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Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

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Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#261

Post by necovek »

calmchaos wrote: post #187

Those rejection emails are most likely sent by an AI. If you reply back and ask them to specify exactly what is wrong, you'll get the same generic email back. Ask again, and they'll send the same generic response without any details or comments written by a human. They simply can't specify the problem at all. That's how you know you are talking with an AI, not a human. The correct way to respond to those rejection em…

I am pretty confident there is no AI involved, but just a regular deterministic code analysis tool that flags potential discrepancies between code and demanded permissions.

We usually simply call those bots (there can be AI bots too, but there seems to be no indication that this is one).

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#262

Post by gumby »

tracker1 wrote: post #230
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most important change you can make for your email is to own your own domain. Once you own your own domain, changing providers is much easier since it is transparent to the people that email you. Even if you decide to keep Gmail, you should switch your email to your own domain.

I know some will reject the idea.. but if Google is your domain registrar, they'll do email forwarding without an extra charge. I've started using @mydomain where the is the website/service I've registered for... doesn't help with my existing stack though.

You can just do forwarding. I’ve run my own mail service since the 80s, and when I need a google login to work with someone I just create it and forward my mail. When the project is over, just delete it. Easy-peasy.

Unless a client wants to use google docs I‘ve never found an account to add any value anyway. I don’t use google search much any more but when I do it works fine without cookies.

And I try chrome occasionally (it’s needed to use google docs) but it uses too many resources to use as any kind of default. It’s also harder to enforce privacy with it.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#264

Post by fwn »

input_sh wrote: post #159
fwn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the previous commenter, but on Android Mozilla is removing the ability to install extensions from third parties (think GitHub, etc.) and will trim the only left official extension store down to a few extensions. (I think it's below 20 right now.) An ecosystem where all extensions need to be channelled through one central power broker is pretty much the main requirement to allow them to do what Google is doing…

They've rebuilt their browser from scratch and are re-adding the APIs. It makes total sense to prioritize the most frequently used ones now and expand to the other ones later on. For me personally, Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin are already there. I don't think I need a third one at all.

You're not challenging anything of what I wrote.

You seem to be more confident on their reestablishment of the extension ecosystem but didn't explain how you arrived at that conclusion.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#265

Post by ekanes »

danpalmer wrote: post #53

As much as we can criticise Google's handling of this situation, the fact that the developer was able to reduce permissions from accessing data on _all websites_ down to _their website_, as well as tighten up a few other permissions, shows that Google is correct that the extension is asking for more than it needs. I hope the developer finds another load of permissions they can tighten up, resubmits, and is approved.…

Yes, it seems pretty bad that by default they were accessing user data everywhere. Gross.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#266

Post by londons_explore »

lostcolony wrote: post #212
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I actually think these sorts of strategies are clever. They're a way to protect normal users without outright barring power users from doing as they wish. macOS operates in a similar way. I really like how the difficulty increases depending on the task: • Want to allow one app through Gatekeeper? Instead of double-clicking the app icon directly, right click it and select "open". • Want to turn off Gatekeeper fo…

Except for those of us who are finding out about it only via a Hacker News comment. As happened with this user, who seems, you know, sufficiently a power user to need that info. Even a "if you know this site to be safe, please read this knowledge base article (link)" and buried in that, amidst all the reasons you shouldn't use untrusted certs, are the instructions.

If you keep up to date with commits on the chromium code repo, you'd see them change it from time to time. For a while it was 'youshallnotpass'.

You probably shouldn't be using an opensource project without at least a cursory glance at the code anyway, especially as a power user.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#267

Post by nucleardog »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #144
kadoban wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd stress the "get your own domain" part. This is a _requirement_, or you're going to be going through the same pain again in a few years. Also, make sure you take backups of your old emails every once in a while. Google Checkout should be able to provide those.

What’s the risk of losing your domain from a forgotten renewal?

You'd probably have to really work at it.

Most registrars are going to send you multiple emails leading up to the expiration, when it expires, and after it expires reminding you it expired. You'd have to miss a lot of emails.

And once it has expired, you have (depending on the TLD) over a month of grace period where it's not available for general registration where you can still renew it. You'd have to miss the fact that all of your services were offline for over a month.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#268

Post by AlphaWeaver »

blihp wrote: post #228
AlphaWeaver wrote: post #202

I'm also an extension developer, and Google has done this to me a few times too. We request permissions specifically for what we need, and our extension is unlisted and can only be installed from our website. Google is a bully, and they use their size and the threat of permanently removing access to your Google Account (and family photos) to terrorize small players without cause. How many people would Google need to…

Not going to happen. This is an issue people have been raising for at least the better part of a decade... don't expect anything to change now. A more productive approach would be to focus on web browsers that allow you to do what you need to and let Google fix what they need to encourage you back. I know, most extension developers will say 'we can't do that because it's where the users/customers/whoever are'. But as…

Are you making a good faith suggestion that it's possible to build a business around a browser extension and not support Google Chrome?

They have something like 70% market share dude...

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#269

Post by bvandewalle »

If you are an engineer those type of stories should make you rethink your usage of Google Chrome. Chrome having so many users empower them to implement those type of nonsensical policies.

As said in other comments it is trivially easy to switch to Firefox (or any other browser you feel that fits your needs better).

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#270

Post by ThrustVectoring »

throwawayext wrote: post #79

Different extension developer here. The Chrome Extension store ecosystem has become a nightmare for developers over the past year. Some items: - Extension review times have gone from 1 hour to a variable amount of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 weeks or longer (try to plan a release or spot fix an issue when you have no idea how long it will take for a deploy to reach users) - User reviews of extensions have been di…

> Extension review times have gone from 1 hour to a variable amount of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 weeks or longer (try to plan a release or spot fix an issue when you have no idea how long it will take for a deploy to reach users)

This is potentially a huge security issue, because the natural way to "fix" the problem is to download and run arbitrary code as an end-run around the review process.

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