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Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

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Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#91

Post by jacquesm »

blibble wrote: post #83
jacquesm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who wants to be that 'for your safety and convenience' will be part of the press release?

manifest v3: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/intro/ > Manifest V3 is part of a shift in the philosophy behind how we approach end-user security and privacy. it requrires you to declaratively specify what to block in advance, so it's going to be pretty easy to write some logic that can't be declaratively specified I suspect killing the adblockers is the entire reason behind it

Every time google pulls a trick like this they are inviting regulatory intervention.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#93

Post by nottorp »

hocuspocus wrote: post #36
esrauch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason people are resorting to vpn for adblocking is because Android Chrome and the OS otherwise doesn't allow for ad blocking any other way through...

Android and Chrome OS support DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS. DNS based adblocking is obviously not perfect, but good enough in practice.

In-browser ad blocking is the perfect solution, they just need to allow it and make money through honest means. Both Google and Apple.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#94

Post by wTj8yqRLkg7Dfsp »

ignoramous wrote: post #61

I co-develop a FOSS VPN-based (tcp/udp) firewall for Android. The original policy is documented here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220818100735/https://support.g... What the post misses is Google has exceptions for: - Parental control and enterprise management apps. - App usage tracking. - Device security apps (for example, anti-virus, mobile device management, firewall). - Network related tools (for example, remote…

> Ads that appear ... during the beginning of a content segment are not allowed.

> Here are some examples of common violations: Unexpected ads that appear ... during the beginning of a content segment (for example, after a user has clicked on a button, and before the action intended by the button click has taken effect). These ads are unexpected for users, as users expect to ... engage in content instead.

??? isn't this like... incredibly and blatantly anti-competitive considering that their own app (Youtube), which they still offer on said store, does this?

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#95

Post by pineconewarrior »

blibble wrote: post #83
jacquesm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who wants to be that 'for your safety and convenience' will be part of the press release?

manifest v3: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/intro/ > Manifest V3 is part of a shift in the philosophy behind how we approach end-user security and privacy. it requrires you to declaratively specify what to block in advance, so it's going to be pretty easy to write some logic that can't be declaratively specified I suspect killing the adblockers is the entire reason behind it

glad firefox is allowing and end-run around this

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#96

Post by hkc »

red_trumpet wrote: post #27

Going on a tangent, how is the adblocking story on iOS? As there is not Firefox+uBlock available, is it possible to block ads via VPN or DNS?

I use Adguard for Safari Content blocking + NextDNS. Adguard has launched its own DNS based blocker too which I am yet to test.

Link: https://adguard-dns.io

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#97

Post by rapnie »

inglor wrote: post #46
Larrikin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The experience is so awful when I browse on my iPad, instead of my Android phone with Firefox+UBlock. I really don't understand how most people can stand to browse with all the ads. The modern web is so much worse than the pop up ads of the old web.

What's wrong with Firefox Focus as a Safari content blocker? I barely see ads on my iPhone and websites breaking because I have an ad blocker is more common than seeing ads.

I use Firefox Focus mostly to watch YouTube vids on my iOS tablet, and it is one big ad-infested experience. Just learned I should look at AdGuard and hope that will bring improvement.

Update: On first impression that does not seem to have worked.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#98

Post by quitit »

bloopernova wrote: post #5

Firefox for Android with ublock origin makes my mobile web browsing sane again. Highly recommended.

It's incredible how fast websites load with this combination.

I recall reading that despite the internet being faster, actual website performance has never really improved meaningfully. Whatever speed gains we've achieved have simply been eaten by larger and more complex tracking scripts.

Google themselves are a significant contributor to this problem, for many websites, Google's scripts are the core source of slowness.

I don't think it's unreasonable for users to want to reclaim their browsing experience (and bandwidth). In the sample comparison below we can see savings as high as 90% of data and speed boosts of ~1500% - it's insanity.

https://twitter.com/fr3ino/status/1000166112615714816

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#99

Post by veeti »

thro388 wrote: post #53
ojagodzinski wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so using the same logic we should ban all car traffic because someone was raped in a taxi?

No, this is more like taxi drivers complaining about extra regulations, put on place, bcos someone got raped in taxi.

The "extra regulation" being their entire livelihood taken away.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#100

Post by kekebo »

Larrikin wrote: post #18
bloopernova wrote: post #5

Firefox for Android with ublock origin makes my mobile web browsing sane again. Highly recommended.

The experience is so awful when I browse on my iPad, instead of my Android phone with Firefox+UBlock. I really don't understand how most people can stand to browse with all the ads. The modern web is so much worse than the pop up ads of the old web.

I can also recommend Adguard (mentioned in sibling comments), but also for everyone using Mullvad, their iOS client offers ad/tracker/malware blocking as well (via vpn/dns).
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