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uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

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Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#511

Post by roca »

linknoid wrote: post #436
roca wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose that's true but it would be helpful for Mozilla if you filed a bug about it.

I think I figured out what it is. I turned off web assembly in Firefox to reduce my attack surface for general web browsing (I wish I could turn off Javascript completely, but that doesn't really work these days, so NoScript is as close as I can come). I think Netflix must be the only site I actually care about that won't work without WASM, so I'm fine relegating it to a separate browser with a higher exposed surface…

OK, good to know.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#512

Post by boring_twenties »

depressedpanda wrote: post #500
boring_twenties wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They sound scary, I found the explanation as to what they actually are on Mozilla's site to be rather lacking, and I don't see any need to have them -- I've had them disabled for at least a year, and everything works fine. The question becomes, why not disable them?

Service workers are used to cache a web app locally in order to make it load faster, and (if appropriate for the app) even run entirely offline. They also enable push notifications, though only after you explicitly allow them. You can read more about this under the umbrella term 'Progressive Web App' (PWA). I am not aware of any attack vectors specifically related to service workers -- it's just normal JavaScript, bu…

The impression I got was that it's JavaScript that can run even after I close the page, which sounds undesirable to me. I could be wrong about that, but like I said, I spent 5 or 10 minutes trying to understand Mozilla's page about it and ended up with more questions than answers.

Before I disabled them, I saw a ton of service workers registered from sites that I visited once and likely will never visit again, so even if there are no attack vectors, it seems like it's at the very least, "stuff that I don't need."

> cache a web app locally in order to make it load faster

Uh, isn't there already a browser cache for this?

> run entirely offline

No thanks.

> push notifications

No thanks. :)

Like I said I've had them disabled for a long time now and haven't had any issues, so at this point I'm not going to think about it again until and unless stuff I care about starts breaking.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#513

Post by sellyme »

yunohn wrote: post #454
sellyme wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you block all the ads on an ad-supported website, how will it survive? If the only thing that website provides of value is a billboard, it doesn't deserve to. I'm perfectly happy paying for high-quality ad-free services.

So why do you use any websites that have ads/tracking? Surely you could avoid them and stick to your high quality paid options? It’s annoying how self-righteous HN is about Ads.

> So why do you use any websites that have ads/tracking?

Because it's extremely easy to disable the ads.

> Surely you could avoid them and stick to your high quality paid options?

I don't want to avoid the websites, I want to avoid the ads. If that at some point necessitates avoiding the website then sure, but fortunately it doesn't at the moment.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#515

Post by pingec »

ehsankia wrote: post #491
OJFord wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have used Chrome for years with uBlock and I have not once since a single ad go through during launch. So realistically this "window" is most likely negligible, which make sense given how efficient and fast uBlock is. Maybe if you're running on a potato. On the other hand, I don't want random extensions, which could be misbehaving or poorly coded, to be able to indefinitely delay the browser's launch, even if it co…

Try on youtube, it loads ads on chrome startup that ublock usually blocks.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#516

Post by account42 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #297
chillfox wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the ad provider proxy the site instead of the ads. That way they get more control/data.

It's only a matter of time before someone develops a wasm browser engine that renders to canvas and provides "trusted" delivery of ad assets over a websocket.

That would be nice since you could just block canvas by default and only allow it for a few site that have legitimate use for it.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#517

Post by account42 »

toastal wrote: post #438
pharmakom wrote: post #73

I love Firefox and I use it on principle. I don’t think I have a worse web experience, although that wouldn’t stop me. What does break websites is turning on anti-tracking measures. The number of times a site won’t work till I enable third party cookies shows the sad state of the web. Developers, do you only test in Chrome on Windows with default settings or something?

I've hated my experience with resistFingerprinting enabled. I can't get dark themes, my clock and times are always wrong, you're locked to en-US, no WebGL, etc.; basically any feature that could make the web nicer and have content tailored for be is now weaponized for fingerprinting. I've recently switched off fingerprint resistance and moved to a script blocker as the sites I do trust do offer a nicer experience I'v…

> I can't get dark themes

I really hate that firefox sets prefers-color-scheme: light with resistFingerprinting [0] even if the site is implemented in such a way that the color scheme selection provides no information to the server (no JS, no external resources loaded dependent on the color scheme). Even using no-preference would have been better - then the site could at least choose to make a dark theme the default.

> you're locked to en-US

Ugh, this will only lead to even more websites ignoring the Accept-Language header and just guessing based on location derived from the IP address.

[0] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1540726

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#518

Post by account42 »

onenite wrote: post #442
favadi wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Upon install, FF installs a scheduled service that runs daily. From what I've found out, that service is sending back to Mozilla what your default browser is on YOUR PC (why is that their business). This scheduled service remains on your PC even after uninstalling Firefox and continues to run daily. This is shocking to me. More information, if anyone is not aware yet: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/toolkit…

Isn't default browser usage potentially useful statistical information? What's the worst that will likely happen if people have that data?

It being useful does not mean that Mozilla has any right to collect that information without informed consent. Leaving behind a telemetry service when uninstalling the software it came with is certainly scummy.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#519

Post by OJFord »

m463 wrote: post #245
OJFord wrote: post #191

Such a shame uMatrix was discontinued. uBlock Origin comes close, and surpasses in some ways (I used both for that reason) but lacks separate control of cookies, images, scripts, etc. So you can't accept a particular third party's images without also accepting its scripts, cookies, etc. I mention it mainly in the hope that we can popularise its maintained fork 'nuTensor'. After trying uBlock (as in attempting to also…

I too use umatrix, but someone said ubo had an advanced setting that was like umatrix, so I was thinking about switching. Is this true or not? wait, here it is: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=25920135

Yes, that's what I tried switching to using (from uMatrix + 'simple mode' uBO for cosmetic stuff only before).

It's just not as granular - you lose the 'type of thing to allow/block' dimension from the uMatrix matrix.

Re: uBlock Origin works best on Firefox

#520

Post by Jowsey »

wyuyva wrote: post #283
Nerada wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the same boat. My main objection to uBO is the cryptic UI. I have no idea what the two columns to the right of a domain are as there's no column headings, or the two nested buttons in each column, one of which is grey (where I'd assume there'd be green to counter the red?), or the "+"/"++" that sometimes appear over said buttons... Or the green bars that creep in from the far left over the domain names, at sta…

All your questions can be answered by reading over the documentation in the uBo github wiki.

Well-designed software shouldn't require the average user to read documentation to understand basic features
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