I keep reminding myself to uninstall Chrome from my phone and desktop.
Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
171–180 of 486 posts
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#172I hate to say it, but if you used Chrome to read this, then you're part of the problem. Awful stuff like this wouldn't stand a chance if Google didn't have such a near-monopoly position. For the sake of the open internet, please switch to a different browser. IMO, Firefox is best*, but even something chromium based is probably fine. Just not Google Chrome. * On desktop - Firefox is a bit weaker on Android, with an ex…
Even if you don't care about all that, Firefox is the faster browser. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36770883
Chrome feels faster though. I just switched back to it after using Firefox for the last year. Chrome on my work computer felt snappier than Firefox on my comparable spec personal machine.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#173I hate to say it, but if you used Chrome to read this, then you're part of the problem. Awful stuff like this wouldn't stand a chance if Google didn't have such a near-monopoly position. For the sake of the open internet, please switch to a different browser. IMO, Firefox is best*, but even something chromium based is probably fine. Just not Google Chrome. * On desktop - Firefox is a bit weaker on Android, with an ex…
100% agree.
I switched to Chrome pretty much the day it first came out and it was revolutionary. Switched back to Firefox a few years ago due to Chrome becoming too dominant and Google throwing their weight around in standards committees too much. When I desperately need Chromium for something I use Edge (which I actually rather like).
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
That won't happen. "Normies" don't care. At all. They just want the fastest thing and are happy to watch ads popping up all 5 minutes all day.
Normies used to use IE. Then their techier friends asked them if they have used FF or Chrome and they moved on. Don’t underestimate the impact of local experts on the choices of people who don’t care/have time to explore.
Because both were a lot faster than IE. Nowdays almost everyone uses Chrome, Safari or Edge. Because Firefox is rather slow given the current competitors, not because the others care more about privacy (Also because that's just what their devices come with)
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#175I hate to say it, but if you used Chrome to read this, then you're part of the problem. Awful stuff like this wouldn't stand a chance if Google didn't have such a near-monopoly position. For the sake of the open internet, please switch to a different browser. IMO, Firefox is best*, but even something chromium based is probably fine. Just not Google Chrome. * On desktop - Firefox is a bit weaker on Android, with an ex…
I agree, I use Firefox everywhere. But we must not forget the following: In 2011 Mozilla income was 85% derrived from Google, through the primary search engine deal. Around a billion was paid over three years as part of this deal at some point. Appearantly there was bidding by Microsoft for making Bing the default, which pushed up the pricing. So every time Mozilla speaks out against Google, it is a bit awkward, sinc…
Chromium is open source. Is Chrome completely open source?
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#176Do you know what puzzles me most? How can software engineers work on something like this? Don't those paid engineers or involved ones have the balls or dignity to walk away? I'm just wondering how they would feel about this (if they feel anything at all). I mean, if I'd be in such a position and asked to push something like this I'd have walked away on the spot, no matter what you offer me. No one at Google is standi…
Tell me you don't have a mortgage and kids without telling me
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#177How does this prevent ad-blocking? If website you visits asks you to confirm that you are a human user from some 3rd party API isn't that same as requiring captcha? You can still have browser extensions that filter the ads away after the website sends you the final HTML, right?
The point of attestation is to verify the integrity of your execution environment. With a "compromised" execution environment, access to websites could be blocked. Presumably, the attestation process would send a fingerprint of your browser configuration to the attester, who would then be able to see whether you're using "compromised plugins," and deny you access by not attesting your browser.
There might be ways to filter away the ads after they've been served, such as memory manipulation, but the problem can't be solved with a plugin anymore, as browser attestion could let websites deny you access altogether if you use a plugin they don't like.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both should be blamed. A proposal like this would make me not want to hire Ben Wiser, Borbala Benko, Philipp Pfeiffenberger, or Sergey Kataev, ever. There are projects one of integrity should simply refuse to work on, if they make the world a worse place. With Google on a resume, it's not exactly hard to find jobs. People who agree to work on projects like these are defective human beings.
I might actually start a blacklist over this. We are looking at aggressively hiring and I don't think I want anyone who has ever served time at Google on my staff anymore.
If you're serious, that feels overly broad. I know a lot of very good Googlers. Organizations are a bit of an abstraction in how we organize people.
A blacklist seems like a fine idea here, but it's important it be specific enough to pick out just the bad actors.
The way I manage my life, I want to make sure the work I do makes the world a better place. For the past many years, virtually everything I've done has been aligned with advancing humanity (education, medical, etc.), and has been open-source. I'm fortunate enough to be somewhat well-known for a former project, so I've always been able to find jobs like that. My values state that:
- If that meant working at a good subdivision in an evil organization, I'd do that.
- If it meant doing evil work for a good organization, I wouldn't.
- Heck, if it meant helping reform an evil, powerful organization to be good, that seems like worthwhile work too.
I haven't been in a position to need to manage those conflicts, mind you, but that's how I'd play them according to my ethical compass, if they came up.
I'll also mention: It's also important to be aware of people's situations and more complex trade-offs. Consider a person who does scammy sales pitch telemarketing calling during dinner to sell you on snake oil medicines. Now, consider that they make minimum wage, it's the only job in their town, and they have a five-year-old they need to feed. I'm in no position to judge.
I am in position to judge Ben, Borbala, Phillip, and Sergey.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I use Firefox everywhere. But we must not forget the following: In 2011 Mozilla income was 85% derrived from Google, through the primary search engine deal. Around a billion was paid over three years as part of this deal at some point. Appearantly there was bidding by Microsoft for making Bing the default, which pushed up the pricing. So every time Mozilla speaks out against Google, it is a bit awkward, sinc…
Chromium is open source. Is Chrome completely open source?
Almost all in Chromium is open-source, there are some missing pieces though.
For example, the per-device configuration (GPU acceleration enabled or not, etc) is not there, the statistics collection infrastructure, the WebAPK minting code is not there, etc.
Re: Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
#180I did my part, my website shows "Not available on Chrome, Use a more modern and open browser instead... and some explainer text"
if most of us Devs do this, this change would have no chance.
What would be even nicer is If someone can build a JS file that the rest of us could include to show a hard blocking pop up just to show how the future web might look like, supported with a nice explanation and link to good videos, that would be nice too.