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Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

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Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#101

Post by yifanl »

blunte wrote: post #83
baybal2 wrote: post #30

This is what Googlers did to AdNauseam too

I think it’s important to be specific. Probably it was not who we think of when we say “googlers”, but rather it was upper management within Google. Frankly, I see two googles: the people who make a lot of decent or great stuff, and the upper decision makers who act against the interests of the other group and the consumers.

If we, the average user, can only see/use/consume the outputs of one of those halves, then its only worth considering that half as google.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#103

Post by esalman »

iSnow wrote: post #58
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #21

An extract from the Rules of the Internet, 2021 edition: - don't use Chrome - don't use Google Search

I tried, but I find each and every Google Search alternative lacking. I frequently have to hunt down some bug descriptions or other stuff related to coding and Google Search is really hard to beat. Even tried Bing, lol

If it is just to avoid tracking, may I suggest using a Firefox container for Google search only?

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#104

Post by skinkestek »

ship_it wrote: post #70
shilgapira wrote: post #13

Well it turns out that I just installed this addon on Firefox yesterday after hearing about it here or on Reddit. This move does well to reinforce my loyalty to Firefox as my main browser. Hopefully it has the same effect on others.

Likewise. Step up YC people!

As has been said by someone before:

There's a billion dollar niche waiting for the right company:

- make a search engine that works

- show text ads clearly distinguishable from results

- play nice, and maybe even use use a cool slogan like "we're not evil" or something (it used to be someone else's but it seems they don't use it anymore ;-)

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#105

Post by jiofih »

echelon wrote: post #57
Hendrikto wrote: post #8

> The reasons for this are ridiculous and probably only pretended because ClearURLs damages Google's business model. […] > Among other things, it was claimed that the description of the addon is too detailed and thus violates the Chrome Web Store rules. The mention of all the people who helped to develop and translate ClearURLs is against Google's rules because it could "confuse" the user. Ridiculous. > Also, Google…

More fuel for the Google antitrust / breakup fire. Google should not be allowed to develop Chrome or have any say in web standards. Every play they make favors themselves - unsemantic HTML5, AMP, crippled and removed extensions, progressive removal of the URL bar, https everywhere (no more self-hosted blogs unless you understand cert signing and automated renewal - why did the web stop being easy?), cookie standards…

Don’t know why you are being downvoted, this is absolutely true.

Handing web standards over to an advertising company has been of the most damaging things ever done to the internet.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#106

Post by bsdubernerd »

0xfaded wrote: post #26
shilgapira wrote: post #13

Well it turns out that I just installed this addon on Firefox yesterday after hearing about it here or on Reddit. This move does well to reinforce my loyalty to Firefox as my main browser. Hopefully it has the same effect on others.

I also just added it to firefox. Thanks Barbara Streisand effect!

Mozilla has been playing a little bit better here, but let's not forget Mozilla could remove the addon on pretty much in the same way.

Case in point: Firefox on mobile has a selected _whitelist_ of addons you can install, and that's it.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#107

Post by andyjohnson0 »

anonymousDan wrote: post #47

I would really like to uninstall chrome from my Android phone but it appears to be impossible. Am I missing something?

You can't uninstall Chrome on Android, but it's easy to not use it:

1. Install firefox

2. Settings->Apps, set firefox to be the default browser.

3. In the app setting for Chrome, disable and stop the app.

4. Remove the Google search/assistant widget on your homescreen/desktop and use the Firefox search widget instead.

Not much can be done about the Chrome-based system webview, as far as I know.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#108

Post by ulrikrasmussen »

eecc wrote: post #95
ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #45

What I don't get is why Google is allowed to provide a browser and be a major content provider at the same time. If this is allowed to continue then it seems inevitable than an unhealthy monopoly will form where Chrome and its derivatives are the only browsers that can consume the modern web, and where opting out of tracking is not a possibility for anyone but the most technically inclined (although that's almost alr…

What I don’t get is how many howl and cry foul at Apple for its Store “monopoly” while anyone can opt-out of it by switching to any other of the myriad competitors. While in this case, Google is very likely abusing its dominance to coerce the whole ecosystem beyond their own platform in their favor: if the web becomes “works with Chrome” everyone is (probably negatively) affected.

I don't own an Apple product and probably never will, so I'm not that familiar with the situation there. In general though, I'm not that fond of private entities being regulators of markets. This is what democratic institutions are for, but unfortunately we don't have strong institutions in this space.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#109

Post by passerby1 »

kajecounterhack wrote: post #59
ppf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the accepted solution to these problems was "disrupt!", not regulation. Edit: It seems that not even Silicon Valley likes the monsters it has created.

Natural monopolies are actually one of the main places regulation helps.

In EU, maybe. However don't forget the lobbying.

Money is actually a power (via buying other people's time and effort to spend on one's problems). The money is also behaves like the mass in Universe: it sticks together in large clots. So the power does too.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#110

Post by retyurt »

Contrary to other posters here I'm not sure this is a conscious decision on Google's end. I know of plenty of add-ons that got delisted at random and that were promptly re-instated like ublock (https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/745) or firenvim (https://github.com/glacambre/firenvim/issues/518 ).
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