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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

#121

On Firefox it is "recommended" add on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls/

If you, like me, were wondering what that meant (or if it is an automatic distinction like "Amazon Choice"), this is what they say gets a "Recommend" badge.

>Recommended extensions are editorially curated extensions that meet the highest standards of security, functionality, and user experience. Firefox staff, along with community participation, selects each extension and manually reviews them for security and policy compliance before they receive Recommended status. These extensions may also qualify for promotions on the AMO homepage and other prominent locations. Developers cannot pay to have their extensions included in this program.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#122
post #53

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…

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.

The general solution is to do a little of both. The job of the regulators isn't to just kill off specific companies that got too powerful - it's to create conditions where disruption is possible. An important way to do this is to prevent big players from abusing their power to make themselves nearly-impossible to disrupt.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#123

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 just added it to Microsoft Edge using the Microsoft Store.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#124
post #57

> 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…

I agree with you except for the HTTPS part. In some nations it's not unheard of for ISPs to inject ads and tracking into webpages. This also opens the door for malware.

Let's Encrypt's with its certbot made it easy enough to get a cert and every major webserver supports HTTPS out of the box with good documentation.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#125
post #96

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

Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26383321 You can uninstall any app by using adb shell: 1. sudo apt-get-install android-tools-adb 2. Connect phone using usb, choose file transfer 3. In terminal type: adb shell 4. On phone allow dialog that appeared 5. In terminal in adb shell type: pm list package 6. Find which app is it and uninstall it, eg: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.services

There is a typo (discussion is archived so I cannot fix it) it is "sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb"

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#126

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.

>Firefox as my main browser

I tried last year, and honestly it isn't bad. But I use the Chrome "install this site as an App" functionality a lot and Firefox's "app tabs" didn't work nearly as well. Plus, I hear they've removed or are removing said single site browser functionality.

This might be a somewhat niche case but it makes it really hard to switch as much as FF does have some nice features (picture in picture for all video content is very nice).

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#128
post #78

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

Consider buying an iPhone. I'm serious. Google is a spyware company.

Hm, I find Apple crawling through my photos looking for faces pretty creepy. This feature cannot be disabled for some reason.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#129
I'm very worried that this extension can limit the ability of small site owners to earn money from affiliate marketing. Many of this sites rely on links to Amazon and other big stores. They are losing on ads with the ad filters, and now this? How can they be compensated for their work? I'm all in for privacy, but shouldn't there be a more balanced way?

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#130
post #57

> 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…

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but I feel HTTPS everywhere does not belong in that list. Secure by default doesn't sound evil to me, and Let's Encrypt made it easy enough to get free HTTPS certificates (and for non technical people, almost all hosting services I've seen offer it out of the box)
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