Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

blog.mozilla.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 272 posts

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#171

Post by jakejake »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #100
st3fan wrote: post #54

We just pushed the button on stage at the Mozilla All-hands. It should by live in most countries now. https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1055677337 Ask us anything you want to know about this product. Also, keep an eye on the Github repo. https://github.com/mozilla/focus We are still watching the Keynote but will flip the switch soon.

Wording makes it sound like you pushed a button and an app was on the app store globally in less than a week... Are you a magician?

When you submit your app you can opt for Apple to release it immediately upon approval, or wait for you to manually release it.

Mozilla likely submitted the app a couple of weeks ago and just hit the release button today.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#172

Post by scott_karana »

bad_user wrote: post #109
newscracker wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know the differences, but I haven't seen any popular ad-blockers that don't also block or allow blocking trackers because they all have various blacklists you can use (I'm referring to the ones like uBlock Origin and Adblock Plus).

Where can I find such blacklists for uBlock / AdBlock Plus meant for trackers? Is there a page documenting them somewhere? I'd be interested.

uBlock Origin, at least, offers many such lists in its third party filter's page[1]:

Basic tracking list by Disconnect‎ EasyPrivacy‎ (forums.lanik.us) Fanboy’s Enhanced Tracking List‎ (forums.lanik.us)

Anti-ThirdpartySocial (see warning inside list)‎ (forums.lanik.us) Fanboy’s Annoyance List‎ (forums.lanik.us) Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎ (forums.lanik.us)

Malvertising filter list by Disconnect‎ Malware Domain List‎ (malwaredomainlist.com) Malware domains‎ (www.malwaredomains.com) Malware domains (long-lived)‎ (www.malwaredomains.com) Malware filter list by Disconnect‎ Spam404‎ (www.spam404.com)

1 chrome://ublock0/content/dashboard.html#3p-filters.html

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#173

Post by 01Michael10 »

FussyZeus wrote: post #128
01Michael10 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? When is someone going to sue Apple? Why would anyone even create a browser on iOS with all the restrictions?

There are no legal breaches here. Apple's platform, Apple's rules. I have no idea. I don't create browsers for that and many other reasons. Any browser on iOS is still using Safari webkit underneath anyway so there isn't much point.

> There are no legal breaches here. Apple's platform, Apple's rules.

That hasn't been the case for Google...

> I have no idea. I don't create browsers for that and many other reasons. Any browser on iOS is still using Safari webkit underneath anyway so there isn't much point.

That is another ridiculous restriction...

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#175

Post by s73v3r »

newscracker wrote: post #73
callahad wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Focus is a tracking blocker, not an ad blocker. Mozilla doesn't have a fundamental problem with display advertising on the web, but we do have a problem with the privacy intrusions associated with invisible trackers.

> Focus is a tracking blocker, not an ad blocker. Mozilla doesn't have a fundamental problem with display advertising on the web, but we do have a problem with the privacy intrusions associated with invisible trackers. This comment is not directed at you, but is a more general take from your statement. With the state of the web we've had for quite sometime, I think the distinction between advertising on the web and p…

And how are sites going to earn revenue in order to stay up? We've already shown that no one is willing to pay for it.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#176

Post by JohnTHaller »

pdkp wrote: post #26
panglott wrote: post #2

"Currently, Focus by Firefox only works with Safari, not Firefox for iOS. This was not our choice—Apple has chosen to make content blocking unavailable to third party browsers on iOS. We are exploring how we can provide this feature on Firefox for iOS and will deliver it as soon as it’s possible." The main reason I went back to Safari after getting Firefox for iOS.

To be fair, I would be incredibly surprised if creating a built-in Android content blocker is something Google would even consider, let alone implement. It is disappointing that they aren't making that API public, but just having that be a core feature of their operating system is pretty huge. Hopefully they have plans to make it public or Firefox will just implement their own ad-blocker into IOS firefox.

Firefox for Android ships with their own browser engine and access to a vast extension library including AdBlock Plus and uBlock. Apple doesn't permit this on iOS which is why Firefox for iOS is using the Mobile Safari engine, doesn't support extensions, and doesn't support ad blocking.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#177

Post by CPLX »

If I may be permitted a n00b question, what are the advantages and disadvantages if any to having more than one content blocker enabled? When I installed this didn't have to disable Crystal, which I already had. Do they just sort of function in series?

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#178

Post by s73v3r »

srameshc wrote: post #29

Pardon me as I don't understand this blocking analytics or ads thing yet. Wouldn't a small web business which relies on Ad money be killed with this move ? Wouldn't someone who wants to provide content for ad money eventually have to pay Apple some cut for displaying ads on app. Wouldn't it drive the prices of ad as a result which would hurt small business who looks at internet advertising for their growth strategy ?

"Wouldn't a small web business which relies on Ad money be killed with this move ?"

Yup.

"Wouldn't someone who wants to provide content for ad money eventually have to pay Apple some cut for displaying ads on app."

Probably, if they last that long.

"Wouldn't it drive the prices of ad as a result which would hurt small business who looks at internet advertising for their growth strategy ?"

Probably. Keep in mind that most people here don't care about small businesses making money, unless it's raising VC funds.

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#179

Post by davidgerard »

mikeash wrote: post #76
st3fan wrote: post #54

We just pushed the button on stage at the Mozilla All-hands. It should by live in most countries now. https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1055677337 Ask us anything you want to know about this product. Also, keep an eye on the Github repo. https://github.com/mozilla/focus We are still watching the Keynote but will flip the switch soon.

What's the two-word summary of why I'd want to use this app over one of the other content blockers?

"credible nonprofit"

Re: Focus by Firefox, a Content Blocker for iOS

#180

Post by Rotten194 »

212d1d wrote: post #138
st3fan wrote: post #54

We just pushed the button on stage at the Mozilla All-hands. It should by live in most countries now. https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1055677337 Ask us anything you want to know about this product. Also, keep an eye on the Github repo. https://github.com/mozilla/focus We are still watching the Keynote but will flip the switch soon.

Just a curiosity I have found: why does no ad blocker, Focus included, block ads on 4chan (4chan-ads.org, IMC)?

Also, on a more technical level 4chan's ads aren't served from a well known ad host like Google, so they wouldn't be blocked by a typical blacklist without filtering URLs containing ad -- which some adblockers do, causing [all kinds of problems] [0].

[0]: https://medium.com/medium-eng/the-unluckiest-paragraphs-751d...

Post reply on HN