[deleted]
Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#32It 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…
I think Huawei should start an open-source community-based fork of Chrome and Android as an offset to Google and American monopoly on the web. (kidding, sort of).
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#33That's a bit hyperbolic though. I imagine a high percentage of HN users block ads, but the overall rate is more like 25%[1] I suppose Forbes' editors weren't so excited about "Google gives about 500M Chrome users a reason to switch..." 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/804008/ad-blocking-reach...
Add blocking is not consistent between browsers. Desktop chrome users are much more likely to block advertising.
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#34It 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…
>they basically get read/write permissions on every web page you visit.
But you can select on which sites the extension is active. You can even make it only active when you click on it.
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#35Do 2B users use uBO, or do most of them use ABP or uBlock? Because I don't see much pushback from the authors of the later, and it anything they have a vested interest in design choices that negate the power of their greatest competitor.
2B is probably the total number of Chrome users. I'd be curious how many Ublock Origin users there are though. The # of installs counter on the Chrome extension store maxes out at "10,000,000+".
Adblocking estimates are around 30% total.
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#36I use Adguard DNS. It can help because it work at DNS Level to block Advertiser Domain. https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html
This was insightful from Pieter Levels Twitter:
https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1054985994838130688
> The accidental thing nobody noticed is how @Cloudflare is suddenly in the best position now to take over the Web Analytics industry now that adblockers are all blocking JS-level Google Analytics, since Cloudflare can track users on the DNS-level
So once DNS blocking becomes the norm, the power to do evil will switch from Google to Cloudflare.
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".
> They claim that the deprecation is about security I mean, it kind of obviously is. Giving random extensions downloaded from the internet access to the URLs of every request ever made by the browser is a pretty insane security hole. My impression is that other browsers (Safari) already removed this kind of API, or never had it in the first place.
As far as I can tell, they're not deprecating the API allowing extensions to snoop, only the piece that lets an extension say "don't process that request until I tell you it's okay". (In the design doc's terms, they're deprecating only the blocking version of webRequest.)
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#38That's a bit hyperbolic though. I imagine a high percentage of HN users block ads, but the overall rate is more like 25%[1] I suppose Forbes' editors weren't so excited about "Google gives about 500M Chrome users a reason to switch..." 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/804008/ad-blocking-reach...
I have fellow developers that live in ad-infested browsers... Like wtf!?
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#39It 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…
Maybe they have something better?
That flutter paint the screen, just do that in the browser. Speed problem solved.
Tracking, well hopefully, with mutual discussions with China, perhaps that leads to a day where a school shooter finds all traffic lights turn red, and the school doors locked, and he just throws his rifle in the dumpster and falls asleep in his car.
Only a kind providence provides kindness.
Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".
> They claim that the deprecation is about security I mean, it kind of obviously is. Giving random extensions downloaded from the internet access to the URLs of every request ever made by the browser is a pretty insane security hole. My impression is that other browsers (Safari) already removed this kind of API, or never had it in the first place.
> Giving random extensions downloaded from the internet access to the URLs of every request ever made by the browser is a pretty insane security hole.
The observer APIs will still be enabled in V3 and extensions will still be able to access that list.
There is a valid case to be made that we should rethink the extension security model, but the V3 manifest doesn't address of any of its biggest problems. It's gimping the parts that enable you to block requests, but extensions will still be able to other spy on you the same way they already can today.
This is very clearly not about security.