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Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

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Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#611

Post by qalmakka »

icefo wrote: post #585
petjuh wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Chrome the same day the beta was released mostly because of the speed. Nowadays I stay because I keep my passwords synced over my Google Account and I'm not sure if Firefox works with that.

Firefox has its own service to do that and it works well. I don't know if you can migrate your passwords easily though.

Did that years ago when I switched back when Quantum came back; Firefox still has the good old venerable "import passwords from another browser" functionality. You just need to have your passwords sync'd to a local install of Chrome and Firefox can read them all and sync them with FF Sync (which does not force you to use Mozilla servers, btw; you may host your own server for max privacy).

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#612

Post by andrewaylett »

Myrmornis wrote: post #556
qzio wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried firefox's container extension? A more light weight, but easy to use separation of "profiles"

No, this suggestion is wrong. I looked into using FF containers as a chrome profiles replacement and they’re not the same thing at all. I can dig up my notes if you like, I think they’re posted on HN in fact. FF has true profiles and those are what you’d use. I agree with GP. Chrome profiles are what’s stopped me switching to FF.

It does depend on exactly why you want profiles -- for my use cases, Multi-Account Containers (and Temporary Containers) do a much better job of helping me achieve what I want to do than either browser's implementation of profiles.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#613

Post by rusk »

user17843 wrote: post #53
phiresky wrote: post #39

From the author of uBlock on this: What we see are the public statements, for public consumption, they are designed to "sell" the changes to the wider public. What we do not see is what is being said in private meetings by officers who get to decide how to optimize the business. So we have to judge not by what is said for public consumption purpose, but by what in effect is being done, or what they plan to do. This i…

Indeed, almost the entire ad-blocking market is controlled by the company behind Adblock Plus (eyeo GmbH), who has contracts with Google. It appears they also own AdBlock, and uBlock (not confused with uBO), so during the last years they basically tried to capture the entire market. The fact that Eyeo has >150 employees tells us something about the amount of money to be made from ad blocking. Although they have only…

Just want to emphasise this point:

> I recently had a look at another system of someone who uses ABP I noticed that the blocking really is only visual, theres still a profile that is being sold to data brokers

It's quite shocking, anti-intuitive, and really shows what the web advertising business is really all about.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#615

Post by bprasanna »

Now they are at the position where they can make the users dance to their tune. Im quite not sure if any decision makers at Google have a glance at HN on whats the reflection on their decisions. They just know that users are hooked to their platform all around (Search, Android, Chrome, Maps, GPay, GMail, etc.,) and they can decide where to be a dictator and where to be a humble servant. In the end, all they care is how much data can they harvest & how to use that data to be more relevant for their service offerings (advertisement). Monopoly at the best level! Also, when Google gives a statement/blog post on their decision, it becomes a news for media & HN. But, the reverse doesn't happen; whats the reaction across different blogs/media/HN doesn't get much visibility.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#616

Post by tomjen3 »

roca wrote: post #474
amelius wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Only works in Chrome,” is poor engineering for anything more than a prototype or proof of concept. Can't we, developers, do the opposite? Like introduce a small annoyance, like showing a pop-up, when visitors use Chrome? It could say something like "today is free web day, upgrade your browser to Firefox or any other libre browser"

What you, as Web developers, can do, is use Firefox while developing your site to ensure it really works well on non-Chromium browsers. And do your level best to encourage your developer friends to do the same. If they're on Mac and would rather use Safari, that'll do too. Then, every time you see any site or any Web developer satisfied with "works in Chrome", do what you can to let them know that's not acceptable. I…

A decent idea of course, but you are going to run in to the same issue as everybody else who tries that: unless Firefox has a significant market share, it is just not worth throwing resources after it.

What you can do is develop automatic filters to make chrome specific CSS prefixes general, etc. Those are probably worth using since a few hours/days of engineering time easily is worth the larger market share.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#617

Post by eternalban »

nerdponx wrote: post #581
ljm wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why it’s so unfortunate and frustrating that people are depending so much on Chromium/Blink. Electron, various browsers that are just skins over the embedded framework... We were still dealing with legacy IE6 (and IE 7/8 by that point also) in 2013! Almost a decade since we got Firefox and the first version of Chrome. The web has empirically suffered through homogeneity and the lack of strong competitors in t…

Why do people act like this is all some great big accident, the result of eternal human fallibility? It's not. This was planned. It was the objective all along. Why else do you think Google Maps is free? Gmail? Why did they drive around 1,000s of cities with cameras on a car taking photos for Street View? Was it really just to become the world's most comprehensive search engine? Hell no, it was to get people into the…

Regarding those "why"s: both of these companies are in my opinion outsourced Total Information Awareness projects.

This is not "surveillance capitalism". It is surveillance in guise of capitalism.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#618

Post by hkai »

bprasanna wrote: post #615

Now they are at the position where they can make the users dance to their tune. Im quite not sure if any decision makers at Google have a glance at HN on whats the reflection on their decisions. They just know that users are hooked to their platform all around (Search, Android, Chrome, Maps, GPay, GMail, etc.,) and they can decide where to be a dictator and where to be a humble servant. In the end, all they care is h…

You have just described business. A for-profit corporation is explicitly required, by its fiduciary duty to shareholders, to do what you are describing.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#619

Post by andygates »

bprasanna wrote: post #615

Now they are at the position where they can make the users dance to their tune. Im quite not sure if any decision makers at Google have a glance at HN on whats the reflection on their decisions. They just know that users are hooked to their platform all around (Search, Android, Chrome, Maps, GPay, GMail, etc.,) and they can decide where to be a dictator and where to be a humble servant. In the end, all they care is h…

I mean, no. It's easy to swap browsers and ad-infested pages are broken pages.

Re: Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users

#620

Post by heinrich5991 »

Myrmornis wrote: post #558
feanaro wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what would you say was the thing that still kept you on Chrome even though all of the things you said apply? Inertia due to habit?

profiles

You can try Firefox containers. They even work within the same window.
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