Google’s campaign against ad blockers across its services just got more aggressive. According to a report by PC World, the company has made some alterations to its extension support on Google Chrome.
Google Chrome recently changed its extension support from the Manifest V2 framework to the new Manifest V3 framework. The browser policy changes will impact one of the most popular adblockers (arguably), uBlock Origin.
The transition to the Manifest V3 framework means extensions like uBlock Origin can’t use remotely hosted code. According to Google, it “presents security risks by allowing unreviewed code to be executed in extensions.” The new policy changes will only allow an extension to execute JavaScript as part of its package.
Over 30 million Google Chrome users use uBlock Origin, but the tool will be automatically disabled soon via an update. Google will let users enable the feature via the settings for a limited period before it’s completely scrapped. From this point, users will be forced to switch to another browser or choose another ad blocker.
Not only intrusive ads, intrusive trackers too
Using the internet without an adblocker is genuinely dangerous. Everyone really should be using uBlock Origin. Using a web browser that prevents uBlock Origin puts you in danger
For sure
Friends don’t let friends run Chrome.
Switched to Firefox in 2023 and it’s wild how much shit just works now.
Totally agree. Many people who keep using Chrome have a VERY outdated view of what Firefox can do. That’s a shame, but it’s unfortunately an aspect of human nature that negative impressions are SUPER hard to change.
Couldn’t have said it better.
It’s not perfect but PiHole will still catch a lot of the ads if you have the know-how to set one up. Tis a relatively cheap and easy solution that has the benefit of being able to block ads network-wide, providing your router lets you set a custom DNS.
Second this, Pihole is great and protects every device on your network too - mobile phones, smart TVs, tablets, Nintendo Switches, etc.
It’s wild how much telemetry is baked into stuff that you can just cut the nuts off of.
Even if my Internet provider forced me to use their router I’d plug my own router in behind that one fuck that.
My provider, small one from my town, or the attendant just decided to give me the password. After months, I found out how to extract the configurations and used my old router instead.
Some isp’s have been detecting the second router and giving people shit for it.
But I’m with you on that, I don’t trust the isp’s backdoored router-modem. Hard pass.
Some isp’s have been detecting the second router and giving people shit for it.
Giving people shit how? This is the first time I hear something like this. In my case, my ISP does not allow bridging a router, so I NAT mine instead, and it works just fine.
Yeah, they can still tell that you’re Nat behind another router.
But they don’t like it because it gives them less access to your network and more possibility for something to be wrong
Don’t NAT. Just bump in the wire firewall plus local DNS server.
There’s always NAT. You get one IP address, your router/wifi shares the network using NAT
But ISPs aren’t looking for NAT, since everyone with wifi is using it
I’ve never had an isp complain about me using my own router in the US, is this just common in other countries or have I just been lucky?
It’s a rarity afaik, I’ve only heard of one or two cases, but a concerning report to me personally.
Though I’m Canadian so it’ll be a few years before it filters here (assuming it catches on)
How would they do that? Maybe by looking at ports? You could just lie and say you only have one device.
The moment they see their ONT is registering only 1 device (the router) it’s clear everything is being routed via that.
I have never not had a router natted behind my modem. They can see the amount of packets and data I use over the ISP, but that’s about it. On top of that my LANs and VLANs are all VPNd through NordVPN before anything hits the WAN and all DNS traffic goes though my Adguard Home and Quad9 as well, so there’s that.
Why do you trust NordVPN more than your ISP ? Is your ISP known to be especially bad ?
How do they know that it isn’t just a single device network?
Probably just MAC address lookups, but also possibly something weird like “ttl “ stats
The MAC address would match the out bound interface of the router
Don’t use Chrome. It has plenty of issues including backdoors by Google.
Even cheaper to just stop using chrome
Its worth noting however this can cause weird problems since its system wide and even network wide if you set it up that way.
As an example, my wifes Spotify podcasts didn’t work for months only for us to discover pihole was blocking the cdn Spotify uses.
