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Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

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Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#131

Post by icxa »

indronilbanerji wrote: post #70

I really don't understand why security concerned people use Google's product in spite of knowing that Google steals everything and compromises user's privacy.

I think you are confusing security with privacy.

As far as security goes, I trust Google way more than any other site to handle my credentials properly, follow security best practices, use the highest level of encryption where applicable, keep servers up to date and patched faster than anyone else, etc. Outside of Google+, I can't remember the last time there was a major security incident at Google, when they happened, the impact was minimal (contrast this to say the Apple Cloud leak which led to the infamous "fappening", the Marriot leak, the Equifax hack, Target, etc). Breaches and 0-days happen, but as far as I know, Google is going to be the best it gets when it comes to security.

Now when it comes to my privacy, no. I don't trust Google as far as I could throw them.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#132

Post by Xylakant »

dgoldstein0 wrote: post #122
pgeorgi wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't work as well for https connections where you can only block on domain name, for which any DNS/VPN-based blocking works just as well.

Usually proxying can work for https connections - by letting the proxy terminate ssl. But then you really need to trust the proxy's ssl implementation, and it probably also breaks standard security ui like viewing the cert. Definitely it has its problems.

The SSL implementation is the least of your problems. You’d need to have a private CA on your system that creates certificates on the fly. How do you secure that proper. You’d also have problems when reporting SSL errors between the site and the proxy to the browser because from the browsers PoV, the connection looks good.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#133

Post by SquareWheel »

el_programmador wrote: post #59
rndgermandude wrote: post #42

The problem at this point isn't whether chrome will disable it... It can be added back, probably fairly easily as google intents to keep it around for "enterprise" anyway, so it's probably just gonna end up changing/removing one if-statement. If not, then the code already exists and has to be merged back in. The problem is distribution of the actual extensions, as Vivaldi kinda pointed out, as the other browsers most…

My gut feeling is that Google won't pull this stunt with chrome, this is some kind of scare mongering or a PR tactic, I dunno. It doesn't make a logical sense because if they are banning the ad-blockers, it means they accept that chrome is largely used by power users who can install these blockers (otherwise, what's the need?). But they should realize that a power user who installs an addon can just as easily move to…

>It doesn't make a logical sense because if they are banning the ad-blockers...

To be clear, you can still block ads under Manifest v3. I don't know where this idea that you suddenly won't be able to block ads came from, but somebody is being dishonest about it.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#134

Post by dblohm7 »

fwn wrote: post #57
snaky wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best mobile Firefox feature never marketed by Mozilla at all.

I don't think it is certain to stay, as they seem to avoid commiting to the extension capability in their future Versions of Firefox for Android. So AFAIK it might be that they want to get rid of it.

That isn't true.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#135

Post by clumsysmurf »

agumonkey wrote: post #123

I, for the first time ever, uninstalled chrome/chromium from my computers. It pains me because I liked it overall, and firefox isn't happy with my 2009 laptops. Maybe chrome devs mistake will be the air gap that creates a new leader from another group.

FF and Safari were the only browser that worked well on my 2009 MBP ... until FF went multi process, and then started using too much ram. Today I think its total ram usage is worse than Chrome.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#136

Post by nahtnam »

red_admiral wrote: post #33

I tried opera a while back, and while it's fast and looks good, it has a new tab page with "recommended" sites that you can't turn off - I tried, but it's protected by DRM (opera will refuse to start if the file doesn't have a valid digital signature). So if I'm going to switch browsers because of privacy/advertising concerns, it's not going to be Opera.

Hey! I hope this isn't breaking the rules (self promotion) but I wrote a blog post on how to change your new tab page: https://blog.nahtnam.com/p/my-new-favorite-browser

It is described under the "new tab page" section. I can't really comment on the privacy/advertising concerns but I do know that Opera providers a VPN for you (who know what they are doing behind the scenes) and have their own adblocker built in.

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#138

Post by nahtnam »

ModernMech wrote: post #75
red_admiral wrote: post #33

I tried opera a while back, and while it's fast and looks good, it has a new tab page with "recommended" sites that you can't turn off - I tried, but it's protected by DRM (opera will refuse to start if the file doesn't have a valid digital signature). So if I'm going to switch browsers because of privacy/advertising concerns, it's not going to be Opera.

The new tab page has a list of bookmarks you can customize. It starts off with some "recommeded" sites in there, but you can just remove them once and they never come back. The only thing you can't remove from the new tab page is the Google search bar, which never really bothered me. Either way, it seems like you're implying that Opera will populate the new tab page with sites it chooses, but that's just not the case…

I just wrote a blog post on how to replace the new tab page altogether if that is something you are interested in: https://blog.nahtnam.com/p/my-new-favorite-browser

It is highlighted in the "new tab page" section

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#139

Post by Chirael »

agumonkey wrote: post #123

I, for the first time ever, uninstalled chrome/chromium from my computers. It pains me because I liked it overall, and firefox isn't happy with my 2009 laptops. Maybe chrome devs mistake will be the air gap that creates a new leader from another group.

I got a new computer recently (old one died), and because of this change I will not install Chrome on the new computer. I’m planning to use Edge for anything Google-specific like Google Docs or Sheets, and Firefox for everything else.

Unfortunately, my wife has a Chromebook and it’s hard to convince her that her very cheap, almost-disposable laptop should be replaced with something more expensive just to avoid Chrome. (And no, she did not want me to install Linux on it - sigh.)

Re: Opera, Brave, Vivaldi to ignore Chrome's anti-ad-blocker changes

#140

Post by cpeterso »

rndgermandude wrote: post #42

The problem at this point isn't whether chrome will disable it... It can be added back, probably fairly easily as google intents to keep it around for "enterprise" anyway, so it's probably just gonna end up changing/removing one if-statement. If not, then the code already exists and has to be merged back in. The problem is distribution of the actual extensions, as Vivaldi kinda pointed out, as the other browsers most…

I hadn't considered the ramifications to extension distribution. If Google's Chrome extension store chooses to not host extensions that use the webRequest API, other Chromium-based browsers will need to maintain their own extension stores or users will start installing unvetted extensions from shady third-party websites.
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