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Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

bugs.chromium.org

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Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#431

Post by 0xADEADBEE »

I assume people with much more data than me have ran the numbers and concluded this is a good move, but with the rise in people using ad-blockers [0], this seems myopic from the outside.

The GDPR situation and this week's 'fine' for Google certainly suggests that the current model of surreptitiously harvesting outrageous amounts of data from unsuspecting service-users is untenable (as well it should be), so I'll be fascinated to observe the next stages of the data collection vs privacy skirmish.

[0] - https://marketingland.com/survey-shows-us-ad-blocking-usage-...

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#432

Post by briandear »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #348
xythian wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but also less so every day. Google has already figured out that they should serve Youtube ads and content from the same servers to limit the ability of DNS based ad filtering. DNS filtering is a cat-and-mouse game that DNS filtering tools will eventually lose. Don't get me wrong, I love Pihole and have used it for a while, but I know that I'm on the losing side of this battle.

DNS filtering has been on the "losing side" for a few decades now. As long as more than 0.1% of people don't use it, it's not worth solving for most ad companies. Even if places like YouTube DO find ways to stuff ads into my face (likely at great technical and operational expense to them), I make it a point to NEVER EVER buy anything advertised, search for any of it, etc. Because they know so little about me (I go ou…

Maybe if you won’t ever convert, they should simply stop wasting time serving you anything? YouTube isn’t a charity.

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#433

Post by stonogo »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #393
needle0 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are hollow threats. If you really care, you all really ought to stop using Chrome now , regardless of whether they go through with this. Bitching on forums aren’t going to register on their metrics. Only actually stopping use will.

Counterpoint: "Hey, we released that new feature and lost 2% market share" sends a message.

And that message is "Oh well, it would cost too much to revert that feature. We'll just shove some more ads into the search product telling people to 'upgrade' to Chrome."

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#434

Post by Guest10928391 »

clouddrover wrote: post #386
Guest10928391 wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get issues almost daily with well respected sites not working in Firefox. Today I'm browsing the Adidas website, and the images don't load for any of the products in Firefox. https://www.adidas.com/us/ultraboost-all-terrain-ltd-shoes/B... Apparently they're WEBP images and my version of Firefox (version 64) doesn't support them, but searching online I read that the upcoming Firefox version 65 is suppose to fix that…

> Apparently they're WEBP images and my version of Firefox (version 64) doesn't support them I loaded the page with Firefox 65 beta and all the images worked for me. The site doesn't seem to be serving WebP images to Firefox. When I checked all the image types via Page Info they were mostly JPEGs with some PNGs and one SVG image. There's probably some other reason why the site is broken for you. Have you perhaps chan…

It's a pretty standard Firefox installation (I also tried disabling uBlock and resetting my privacy settings), and I just confirmed the user agent looks normal, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/60.0. I think it broke when I moved last week from one EU country to another. Why that would make a difference, I don't know, but Adidas is now serving me WEBP images in Firefox 64 regardless of my browser settings, whether I clear cookies, use a private window, or choose different regional versions of the website.

So, I'm left scratching my head and using Chrome to browse the site.

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#435

Post by WkndTriathlete »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #390
kllrnohj wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you should aim regulators at the advertising industry. Chrome has a responsibility not just to the end user but also to the website. The cost of the getting the web page's info was viewing the ads. Why should the browser help the user to commit virtual theft? Simply blanket dismissing ads as "tenuous position" is nonsense. Lots of people make a living via web ads. Google makes billions on ads. It's a real source…

Then you should aim regulators at the advertising industry Yes, yes, yes, and more yes. That's the cause that needs treating. Apologies if I wasn't clear, that's definitely where I think the regulation should be looking towards.

It's impossible to aim regulators at every single country on the planet.

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#436

Post by IggleSniggle »

rattray wrote: post #394
staticassertion wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you're responding to, but no. Until uMatrix actually breaks for me, I'm not switching to Firefox. Switching is a pain, and I don't like Firefox's UI/UX. I'd switch if they did this because I value the extension very highly, but I wouldn't be happy about it.

Why not Brave? It uses Chromium. UI/UX also isn't as nice as Chrome but it's closer.

The headline is “changes to Chromium,” on which Brave is built...

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#437

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

stonogo wrote: post #433
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: "Hey, we released that new feature and lost 2% market share" sends a message.

And that message is "Oh well, it would cost too much to revert that feature. We'll just shove some more ads into the search product telling people to 'upgrade' to Chrome."

Surely they'd do that regardless if market share dips?

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#438

Post by vSanjo »

dylan604 wrote: post #403
staticassertion wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you're responding to, but no. Until uMatrix actually breaks for me, I'm not switching to Firefox. Switching is a pain, and I don't like Firefox's UI/UX. I'd switch if they did this because I value the extension very highly, but I wouldn't be happy about it.

> and I don't like Firefox's UI/UX Maybe I'm not as critical about the UI, but I have both browsers open at the same time so I took a second to compare them. Both browsers have a row of tabs. Below that is a second row. The left most set of buttons is navigation (back, forward, refresh, etc), then the address bar, then on the very right of the row is a set of buttons for extensions, settings, etc. The remaining porti…

Your reply resounded with me a little. I agree with the person you replied to, I don't like the UI/UX.

I think it's the 'second level' of UI stuff - menu's behind buttons, settings pages, things like that. I think Chrome does a good job balancing 'advanced user' and 'basic user' stuff. Firefox feels a little too 'dumbed down' for me.

I'm honestly trying hard to put a fine point on it, but it a lot of it just feels 'off'. I'd love a very minimal-design, maximum function look into it.

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#439

Post by gruez »

pdimitar wrote: post #63
lern_too_spel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "system wide adblock" on iOS has the same restrictions as this new Chrome extension system. It does not support the extension API that uBlock Origin uses. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Ge...

Not versed in the technical details but 1Blocker X for iOS Safari has prevented practically 99.9% of all ads I used to see in an unmodded Android Chrome before. I've only seen 2 websites have some form of ads in the last 14 months.

>I've only seen 2 websites have some form of ads in the last 14 months.

It doesn't work on reddit, which makes up a lot of page visits for most people. Also, they can't defuse/bypass anti-adblock scripts.

Re: Google proposes changes to Chromium which would disable uBlock Origin

#440

Post by AlexCoventry »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #350
the-pigeon wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any reason to think the NSA doesn't have access to most of what US corporations have? Either legally through classified programs or illegally through various methods. It's been confirmed they've had lots of forms of access many times in the past. Seems naive to believe anything would be different today.

You raise a very good point, and I can't even start to guess at the answer or implications. I think any data the NSA has would be stringently guarded and only used for high-profile / high-impact cases. If the NSA was constantly feeding data to other agencies about trivialities, then it would raise red flags about where "all this incriminating evidence" came from. Cases involving StingRay interceptions have been dropp…

> I think any data the NSA has would be stringently guarded and only used for high-profile

Didn't Snowden attest in an interview to NSA officers using webcam intercepts to get their rocks off?

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