website with Google Ads. Your choice.

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