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uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

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Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#381

Post by OJFord »

ehsankia wrote: post #338
Groxx wrote: post #259

> At browser launch, Firefox will wait for uBO to be up and ready before network requests are fired from already opened tab(s). > This is not the case with Chromium-based browsers, i.e. tracker/advertisement payloads may find their way into already opened tabs before uBO is up and ready in Chromium-based browsers, while these are properly filtered in Firefox. > Reliably blocking at browser launch is especially import…

Either I'm understanding it wrong or you're way overestimating this issue. Unless you close and open your browser between every single website you visit, this impact is probably negligible. Most people don't even close their browser windows ever between computer restarts.

And when you do restart, every single open tab will/might be able to load everything, unblocked and unfiltered, in the period between Chrome starting, and starting the extension.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#382

Post by Synaesthesia »

Scottn1 wrote: post #370

I've been a daily user and advocate of Firefox since Opera changed to using Chromium. But recently I've grown tired of their privacy hypocrisy and company decisions that I've uninstalled it and started to try out Edge/Brave/Vivaldi as my daily. It has pained me to do this as FF was my last safe haven away from Chromium. If you dig into some settings and follow tech news, I have begun to question some of Mozilla's con…

Yeah that's all true maybe but the other vendors are far worse AFAIK.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#383

Post by wojcikstefan »

prox wrote: post #367
lenova wrote: post #321

Slightly off-topic, but it was Firefox's Total Cookie Protection recently that finally got to me to switch from Chrome as my daily driver. Don't get me wrong, I miss Chrome as it just felt like a_smoother_ user experience, and I fear for Firefox replaying Opera's history given that the rest of the industry has standardized on Chromium... but I love how pro-privacy Firefox is.

I always have the opposite idea, Chrome is a total mess for me when it comes to UX. Probably just what you are used to first.

I disagree. I’ve been using Firefox as my primary browser for at least 3 years now and still, whenever I have to fire up Chrome for some reason, my first impression is “ahh, this is sadly still so much smoother.”

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#384

Post by lazyweb »

errantspark wrote: post #301
Sebb767 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd loose all that performance gain to ads anyway. I'm truly shocked how horrible the experience is whenever I see someone browsing the web without it.

It's absolutely wild, I have Chrome Canary installed w/o any addons because of some bleeding edge WebBluetooth stuff I'm working on and occasionally I'll forget which browser I'm using and visit a site with it. The web without adblock is basically unusable, it's legitimately completely insane that people will put up with it.

I've said it before, but the entire ad business is a cancer. Every minute of the modern human experience is exploited for maximizing profits. I've read an interview recently with an journalist / documentary film maker (forgot his name) where he was talking about "bullshit jobs" and for most people, their actual function is to consume. That's why ads are penetrating every last part of our private lives, greatly accelerated by modern consumer electronics. Want me to disable adblock to look at your side? Fuck you, I'll never visit again. Youtube video with forced ads at the beginning? Instantly closing it, never to visit again. All my devices have some kind of adblock mechanism, my "smartphone" is rooted, my "smart TV" will never have any internet connection, my browser will always be the one working best with adblock technologies.

Sorry for the rant.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#385

Post by int_19h »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #315
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I see the possible future differently. I am inclined to predict that the option to use ad blockers may come to an end because browsers and other software financed with online ad-derived revenue have full control over what extensions users are allowed to run. They have full control over that system for extending the functionality of their software. Whereas the system for supplying software with IP addresses sho…

It's ironic that the browser that presents the biggest red flag for removing user control of DNS is Firefox, with their push for DNS over HTTPS. It's true that you can turn it off (for now), but until Firefox baked DoH in, DNS was a sacrosanct user control switch mostly unimpeachable by corporate meddling.

So long as DoH servers are configurable, why is it a problem?

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#386

Post by int_19h »

mike_d wrote: post #374
skrowl wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that on iOS you have no browser options AT ALL. You get Safari or skinned Safari. Per the Apple app store rules, no one may publish a browser or javascript engine and any app that browses the web MUST use safari's webkit. This is by design so that web feels very bad on iOS compared to native apps, so you'll keep using native apps and Apple will get their 30% of whatever you buy in app.

> This is by design so that web feels very bad on iOS The reason is because the WebKit engine on iOS is heavily optimized for battery life and can make use of private APIs that further that goal. Safari and Chrome are essentially the same engine under the hood, the web wouldn't "feel" better if you had one over the other.

Why are these APIs private, then?

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#387

Post by krn »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #382
Scottn1 wrote: post #370

I've been a daily user and advocate of Firefox since Opera changed to using Chromium. But recently I've grown tired of their privacy hypocrisy and company decisions that I've uninstalled it and started to try out Edge/Brave/Vivaldi as my daily. It has pained me to do this as FF was my last safe haven away from Chromium. If you dig into some settings and follow tech news, I have begun to question some of Mozilla's con…

Yeah that's all true maybe but the other vendors are far worse AFAIK.

I have no issues with Brave after disabling all of their crypto stuff and widgets. It's safer, smoother, and much better at ad-blocking than bare Firefox. I don't care about CNAME-uncloaking by uBlock Origin, because that's already being taken care of by NextDNS at OS level.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#388

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

dorgo wrote: post #364
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I see the possible future differently. I am inclined to predict that the option to use ad blockers may come to an end because browsers and other software financed with online ad-derived revenue have full control over what extensions users are allowed to run. They have full control over that system for extending the functionality of their software. Whereas the system for supplying software with IP addresses sho…

If a browser bans ad-blockers and people start to fiddle with DNS, wouldn't it be easy for a browser to use it's own DNS system? If a browser turns hostile there is nothing you can do.

Yes. Golang actually encourages developers to use their own resolver in applications instead of the system one. Google itself uses its "Public DNS" cache addreses in software and hardware it distributes. Neither decision may have been made with the intent of thwarting DNS-based evasion of ad/tracking, however, the resulting consequences may well be the same.

"... there is nothing you can do."

I am typing this comment through a text-only browser. HTTP requests, with a bare minimum of HTTP headers, are being sent from a proxy I control, not the browser. Yet the comment looks no different than any other comment. It works. I have freedom to choose whatever software I want to make HTTP requests.

I try to avoid any software (not just browsers) that access the internet and bypasses the system DNS settings. The word "hostile" is a good choice of words I think to describe such programs.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#389

Post by hansel_der »

wojcikstefan wrote: post #383
prox wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always have the opposite idea, Chrome is a total mess for me when it comes to UX. Probably just what you are used to first.

I disagree. I’ve been using Firefox as my primary browser for at least 3 years now and still, whenever I have to fire up Chrome for some reason, my first impression is “ahh, this is sadly still so much smoother.”

i disagree. imo peak browser-ux was around 2005 with the original opera. pre-quantum firefox was ok-ish but already part of the decline.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#390

Post by antpls »

10000truths wrote: post #56
bassdropvroom wrote: post #52

> The Firefox version of uBO makes use of WebAssembly code for core filtering code paths. This is not the case with Chromium-based browsers because this would require an extra permission in the extension manifest which could cause friction when publishing the extension in the Chrome Web Store. Anyone know what this extra permission is and why requesting this extra permission would cause friction?

My guess is that it’s much harder to review WASM bytecode to make sure it doesn’t do anything sketchy.

The whole point of WASM bytecode is that it doesn't need to be reviewed. The worse it can do is "stealing" your CPU time, but WASM was specifically designed to safely run third-party programs in the browser
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