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Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

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Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#461

Post by usrbinbash »

memetomancer wrote: post #330
usrbinbash wrote: post #221

This is very simple, really: Any browser that implements this, I will not use. So any webpage that requires that API to be present, I will not be able to use. If your webpage requires this, I will not be a user of your website. It is really that simple.

Sounds great in theory but I'd suspect that you'd cave pretty soon after your bank adopts this (or whatever essential site/service you aren't considering is captured here).

> after your bank adopts this

There are a lot of banks, and jumping ships and reopening my account elsewhere is always a choice.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#462

Post by paulmd »

nequo wrote: post #411
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cash that comes from Google . The EFF might start an anti-trust lawsuit, but I don't see Mozilla doing anything of the sort.

Time to start donating to Mozilla.

Maybe if I donate to American Petroleum Institute I can help tilt their agenda in a more green direction.

Maybe if I donate to NRA-ILA I can tilt their agenda towards gun control.

you’re not going to tilt a think tank against its master, and the point of Mozilla is controlled opposition so google can point out they’re not quite a monopoly.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#463

Post by reportgunner »

liendolucas wrote: post #116

Do you know what puzzles me most? How can software engineers work on something like this? Don't those paid engineers or involved ones have the balls or dignity to walk away? I'm just wondering how they would feel about this (if they feel anything at all). I mean, if I'd be in such a position and asked to push something like this I'd have walked away on the spot, no matter what you offer me. No one at Google is standi…

> How can software engineers work on something like this?

Sweet sweet advertisement money.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#464

Post by linza »

notpushkin wrote: post #144
linza wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly (as in putting in multiple hours) trying to switch to Firefox every 4 to 5 months. I tried at least 4 times. I do the dance of migrating bookmarks, passwords, layout preferences, add-ons, workflows, setting up sync, installing on all Android and desktop devices ... and then i run into issues, try to fix some of them, research, then give up and go back to chrome and don't think about it anymore until anot…

Can you elaborate on the issues you're running into with Firefox? Hopefully we can help you sort these out!

I find that condescending but I'm sure you didn't mean it that way and had good intentions asking that.

The problems I experienced that can be fixed in Firefox itself probably already got fixed.

My (personal) problem with Firefox is that functionally it's not Chrome and doesn't look/feel like it. The claimed non-functional improvements (privacy, freedom, ...) DON'T make up for the difference for me personally.

If Firefox looked and felt more or less exactly like Chrome for the functional parts then I would not have any problem switching for good. It's not at the moment, so this is what stops me from adoption.

I don't propose to change anything (you did). I was merely stating why I'm not on Firefox yet as a data point.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#465

Post by tomjen3 »

phh wrote: post #115
Adverblessly wrote: post #32

It isn't just "make ad-blocking (near) impossible" as the current title of the submission suggests. It is: Make browsing the internet possible only on Chrome, Safari or Edge (with no modifications or extensions). No competition allowed in browsers. Make browsing the internet possible only on macOS, Windows, Android or iOS (no custom Android distributions, definitely no LineageOS or GrapheneOS or whatever). No competi…

Make browsing the internet possible only on CPUs allowed by Apple, Microsoft, Google. So no RISC-V just yet, and even when RISC-V will be supported by them: No competition allowed in CPU. Make browsing the internet possible only on SoCs allowed by Apple, Microsoft, Google. No competition allowed in SoC. [0] Make browsing the internet possible only on form factors approved by Apple, Microsoft, Google. So no calculator…

You don't need this is stop innovations in CPUs, any new CPU will be for non-computers or for servers - for the same reason that Linux is not yet king of the desktops, which is that people need their computers to run old software.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#466

Post by notpushkin »

linza wrote: post #464
notpushkin wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on the issues you're running into with Firefox? Hopefully we can help you sort these out!

I find that condescending but I'm sure you didn't mean it that way and had good intentions asking that. The problems I experienced that can be fixed in Firefox itself probably already got fixed. My (personal) problem with Firefox is that functionally it's not Chrome and doesn't look/feel like it. The claimed non-functional improvements (privacy, freedom, ...) DON'T make up for the difference for me personally. If Fir…

Absolutely not intended to sound condescending, sorry if that came across that way.

I see your point and it is absolutely within your right to stay on Chrome if you don't want to change. I've found it pretty much identical in terms of functionality and UX for the past decade though. Do you have any particular functional improvements in mind that you're missing in Firefox?

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#467

Post by minimoose »

korse wrote: post #420
mozball wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an example, Can you recommend a good tech/hacker video channel that is available somewhere else other than Youtube?

Not an answer but your question has me curious now. I'm not old but I've got a particular worldview that could use an update. Why video? Aside from entertainment or live collaboration, I've never found video compelling for productivity. Reliable machinery always has a shop manual, diagrams and prints. Programming languages have tomes of documentation, computing infrastructure has man pages and volumes of commentary,…

Unfortunately we live in a time where the majority of people are practicing illiteracy.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#468

Post by account42 »

tomjen3 wrote: post #465
phh wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make browsing the internet possible only on CPUs allowed by Apple, Microsoft, Google. So no RISC-V just yet, and even when RISC-V will be supported by them: No competition allowed in CPU. Make browsing the internet possible only on SoCs allowed by Apple, Microsoft, Google. No competition allowed in SoC. [0] Make browsing the internet possible only on form factors approved by Apple, Microsoft, Google. So no calculator…

You don't need this is stop innovations in CPUs, any new CPU will be for non-computers or for servers - for the same reason that Linux is not yet king of the desktops, which is that people need their computers to run old software.

Apple managed to switch to ARM without too much fuss.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#469

Post by taneq »

nfriedly wrote: post #417
taneq wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that the one that harangues you any time you load a page with non-GPL'd JavaScript on it? Because that was incredibly annoying.

Nope, I've never seen that. Iceraven is just Firefox for Android with more extensions enabled, about:config support, and a couple of other minor annoyances fixed.

Wait, the post says iceweasel but the link is iceraven, are they the same thing? This was on the default browser one of the times I tried LineageOS, this was back in 2019 or so. I could be misremembering the specific fork.

Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible

#470

Post by nfriedly »

taneq wrote: post #469
nfriedly wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I've never seen that. Iceraven is just Firefox for Android with more extensions enabled, about:config support, and a couple of other minor annoyances fixed.

Wait, the post says iceweasel but the link is iceraven, are they the same thing? This was on the default browser one of the times I tried LineageOS, this was back in 2019 or so. I could be misremembering the specific fork.

I found this about iceweasel, which inclines me to believe that you remembered it correctly, and the grandparent was just mistaken about the name:

> In August 2005,[11] the GNUzilla project adopted the GNU IceWeasel name for a rebranded distribution of Firefox that made no references to nonfree plugins.

> [...]

> The GNU LibreJS extension detects and blocks non-free non-trivial JavaScript.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_IceCat

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