Live data from Hacker News

Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

webiterate.dev

361–370 of 648 posts

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#361
post #174

Ad blocking has become a safety issue. My parents are at an age where they fall for things. If a malicious ad pops up and offers to install McAfee, some other form of crapware, or outright scamware, they'll click that ad and install the thing. Then I'll get called over when the computer starts acting screwy. If Google, MS, etc. had ever gotten together and developed a way to filter malicious ads out of their own ad s…

>Ad blocking has become a safety issue. My parents are at an age where they fall for things. If a malicious ad pops up and offers to install McAfee, some other form of crapware, or outright scamware, they'll click that ad and install the thing. I've been using the internet since the 80s. This has always been the case. Even before graphical browsers.

Nonsense. Before the advent of those first “you’re the 1000th visitor” banners or relatively harmless “worms” spready by literal .exe files sent by email in the early 2000s… most of the internet could be trusted by default.

And at that point the blast radius was so hilariously small, some rando compromising your computer was a nuisance versus a threat to your financial wellbeing.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could argue that it’s all the centralization and monopolistic behavior which hinders tech development in the usa. So a breakup might have short term stutters but long term gains.

Tech development is hindered in the USA?

By monopolies, yes. Know what an acquihire is? Heard of a buyout leading to a shut down?

That hinders development.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#363

"No way to prevent this" say users of only browser where this regularly happens.

Mozilla has had their share of mass extension deprecation and breakage.

They moved over to a new extension platform for legitimate development reasons. I agree there was pain but it wasn't a self interested flexing of power to remove ad blocking extensions.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#364
post #115

How about Brave? Any thoughts?

Brave does what it says on the tin: It's another Blink based browser that is now rather mature and trouble free. It's supported by very responsive developers that provide a fully integrated ad blocking engine that is superior to every browser add-on/extension solution ever created.

That's it in a nut shell. Take a few minutes and go solve all your browser problems.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#365
post #174

Ad blocking has become a safety issue. My parents are at an age where they fall for things. If a malicious ad pops up and offers to install McAfee, some other form of crapware, or outright scamware, they'll click that ad and install the thing. Then I'll get called over when the computer starts acting screwy. If Google, MS, etc. had ever gotten together and developed a way to filter malicious ads out of their own ad s…

Evidently whenever money and safety are opposed, money wins every time. Ad blocking is existential for Google. If everyone blocks ads, Google stops existing. They will do everything they can to prevent it, without going so far they stop existing for regulatory reasons either.

It's not just Google, the Internet stops existing.

I know people have rosy eyes for a BBS/IRC comeback, but that will never happen.

By and large, people don't care about having to look at tide and Toyota ads to watch YouTube.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#366

I'm fairly happy with uBlock Origin Lite. Sure the original was better but this one does the job as well. uBlock Origin Lite is a MV3 extension, by the same author.

Yeah I don’t seem to feel any performance or functionality degradation myself. What ad blocking related feature has been made impossible with MV3?

Maybe or maybe not. But Youtube ads are now freely flowing through with MV3. That was the entire ruse.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They dont have the advantage of owning the OS (android/chrome and iOS / Safari) They don't need to. Chrome does extremely well on Windows without "owning the OS". > nor the advantage of advertising on the google home page like chrome Very few people go to that page anyway. > The "customers" they are courting are security/privacy zealots who constantly want them "just work on the browser" but never seem to have an a…

> They already get half a billion dollars a year from Google for very little in exchange. They just need to spend that money on the website browser and not nonsense. QFT. The biggest impediment to Firefox's success is the Mozilla Org, which sees it as a cash cow to fund a zillion projects no one wants (sacrificing the future of the browser everyone wants).

Quantum field theory? Quiet Firefox tremors? What is this QFT you speak of?

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#368
post #2

Switch to firefox

AND try to not use Google, Facebook, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Oracle and other similar products made by asshole companies.

Did you forget the biggest asshole, Mr Apple?

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The latter two potentially yes, as they can sell a product. Chrome - not so much: sell the browser, embed ads… nothing palatable.

A $1 a year payment (like in WhatsUp) from all the current Chrome users can easily cover all the reasonable browser development.

Bonus: they might not be able to fund the anti-user behavior like sunsetting MV2, all of the "anonymous audience tracking" that prevents any other advertiser from identifying you (but Google's scale still can), aggressively pushing 'sign in with Google', retracting their stance on blocking third party cookies, continually removing settings that drive user control, and more.

Re: Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was just less of everything than Chrome. First install experience for an average user was much better in terms of speed and snappiness. That was one of the keys to its success.

> It was just less of everything than Chrome. This is insane. As a power FF user, I don't think Chrome ever "got ahead". There were 2 reasons for its success (in order): 1. Made by a respected company that was killing everything in those days. 2. It was occasionally faster, and more stable. Feature-wise - it was always worse.

> 2. It was occasionally faster, and more stable.

That is ahead for the majority of people.

Post reply on HN