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Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

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Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#371

Post by dbbk »

jdiff wrote: post #369
dbbk wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad blockers work fine when upgraded to the new extension spec

They do not. They operate at a reduced level of functionality that does not match previous capabilities. uBlock Origin would never have a separate Lite version if that was not the case. Nobody would care about a new version of the WebExtensions manifest if that weren't the case.

It's a very different way of implementing ad blocking yes but it still works for 99% of the old use cases. Chrome "closing the door on ad blockers" is just blatantly not the case and over-exaggerating.

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#372

Post by onel »

whitepoplar wrote: post #18

A lot of people have been very vocal about this. I use uBlock Origin Lite and haven't noticed a difference between it and uBlock Origin. Am I missing something?

Just because it's working today doesn't mean it will work as well in the future. It's not about the small technical change with deprecating mv2, it's about the direction they are taking Chrome.

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#374

Post by dizhn »

entropie wrote: post #208
systems wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how are they obviously semi shady? whats shady about brave?

https://lobste.rs/s/iopw1d/what_s_up_with_lobste_rs_blocking...

Yuck! I'd heard of these but I am always like "it IS open source". But so is Mozilla. I actually did test a build of Ladybird. The sites I looked at (without login or anything) basically all work fine but they are VERY slow. This is understandable. Performance is not their priority right now. It is coming along fine though.

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#375

Post by maleldil »

cute_boi wrote: post #85
throwatdem12311 wrote: post #16

Firefox is the only sane option. It’s not perfect but it’s better than the alternatives. Chromium forks are at the mercy of Google doing everything they can to stop ad blocking. Firefox forks are often maintain by just “some dude”. If they decide they don’t want to maintain it anymore, it’s done. If everyone switches to a fork and then Firefox goes away because nobody is using the browser anymore, it’s done.

We can use helium. It works fine.

Chromium-based, so it's a non-starter. If you care about the open web, you shouldn't use anything related to Chromium.

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#376

Post by maleldil »

yaro330 wrote: post #316
vachina wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MV3 won't (and will not) block Youtube ads properly. There's the entire point of removing MV2.

You say that like MV2 version didn't need extensive workarounds to block YT ads.

MV2 makes those workarounds possible in the first place, which MV3 doesn't.

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#377

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

drdexebtjl wrote: post #293
Noaidi wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer an ad (and porn, gambling, social media) blocking host file myself.

A lot of sites serve their ads from the same domains as their actual content nowadays. So if you really don't want to ever see ads again, you need something at the application layer.

"A lot of sites serve their ads from the same domains as their actual content nowadays."

What are some examples

I observe the contrary among the sites submitted to HN

Without access to other subdomains and other domains plus a Javascript interpreter, the ads and tracking don't work

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#378

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #108
vovavili wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't see how any self-respecting Hacker could choose anything else Brave and Vivaldi strike me as being at least not worse.

I thought that brave was caught injecting affiliate links. That alone makes it worse than anything mozilla has done. Edit: https://old.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/1ebbeas/why_...

"Direct match" can be disabled

It's URL prefixing

Vivaldi claims they don't collect data from "Direct Match"

No way to verify this claim is true but that's beside the point. It's another web browser sending traffic to it's own servers

Vivaldi is Chromium-based

This week an "I'm quitting" blog post from a former Mozilla employee was on the HN front page. He more or less recommended Vivaldi, i.e., Chromium

The problem of advertising is not solved by choice of browser vendor where _all_ the vendors are trying to make money from ad services, partnerships with Google, affiliate marketing, cryptocurrency, etc.

"Not as bad as Chrome" is a pathetically low bar to meet

These browsers take longer to compile than an operating system. Absurd complexity and vulnerability

The Vivaldi default settings are just as bad as any other so-called "modern" browser, i.e., they have to be changed

It's a fool's errand to compare these browsers to each other. They have far more similarities than differences. They all suck

Re: Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers

#379

Post by jdiff »

dbbk wrote: post #371
jdiff wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do not. They operate at a reduced level of functionality that does not match previous capabilities. uBlock Origin would never have a separate Lite version if that was not the case. Nobody would care about a new version of the WebExtensions manifest if that weren't the case.

It's a very different way of implementing ad blocking yes but it still works for 99% of the old use cases. Chrome "closing the door on ad blockers" is just blatantly not the case and over-exaggerating.

Agreed that it's exaggeration. Adblockers are possible, they're just severely kneecapped. It will still remove most ads, but it opens the door for more ads that can't be blocked by the present means.

Ad providers and blockers have always been in an arms race, and this change halts one of the race participants in their tracks. That is something significant, especially for an ad company.

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