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uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

chromewebstore.google.com

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Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#661
post #51

I hear so many people IRL complaining about this. I tell them to switch to firefox, that the adblockers still work there, and they still won't switch to it because they are "used to chrome". I really feel like google won this battle. People will through a lot of abuse just to maintain their habits.

In the end sighing and going "stupid Google" is a lot easier than changing even the smallest of habits.

People also seem to think switching over is some kind of involved process for some reason.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#663
post #51

I hear so many people IRL complaining about this. I tell them to switch to firefox, that the adblockers still work there, and they still won't switch to it because they are "used to chrome". I really feel like google won this battle. People will through a lot of abuse just to maintain their habits.

Debugging on Firefox has always been awkward with sourcemaps. The sourcemaps load late, so breakpointing is hard at load time.

While JS debugging seems to be a bit slower, I find their HTML/CSS debugging tools far superior to Chrome's. Neither browser engine is great for the whole package, but overall I really prefer Firefox when it comes to dev tools.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#664
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Nobody could have possibly seen it coming that Google would abuse its market position to their own benefit... Doesn't Safari have the same restriction, also ostensibly for "security/privacy" reasons? The only difference is that Apple doesn't have a web advertising presence, so you can't make the accusation that they're "abuse its market position to their own benefit".

People scratch their heads about how "just a default setting" can be worth an annual $20 billion payment from Google. It makes more sense if it's actually for a raft of wildly illegal under-the-table measures this. Imagine what it would cost Google's bottom line if Apple was truly user-focused and enabled ad-blocking on desktop, mobile and embedded safari views by default. Someone do the napkin math please!

It's a revenue share deal where Google pays Apple 36% of the search revenue they get from Safari users [1].

In other words, Google pays Apple ~$20B per year to be default search engine because they make ~$53B in revenue from those searches. This is profitable for both Apple and Google -- no "wildly illegal under-the-table measures" required.

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/14/apple-gets-36percent-of-goog...

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What blocker do you use? I don’t have these problems with AdGuard in Safari

I’ve used Wipr for a long time. And Wipr 2. Will checkout AdGuard.

1Blocker also gives me a good YouTube experience.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#666
post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari content blockers are awful compared to UBlock and I’m a Safari user. Not only does YouTube either get through or cause weird issues, YouTube now blocks you until you completely disable the extension. Content blockers often block cookie banners too which can often result in broken functionality - a nightmare when you’re trying to buy tickets to something and have to “reload without blockers” for the website to…

If I go to buy something, I switch off ad blocking on that page, at the very least, on the checkout page. Ads can even be actually relevant there. If the page is too ad-ridden to tolerate, I may consider to just close that page, and go search for other options. I use Firefox + uBlock Origin, because going to the wide commercial internet without some form of ad blocking is like going out without an umbrella when it's…

>I use Firefox + uBlock Origin

Wasn’t Mozilla accused of selling data they collected from Firefox users?

Correct me if I’m wrong.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#667
post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Not only does YouTube either get through or cause weird issues, YouTube now blocks you until you completely disable the extension Works fine on my machine. You might need to update your filter lists or try another content blocker app. >Content blockers often block cookie banners too which can often result in broken functionality - a nightmare when you’re trying to buy tickets to something and have to “reload without…

YouTube has been playing a cat and mouse game, disabling some accounts until disabled, randomly re-enabling them. I personally think it's so when people talk about issues like this - people say "Well, it's been ok on my end". But it's definitely some kind of A/B testing.

Oh absolutely. YouTube will 100% try new ad blocking technology for only a specific strata.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#668
This is the death of the hacker. We have allowed new heights of power and unchecked control decide they know better than us. We are no longer allowed or trusted to make choices in our best interests. Many practice apologetics for why this is necessary, pointing to Apple and Mozilla, as if that doesn’t make this change any less devastating. It was a great run.

The silver lining is it can be the birth of a new generation of hackers. This generation’s version of the printer inspiring those who refuse to accept the hostile hand they’ve been dealt. Tech doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to accept these changes. Rebel! Start hacking away. Don’t join these companies. Found new ones that prioritize valuing users first forever. It’s a difficult task. But all difficult tasks we’ve solved were.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about you being able to do whatever you want on your machine. It's extension authors being able to. Malicious Chrome extensions are a huge problem.

On the off chance that Google is truly benevolent and was just worried about users' security, then they could have easily hidden the required network-reading functionality behind a flag or "developer mode", or only allowed it for a small set of manually-audited extensions like uBlock Origin. The fact that they provided absolutely none of these alternatives isn't a coincidence. Google is a for-profit company with 300+…

If they really were concerned about user security, they'd do a better job blocking scammy & misleading ads instead. uBO basically _saves_ users from installing dubious Chrome extensions and other malware only because they show up as ads or other annoyances.

Re: uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store

#670
post #668

This is the death of the hacker. We have allowed new heights of power and unchecked control decide they know better than us. We are no longer allowed or trusted to make choices in our best interests. Many practice apologetics for why this is necessary, pointing to Apple and Mozilla, as if that doesn’t make this change any less devastating. It was a great run. The silver lining is it can be the birth of a new generati…

> Many practice apologetics for why this is necessary

Sadly, on HN, of all places...

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