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.
If it keeps going on like this, it won’t be long before I’ll just say fuck it and switch to elinks…
Hmm, on that note - is there any CLI web browser that can do javascript and css? Because iirc, elinks doesn’t, though I havent used it in years.
browsh does, but uses FF as backend renderer
The sooner you abandon javascript and css, the sooner you can be free
Lynx ftw! Not sure if that’s been maintained since the 90s though.
You can’t improve on perfection!
Lynx is still actively maintained. I use it from time to time when I don’t feel like leaving the command line to look something up or whatever. It works really well still. So long as all you care about is text.
If you like to use reader mode you’ll probably like Lynx.
it won’t be long before I’ll just say fuck it and switch to elinks…
Holy mother of BASED
https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
This is more usable than browsh, in my experience, but has the very unfortunate downside of being based on Chromium (🤢)
Stop using chrome and move to Firefox, also stop using Windows and more to Linux.
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.
Librewolf is also good if you prefer flatpaks
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.
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.
So you use Chromium…
Which “ads company”? No offense, just curious.
Says Mozilla owns the ad company. Not sure where it says the ad company owns mozilla
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)
Remember like 2 weeks ago when Google’s very own ad networks were distributing malware?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin
No they don’t. And can’t. It’s not their product.
Headlines these days. Are they all complete lies?
I’ll assume you’re being intentionally obtuse because no one could actually be that dumb.
Lots of firefox mentions, no mention of Vivaldi tho…?
Vivaldi, Opera, Safari, Edge. It’s all Chromium.
Really? I thought Safari wasnt chromium based
Vivaldi is still chromium-based, which is also getting Manifest V2 support cut. And its default ad blocker sucks, if we’re being honest.
Oh fuck, looks like I gotta switch again…
Netscape Navigator is clearly superior to Internet Explorer. except that Andreessen guy became a Facebook bro. Shame nothing came of that. Oh well, guess I’ll use Firefox.
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:00000002you could instead just download firefox, which isnt perfect either but still a huge improvement over any chromium browser
At 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.
Bust this trust.
Firefox supremacy validated once again
We need more options
Yes, but until we have them, Firefox is the best option.
*librewolf
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.
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.
Netscape Navigator and Opera raise their hand
Well, Opera is also based on Chromium.
Wait, Navigator still exists?
Librewolf is just a reskinned Firefox.
Purged of unwanted and intrusive features, UBO pre installed, and is pre configured for increased privacy.
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.
LadyBird is very promising.
They plan a release for 2028. It’s going to be a while before it can be used for everyday browsing.
I will happily donate.
If, of course, money won’t go to the CEO.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 for 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.
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.
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.
look up ladybird. we may soon have a 3rd browser!
2026 isn’t soon.
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
Looks promising. Lets see where it goes. https://github.com/LadybirdBrowser/ladybird
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
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.
Firefox isn’t exactly “the good guys” either
You expect good guys?
No
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
All 10 of us
The title should be “Google pulls plug out of Chromium”
Too bad that even when people start switching, people writing drafts for the W3 spec are mostly Google employees. I’m sure that’ll be their next battleground.
This reminds me that Microsoft and Google have been intensely “collaborating” with code for Linux kernel as well… Too good to be true good-hearted actions from those corporations…
Don’t forget stupid DRM bullshit.
https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/WD-encrypted-media-2-20240718/
Editors: Joey Parrish (Google Inc.) Greg Freedman (Netflix Inc.) Former editors: Mark Watson (Netflix Inc.) (Until September 2019) David Dorwin (Google Inc.) (Until September 2017) Jerry Smith (Microsoft Corporation) (Until September 2017) Adrian Bateman (Microsoft Corporation) (Until May 2014)
Its a good thing I’ve been using Firefox for almost 2 decades then.
I’ve heard reasonably good reports about ublock origin lite (uBOL), the manifest V3 implementation. I haven’t made the jump yet, though.
Come to firefox or even better librewolf dont let google ass fuck you.
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.
It is never going to work the same. They are talking about dropping it entirely.
I 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.
Friends don’t let friends run Chrome.
Couldn’t have said it better.
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.
