Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 369 posts

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#171

Post by varispeed »

ppf wrote: post #53
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…

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.

At some point some companies have become too big to disrupt. I think the best way is to partition companies that grew too big, that could be called disruption if you will. I'd like to see Alphabet holding to be dismantled and all products moved into separate independent companies.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#172

Post by jeltz »

foepys wrote: post #124
echelon wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The certbot client is pretty awful (it does not cooperate well with automization) but otherwise I agree 100%. HTTPS everywhere and Letsencrypt have been huge boons to security.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#173

Post by varispeed »

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.

We need a regulation that will automatically deal with such monopolies by ordering companies to split after reaching certain thresholds. This way we would never get companies too big to fail.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#175

Post by kuschku »

arkitaip wrote: post #113
xianwen wrote: post #34

As an indirect effect of this, I got to know about ClearURLs and installed it on my firefox.

It's a shame that Firefox Android still hasn't got its shit together wrt add-ons. The current selection is abysmal. It would be nice to have the same addon setup on desktop and mobile and have settings sync across devices.

You can create a collection on AMO and set that instead of the whitelist. It's been enabled on Firefox Nightly since october.

It does happen to break some addons, e.g. Greasemonkey, but most work just fine.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#176

Post by alwayshasbeen »

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.

Now that you mention it, this is a pretty evil strategy. It may seem that developers and businesses have all freedom to create and run their sides and apps as they wish but if they don't comply to Google's view how the web and apps should be they... ... rank very low on search results and are therefore displaced by competitors that play along the rules of Google ... don't get into the Play Store or get kicked out ... can't express an opinion on any Google platform that goes against their (vaguely formulated) terms of use, otherwise their account gets blocked in no time.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#178

Post by varispeed »

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

Have you noticed that the quality of Google Search results deteriorated dramatically lately? Sometimes when I google something I don't even get any results at all. As if they no longer indexed any more obscure sites. On the other hand I know some sites completely disabled robots and are not being scanned, to degoogle themselves.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#180

Post by b112 »

yurielt wrote: post #117
jiofih wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It seems as if google or is eh moles are monitoring this site because it is not the first time a reasonable anti google comments gets treated like this with no replies explaining why

Bear in mind, that many subconsciously are unhappy with their workplace's policies and effects on the world, but at the same time have linked their personal esteem and identity with work.

By threatening their self esteem, their very identity, by validating what the know deep inside them, that they work to do evil, without wanting to, they must strongly reject/defy such claims to reassert and restore their veiled view of themselves.

Post reply on HN