Stop using chrome and move to Firefox, also stop using Windows and more to Linux.
Firefox is now owned by ads company. By default there are enabled telemetrics and moreover companies starts to ignore compability of their web services with browser which market share is lower than 2% even goverments stops considering that browser. Mozzila instead of optimization of their browser spend time introduceing features like AI. I was trying to like that browser but mozzila effectively does not allow me. Now btw. I use just vivaldi. I know this is not fully open source.
Which “ads company”? No offense, just curious.
Says Mozilla owns the ad company. Not sure where it says the ad company owns mozilla
So you use Chromium…
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Were Firefox to go bad, we would use a non-bad fork off Firefox. It’s open source.
They are not independent. It all soft fork. Everything depends on firefox. If firefox die all the forks will die with too.
Google is Mozilla’s dad so I’m not sure how long we will be able to use FF with v2.
Even a short-lived chance to cling to Fx is worth something. Hopefully they will team up with others to port the missing parts to v3.
Or the Mullvad browser, Mullvad’s fork of FF with zero ads with help from the Tor project.
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the big companies, technological or not, always do the same thing… they launch a good product, very cheap (or free). When they already have a big market, they start cutting back. In the case of food, they raise prices, cut products, slightly change the taste… In the case of technology, they raise prices, cut the product, eliminate features…
That a company like Google, dedicated to data, has its own browser and pays to include it as standard in cell phones, it is clear that it is not going to stand still when an addon for its browser blocks part of its business…In this case, very few will switch browsers. That means changing habits. Already did with Google Photos… . Tiene miles de millones de fotos y vídeos de menores, de fiestas, íntimas… Ofrece espacio gratuíto y después, le pagas por ello, porque tienes tu vida ahí… Or with Google Maps. It’s a great service, but it knows where you go, what for, your schedules… a brutal security problem…or with email… it reads everything. Because otherwise it will add you to the calendar when you take a flight without having opened the confirmation email…
I’ve never stopped using Firefox. Google pays it too, but it’s the only one that’s independent. And then there’s Waterfox, Librewolf, PaleMoon… Run away from Google… there are alternatives.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Are chromium derivatives like Brave affected?
Sadly yes. Almost all, if not all derivates are affected since they inherit the codebase from it. Unless they implement manual Manifest v2 patches + have their own extension store they manage
Vivaldi said they will keep V2 support. Not forever, but as long as they are able.
So for a little bit until people stop caring.
Firefox is the correct play here.
I’m not saying what’s “the correct play” or not, I’m refuting the claim all Chromium-based browsers are immediately affected, because I know of at least one that will keep V2 support.
But I will keep using Vivaldi. It will take me the same time to migrate to Firefox regardless if I do it today or a year from now when Vivaldi drops V2 support. I have nothing to gain by migrating sooner, but potentially much to gain by waiting.
- Vivaldi might decide to keep support indefinitely,
- Vivaldi might decide to update the built-in ad blocker to use UBlock Origin tech,
- Google might backtrack the decision (hah!),
- a whole different browser I want to try might come out in the meantime and I’d have to migrate twice,
- Firefox might die after losing Google funding due to the monopoly ruling.
- I will build a new PC in a year and it will be a good time for a software refresh,
- Or, the most likely, none of this will happen, and I will migrate to Firefox then, if that’s the best move at the time.
Not for everyone. For me it’s unusable since I rely on stuff ff never implemented (using bluetooth from a web page to configure some of my home appliances, grab api keys for them, stuff like that). Also I’m not too thrilled that it laks any kind of official PWA or Chromecast support. Not to mention they still have some ugly bugs when rendering some gradients.
And besides this, I used to love everything Mozilla did, but at one point I grew to hate how they left ff to stagnate which made me switch.
I still reconsider it from time to time, but I always get disappointed by how little things have changed and how much even more things seem to be missing/buggy since the last time.
So that basically means that Firefox and Safari are the only two unaffected, since it seems like everything else is Chromium these days. Yikes.
