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

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

#501
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.

I'm looking forward to an AI product that filters all consumed Internet content to remove ads.

Now _that_ would be a killer feature.

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

#502
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…

The problem is, Microsoft and Google themselves are doing shady things. A full screen advertising for using OneDrive on Windows and a full screen random request to use Google App when doing a Google search on Safari comes to mind. Apple is no different, when I press my Bluetooth button, it opens Music on macOS. I’m sure we can find rather strange things going on Ubuntu too and bending the definitions a bit, there are…

They've all spent too long getting high on their own supply.

The longer a company is able to profits from something, the less they'll be able to see that it may even possibly be a net negative for society.

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

#503
post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this in the past. AT&T was broken up into the regional baby bells. Eventually, the baby bells started to get absorbed back into the monolith AT&T again. Nobody stopped it. I assume that the fact that few people use landlines and there are more than one provider of communication services where the AT&T voltron is no longer a monopoly. The point? Not really sure, but as much as I'm all for breaking up Alphab…

Trustbusting is like weeding your garden. It's just a chore that must be done periodically to counteract the natural tendency of markets to degenerate into monopolies. It's not something you do once and then never again, it's something that you have to do regularly, forever, if you want a functioning market.

Your "do regularly" got me thinking. There's only been 2 companies in the US to have been busted up, Standard Oil (1911) and ATT (1984). Microsoft (2000) got close but cut a deal. So yeah, we haven't been tending garden very well

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

#504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's so long ago I honestly can't see that being true. It used to be a funny home video hosting platform in those days. The quality of content you can get on youtube these days is incredible.

Okay, Google bought YouTube earlier than I remembered (2006). For some reason, I remembered the purchase being somewhere around 2009-2012. So, if I may change my opinion, early YouTube was better, despite being owned by Google. I feel like the platform has been atrocious in the last decade or more. Constant clickbait, a new NordVPN or Raid Shadow Legends ad every 15 minutes, politics being injected into every other v…

The LLM scripts has been a plague but I don't think that's Google pushing it, it's youtubers optimizing to create the most minutes of video as quickly as possible.

Paying for views is both why we have high quality content, and why the site is so gamed.

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

#505
post #7

I remember in 2010 when Chrome made the web so much better for everyone. All the early adopters were singing its praise and encouraging friends and family to use it. Now, I encourage people to use anything but Chrome. Firefox is really great these days.

No it didn’t? People(web devs) jumped to Chrome because Google advertised it heavily.

I never did because I remember internet explorer and lack of transparent PNG support.

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

#506
Funny how many people shit on Firefox in this thread. To some of us it was ALWAYS OBVIOUS this was going to happen. Google is an advertisement company, after all. “Chrome is better still except for the shit we’re getting rammed down our throats”

Firefox <3 open web <3 corporate demons </3

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

#507
post #115

How about Brave? Any thoughts?

It's been working great for me as the primary browser for a couple of years now.

Prior to that I was on Firefox (for the sake of browser engine diversity) but left as soon as they announced they were turning into an AI powered advertising company, and would use your data for training. However, I keep it around for cross-browser testing.

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

#508
post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google doesn't care about this. Try searching for a locksmith in your area on Google and the top results are all scans.

How would this scam work? Why would someone pose as a locksmith specifically?

They send out someone in an unmarked van who doesn't have a locksmith license (at least in CA these are a legal requirement and they are required to show it to you). When you ask to see it they tell you they keep it at the office for "safety". That was the extent of my personal experience.

I've read that if you let them work on your property, they will claim your bog-standard lock is unpickable, and charge you an exorbitant amount to drill it (destroying the lock) and replace it.

Almost everyone who calls a locksmith is in a hurry, dealing with something unfamiliar, so people are susceptible to this.

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

#509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had this happen to me personally on vacation - we were locked out of our rental car, asked a person at the nearby place to call a locksmith to get me back in, and they didn't quote price over the phone. When they got there, they popped the lock and then wanted $200, cash only so you couldn't chargeback, which I learned after the fact is completely outrageous for that service. They had a lot of fake Google review…

$200 for an emergency specialty service is shockingly...fair?

That's exactly what I would think if I were in trouble and hadn't done any research, but in fact it is not. When I needed a locksmith a few years ago, at night, it cost $70.

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

#510
post #115

How about Brave? Any thoughts?

I used to be interested in it but ever since they launched Brave Orion it has become clear they intend to actively monetize the free public versions they have been releasing, and the path they're taking with crypto and add-on bloat just feels ickier than most of its competition including Chrome.

> they launched Brave Orion

I think you mean Brave Origin. It's the minimal version without the extra services. Free on Linux and purchaseable on other platforms.

I think that's a fair compromise, since the company needs to somehow make money.

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