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Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

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Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#191

Post by Scoundreller »

tech234a wrote: post #120
eahm wrote: post #76

Wtf, simply not true: Brave: chrome://flags/#brave-extensions-manifest-v2 > brave://settings/extensions/v2 > Enable uBlock Origin (Brave-hosted, even better). Helium comes with uBlock Origin pre-installed. Edge even still has it https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/ublock-ori... And I'm sure others ...I personally only use/test Brave, Brave Origin, Helium and Firefox.

Edge will lose it within the next few months: https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2026/08/07/moving-the-mi...

RIP corporate users that can't install their own browsers but can install extensions

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#192

Post by flomo »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #43
avaer wrote: post #32

What's funny is that extensions were supposed to be a way to let you do the things the browser didn't want you to do. Guess that was a bit too much freedom for Google to accept, so they had to make a store with a gate, and destroy the APIs so that they're useless. Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that and ram it through the pipeline despite everyone's objections, and the frog got boiled. Now we're bac…

> Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that Hate to be the one to defend Google here, but the reasons weren't that unreasonable. I want my browser to prevent random extensions from directly reading web page data. The declarative API idea is pretty good. It's just that uBlock Origin is so insanely useful, important and trusted, it should get full access to the entire browser regardless. Honestly, it should…

> I want my browser to prevent random extensions from directly reading web page data. The declarative API idea is pretty good.

Agreed. And you would think most paranoid HN types would too.

> It's just that uBlock Origin is so insanely useful, important and trusted

Maybe I'm foggy on the history. But isn't this like Fork #4 or #5 of some previous AdBlock extension?

Seems like the only business model for this type of extension is "selling out" for certain ads. And then the cycle repeats and forum posters tell you to install qBlock Omega or whatever. Maybe Mozilla doesn't want to get in the middle of this?

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#193

Post by oblio »

epihelix wrote: post #125
swed420 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Firefox is also the only browser that vets uBlock's code on every update to make sure the developer hasn't inserted spyware or malware into the extension. They could save themselves the trouble if Firefox simply baked in its own ad-blocking, but since Google basically owns them, we all know that will never happen. Ladybird browser is going to be awesome.

That's like suggesting that someone using LLMs to assist coding, could save themselves the trouble by writing the code by hand. Yes, Firefox could do everything, but then it'd turn back into Mozilla. The whole point of the extensions framework is to allow modular extensibility. And it's much easier to vet for malware than to code afresh and maintain. What stuns me is that most people still use browsers that cannot bl…

> Yes, Firefox could do everything, but then it'd turn back into Mozilla.

It's been 20+ years, nobody cares about that anymore.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#194

Post by behringer »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #43
avaer wrote: post #32

What's funny is that extensions were supposed to be a way to let you do the things the browser didn't want you to do. Guess that was a bit too much freedom for Google to accept, so they had to make a store with a gate, and destroy the APIs so that they're useless. Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that and ram it through the pipeline despite everyone's objections, and the frog got boiled. Now we're bac…

> Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that Hate to be the one to defend Google here, but the reasons weren't that unreasonable. I want my browser to prevent random extensions from directly reading web page data. The declarative API idea is pretty good. It's just that uBlock Origin is so insanely useful, important and trusted, it should get full access to the entire browser regardless. Honestly, it should…

Of course the reasons weren't unreasonable, that's what made them great excuses for specifically blocking ublock origin.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#195

Post by tredre3 »

inigyou wrote: post #133
avaer wrote: post #32

What's funny is that extensions were supposed to be a way to let you do the things the browser didn't want you to do. Guess that was a bit too much freedom for Google to accept, so they had to make a store with a gate, and destroy the APIs so that they're useless. Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that and ram it through the pipeline despite everyone's objections, and the frog got boiled. Now we're bac…

Firefox extensions are already so incredibly locked down. It used to be they could edit any part of the UI anywhere. Now they each get a button at the end of the URL bar if they're lucky, otherwise it's some obscure hamburger menu item.

You have full control of whether or not their button is in your toolbar.

If they are hidden for you, it's because you, the user, hid them or enabled the overflow extension menu.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#196

Post by tredre3 »

jimrandomh wrote: post #105
ivraatiems wrote: post #69

For those who use uBlock Origin Lite, have you noticed any issues/deficiencies in what ads are blocked? I haven't.

I use Firefox with (non-lite) uBlock Origin, and occasionally fire up Chrome (with uBO Lite) for testing. The main issue that I run into is that uBO lite filters can't vary per-domain, so in order to rule out an ad-blocking-false-positive on something I'm developing, I have to turn it off for _all_ sites, not just localhost. (Actual false positives are rare, but needing to check is not so rare.)

That's not true, the on/off toggle is per-site in uBlock Origin Lite.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#197

Post by tredre3 »

rwz wrote: post #59
fragmede wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Peter Thiel gave them some money, there's some secret backdoor code that's sending all your information to Palantir?

It's quite likely that Brave itself collects data on your usage and shares at least some of it with Palantir. This isn't such an outrageous assumption to make here.

Telemetry can be disabled in Brave. Any kind of history/bookmark syncing is opt-in.

You're just spreading FUD unless you have evidence that Brave funnels usage data in secret.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#198

Post by Fnoord »

phyzome wrote: post #121
DavidPiper wrote: post #108

Remember when Firefox was the first browser to have "tabbed browsing"? Obviously UBO isn't a first party feature - but if only Firefox could generate as much traction about ad blocking as they did with tabs.

I'm fairly sure Opera introduced it first.

Yes, well, kind of. Opera had Multiple Document Interface (MDI) which was actually (back then) far more flexible than tabs. But yes, Opera was first with MDI, and also I suppose the first web browser for the smartphone.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#199

Post by what »

socalgal2 wrote: post #165
avaer wrote: post #32

What's funny is that extensions were supposed to be a way to let you do the things the browser didn't want you to do. Guess that was a bit too much freedom for Google to accept, so they had to make a store with a gate, and destroy the APIs so that they're useless. Then they had to make up some reasons to justify that and ram it through the pipeline despite everyone's objections, and the frog got boiled. Now we're bac…

> Google ... had to ... destroy the APIs so that they're useless. I see this repeated over and over and yet uBlock Origin Lite still seems to block almost all ads. I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer the non-lite version. But, given I basically still don't see ads it's kind of hard to argue Google destroyed the APIs so that they're useless

There’s also ad blockers for iOS safari, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t support ublock. There’s nothing in manifest v2 that’s required for ad blocking.

Re: Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin

#200

Post by flomo »

windowliker wrote: post #154

I often forget how browsing the web looks for most people. Can't understand why they put up with it, or do they just think that it's part and parcel of the internet to have every page look like a slot machine from hell?

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