Yes, however Brave’s built-in ad blocker is not
all chromium browsers are affected, so if a chromium browser wants to support manifest v2, they have to manually maintain it separately from the main chromium build. whether individual companies will do so ofc is tbd. braves built in browser probably not affe ted
Brave is a series scam company.
And thus, this day will be remembered as the great browser migration.
Screw you Google. Enjoy your antitrust.
This is the perfect time to go aggressive on telling your friends to switch to Firefox
I’ve heard reasonably good reports about ublock origin lite (uBOL), the manifest V3 implementation. I haven’t made the jump yet, though.
This is the bargaining stage of the five stages of grief.
Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome.
Maybe. I’m on Firefox, but a lot of my family members are on Chrome and I’m not looking forward to the calls ;)
It may still block a relatively large part of the ads, but uBlock is not just about blocking ads. Large parts of it’s filterlists are about blocking data mining, shitty cookie prompts and similar things.
Come to firefox or even better librewolf dont let google ass fuck you.
It is never going to work the same. They are talking about dropping it entirely.
It has some deal breaking limitations:
- No filter list that can be updated, you have to update the whole extension to update filters. This adds delay as it has to go through Google verification process, they could even refuse some updates.
- Not every type of rules are available on MV3, so it has to drop some filters.
- No CNAME-uncloacking.
In their eyes they just made 30 million more customers.
Fucking parasites.
They made Firefox a good number of new customers.
I‘m really anxious for firefox as google is the main financier afaik.
For now. They could default to yahoo and make money. Maybe not as much, but they could sustain browser development.
Firefox is still far superior to chromium.
I agree. That could work. We‘ll see.
IIRC, only like 2% of Mozilla spending goes towards FF (I may be misinterpreting something, but I remember 2% being thrown around), so funding FF without rest of Mozilla bullshit shouldn’t be that hard. Of course, since Mozilla did spend so little on FF, it’s a question how much they actually care about FF and what would happen if they lost access to their golden goose. They shouldn’t have problem funding FF, but they probably have other bullshit they don’t want to let go and that has more priority for them.
A list of Mozilla’s “other bullshit”:
You are right, it was unfairly harsh wording, I apologize for that. Most of those products are super cool and important, I’ve kind of extrapolated it from what I’ve read in other posts about them spending too much on stuff like events and other, non-developemnt, related stuff that I actually never checked, while also not realizing that they also have a ton of other projects, which mixed with the dissapointment with the recent development about the Meta partnership led to me choosing that wording unfairly.
It is a worry. I think we might end up needing to pay for Firefox ourselves.
Not sure firefox will be on our side after the recent ad tracking debacle. If they implement one more anti consumer feature I‘m jumping ship.
Jump ship to what? Not like there’s s lot of choices out there. You could always try LibreWolf.
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I agree.
They plan a release for 2028. It’s going to be a while before it can be used for everyday browsing.
Plenty of Firefox forks out there.
That would be my first address, assuming the librewolf folks will never accept anti community code, hopefully.
If everything fails i‘m fine to join a small project and help with it. I have some skills and can contribute financially.
Librewolf is just a reskinned Firefox.
Purged of unwanted and intrusive features, UBO pre installed, and is pre configured for increased privacy.
Netscape Navigator and Opera raise their hand
Well, Opera is also based on Chromium.
Wait, Navigator still exists?
I will happily donate.
If, of course, money won’t go to the CEO.A CEO is a needed possition, I know in the past the Brendan Eich was controversial in his political views, but Laura Chambers seems ok so far
A CEO is a needed possition
Ha! Good one…
oh wait. You’re serious…
How is a ceo needed? They do no work. Their entire job is to rake in cash from workers.
All a ceo needs is a guillotine.
Ok, granted that the CEO concept is not the only way to lead a company.
But you do need a leader, someone who can make decisions for the company, someone to make everyday decisions that are not fun, but needed to make the company work.
We can absolutely argue about their compensation, but thst is another argument alltogether.
