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Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

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Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#91

Post by kinlan »

on_and_off wrote: post #72
archon810 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look at this https://twitter.com/ArtemR/status/1261159338170658816 and the surrounding discussion. This is basically the only person at Google who can make things happen if there's a problem with Chrome extensions.

If it works the same way as the play store does, the DA has little to do with that. A play store advocate can not look up why your app got rejected, they can at most ask their play store colleagues to look it up and to contact the app owner. It is this way to avoid getting in a situation where being friends with a DA is an huge advantage. Their job is to collect dev feedback, as well as evangelizing good practices. A…

As the lead of that Devrel team, this is pretty much spot on. The process for these things is out of our hands (prevents abuse etc). There is a lot of things we can improve about the Chrome Web Store processes, not to mention a lot of other areas across Chrome.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#92

Post by coolspot »

graham_paul wrote: post #77

As a Firefox fan, I really hope it happens again and again. It's good for the web as a whole when Chrome fails and Firefox doesn't. As a technical person, you should be advocating the use of (real, community owned) open source browsers not just whatever the majority uses. I feel that Google's monopoly on the browser market for desktops will be more and more endangered as they (for legitimate business reasons) refuse…

1) Chromium is open-source as well.

2) Like 90% of Mozilla revenue comes from contract with Google.

3) Not sure what community-owned means here, but one could submit useful patch to both Chromium and Mozilla teams and have it accepted into main codebase.

4) Decisions for both products are not made by a community, but by internal full-time employees who are subordinates of CEO. Mozilla CEO knows the company absolutely can’t lose that contract with Google.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#93

Post by rapind »

oefrha wrote: post #45
rapind wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The end result being a far less permissive extension. The permissions they required were insane but our entire focus is on Google's customer service. Now that we all agree that Google's process sucks, can we talk about how insane it is to even have this level or permissions available for request in the first place?

It’s not insane to have a *://*/* permission, since things like generic content blockers have to be able to modify any page (you definitely need to take great care when installing these extensions, which unfortunately most users aren’t equipped to assess, which is why extension security is such a headache and stringent review is welcome). On the other hand, this particular extension requesting this access just becaus…

I think it's better to implement content blocking outside of the browser (especially considering it's not in the interest of the most popular browser's backing company) and eliminate these types of permissions completely! I.e. Wireguard + DNS adblocker (or w/e you want to block). Not only does it perform better but you aren't leaking data to third-parties, who even if they are noble could be acquired by a less noble entity down the road.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#94

Post by 7ewis »

_fat_santa wrote: post #25

You know this wouldn't be so much of an issue if Chrome didn't disable the ability to install extensions outside of the web store. As an extension developer its absolutely infuriating to realize that: 1. There is no way to install extensions outside the web store 2. Google won't approve anything to the web store. 3. The vast majority of people use Chrome vs other browsers. ------ I get it, Chrome is Google's browser…

Funnily enough, I was actually trying to figure this out today.

I created a very basic Extension, to modify the new tab page (as it's something you can't set in G Suite the way we'd like it).

I wanted to deploy it our G Suite users, and saw there was an option to deploy via a URL. So I packaged it up in Chrome, put the .crx in an public S3 bucket and set it to force install.

Unfortunately it did nothing... is this not possible? Why is it even an option? Eventually ended up paying for a developer account and submitting it for approval (which was actually super fast).

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#95

Post by 7ewis »

On a positive note, I signed up to get a Chrome Developer account today - made a submission and it was approved within an hour.

Read it could take a month plus be delayed due to COVID-19. I was pleasantly surprised.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#96

Post by johncalvinyoung »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #85
graham_paul wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe just maybe, you will consider Firefox. 1. Same or better performance 2. Open source for real not just (pretending to be) Open Source 3. More transparent process 4. No business conflicts Support Firefox if you care about the open web

I use firefox as my primary browser, but I have recently ran into issues with several sites that I need to use. Whenever I contact support, they tell me their site requires Chrome. As it is, I have a Winblows box for gaming only that I put Chrome on, but one day, I am going to be remote and needing Chrome. I don't want google's tentacles on my work laptop, but am starting to worry that I have no choice...

Sadly, there's some uber-cool advanced web platform stuff that's only supported or only supported well on Chrome.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#97

Post by simcop2387 »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #89
driverdan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which sites? Name and shame. If you absolutely must use Chromium you can use Brave instead. It doesn't solve the extensions issue discussed here but at least it cuts out most of the Google garbage.

I don't remember them all, but coveredca is one. I thought Brave was yet another scammy project that was showing ads (albeit selectively)

I haven't tried it with that site, but I generally find that chromium + changed useragent usually gets passed most checks like that.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#98

Post by g4k »

driverdan wrote: post #88
wintermutestwin wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use firefox as my primary browser, but I have recently ran into issues with several sites that I need to use. Whenever I contact support, they tell me their site requires Chrome. As it is, I have a Winblows box for gaming only that I put Chrome on, but one day, I am going to be remote and needing Chrome. I don't want google's tentacles on my work laptop, but am starting to worry that I have no choice...

Which sites? Name and shame. If you absolutely must use Chromium you can use Brave instead. It doesn't solve the extensions issue discussed here but at least it cuts out most of the Google garbage.

The Shopify admin panel stopped working in Firefox a few weeks ago.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#99

Post by renewiltord »

7ewis wrote: post #94
_fat_santa wrote: post #25

You know this wouldn't be so much of an issue if Chrome didn't disable the ability to install extensions outside of the web store. As an extension developer its absolutely infuriating to realize that: 1. There is no way to install extensions outside the web store 2. Google won't approve anything to the web store. 3. The vast majority of people use Chrome vs other browsers. ------ I get it, Chrome is Google's browser…

Funnily enough, I was actually trying to figure this out today. I created a very basic Extension, to modify the new tab page (as it's something you can't set in G Suite the way we'd like it). I wanted to deploy it our G Suite users, and saw there was an option to deploy via a URL. So I packaged it up in Chrome, put the .crx in an public S3 bucket and set it to force install. Unfortunately it did nothing... is this no…

You can’t have your users “Load Unpacked...”? That always works for me.

Re: Our Chrome Extension Is Safe

#100

Post by razster »

graham_paul wrote: post #83
jakozaur wrote: post #75

The current internet giants got huge monopolistic like power that many dictators of many countries would envy. The set their rules, execute them, and judge them. I believe once you become a platform there should be an independent nano-courthouse where you can appeal. Today being rejected by Apple, Amazon, or Google platform is equivalent to the economical death penalty for many individuals. It should be possible to p…

Imagine being banned by ALL of them. You are cut out from a large chunk of the Internet. the only thing saving you from being unable to access common internet services are those that dared to defy that monopoly (DDG, Mozilla and all those nameless folks working nights and weekends on projects you don't even know that exist until you become an internet pariah)

Oh, my company has been there. Our DNS was blacklisted because someone spoofed our emails via GoDaddy. Well, Google blocked the DNS IP, and any emails we sent or tried to receive went into the ether. We also had #1 search results go missing because of it, a nightmare it was.

I've since resolved the issue, lord did that take a chunck of our traffic away. Government bodies also could not access us, which hurt a lot!

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