Right.
And a football team doesn’t need a quarterback.
🤦🏼♂️
Yes, many of them are assholes, doesn’t change the need for the leadership.
At least Brendan Eich was a developer, good on him for being Christian.
it is lol, have you seen how much the ceo is paying herself?
its kind of a reddit situaton, where money wouldnt be that much of an issue if it werent all for the ceo.
look up ladybird. we may soon have a 3rd browser!
using a novel engine based on web standards.
Now, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…
In 2026
That’s supoosed to be the preview release date on Linux and MacOS…
If they can stay funded I believe them
2026 isn’t soon.
Looks promising. Lets see where it goes. https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird
It’s hard to take a project seriously for championing our privacy if the only communication options are Discord & Microsoft Github
Feel free to offer hosting something else for them. Be the change you want to see.
There are free (both kinds) options to these problems if they can’t afford it—and that still isn’t an excuse to require all coms go thru US-based proprietary services with big privacy implications.
I am hopeful they will get some more corporate backing. We can donate all day but that is a drop in the bucket compared to a few million from some large companies
Firefox isn’t exactly “the good guys” either
I prefer flawed but trying guys to guys with zero morals that farm every ounce of data they can.
Firefox has telemetry too
And it can be turned off.
100% of it? Nope.
What are you stating cannot be turned off?
This sounds baseless without any evidence.
Between two evils, Firefox is the comparative good guy. There’s not a chance in hell I’m using anything based on Chromium, I’ve been using FF for close to two decades now and I’ve experienced very few dealbreaker issues.
I agree but isn’t the choice between “the terrible guys” and “the okayish guys”?
If you don’t know the good guys, then yes that’s your choice
So who are the good guys, mind you telling? As far as I’m aware, currently it’s a choice between Chromium based browsers and Firefox and its forks. So really just 2 options in the grand scheme of things.
Tell me you’re poor without telling me you’re poor
You expect good guys?
No
All 10 of us
You can get a pass till July 2025 by creating/setting a registry key that they made for businesses.
Paste this in a .reg file and double click it.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome] "ExtensionManifestV2Availability"=dword:00000002At this rate people should just cut the cord with google. Modifying reg files is almost as annoying as moving bookmarks over. Firefox + uBlock + pihole (if you’re feeling ambitious/want to block other crap that’s non-browser related) and you’re chillin.
Moving bookmarks takes about 10 seconds to do.
Yea that’s why say, just as annoying. Which I guess for the PC illiterate registry edits are more dangerous?
I personally moved off google about 2 years ago (started using start page as well) and haven’t looked back.
I have no idea what you are talking about but whatever.
you could instead just download firefox, which isnt perfect either but still a huge improvement over any chromium browser
Cat and mouse game, it’s better to DNS block ads.
Or, here me out, don’t use Chome
DNS blocker will be as useful or maybe even less than ubo lite. E.g. it just cannot block youtube ads like ubo does.
Also Google and removed both bypass your DNS blocker. They use their own DNS server and DoH protocol to resolve their ad servers. DoH is also hard to block because it uses port 443 with https.
The best bet right now is to use either a DNS or even better: packet filter level blocker such as zenarmor; together with ublock origin on firefox. Nothing else will not really block tracking in 2024.
Why does it need to run remotely hosted code though?
Because the ads constantly change across the websites. Adblocking is naturally a cat-and-mouse dynamic. However, the “remotely hosted code” Adblockers use is not exactly “code” (as in a JavaScript code, for example), it’s more a Regex code containing patterns for the different websites and different behaviors (for example, the pattern for the pesky HTML element containing the ad, or the pattern for some ad-serving domain). Google is extrapolating their meaning of “remotely hosted code” purposely, so they can “justify” their measures.
Fair. Pulling rules makes sense. Code wouldn’t. (I wouldn’t consider regex as code.)
Thanks for the details.
Moved to Firefox some months ago, it’s fine. Small adjustment but browsers generally offer high interchangeability
