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from the bring-back-common-sense-adctl dept.
Google engineers have proposed changes to Chromium which would completely break content-blocking extensions, including various ad blockers, ostensibly for "security" reasons.
Per The Register:
In a note posted Tuesday to the Chromium bug tracker, Raymond Hill, the developer behind uBlock Origin and uMatrix, said the changes contemplated by the Manifest v3 proposal will ruin his ad and content blocking extensions, and take control of content away from users.
Content blockers may be used to block ads, but they have broader applications. They're predicated on the notion that users, rather than anyone else, should be able to control how their browser presents and interacts with remote resources.
Manifest v3 refers to the specification for browser extension manifest files, which enumerate the resources and capabilities available to browser extensions. Google's stated rationale for making the proposed changes is to improve security, privacy and performance, and supposedly to enhance user control.
"Users should have increased control over their extensions," the design document says. "A user should be able to determine what information is available to an extension, and be able to control that privilege."
But one way Google would like to achieve these goals involves replacing the webRequest API with a new one, declarativeNetRequest.
[...] Hill, who said he's waiting for a response from the Google software engineer overseeing this issue, said in an email to The Register: "I understand the point of a declarativeNetRequest API, and I am not against such API. However I don't understand why the blocking ability of the webRequest API – which has existed for over seven years – would be removed (as the design document proposes). I don't see what is to be gained from doing this."
Hill observes that several other capabilities will no longer be available under the new API, including blocking media elements larger than a specified size, disable JavaScript execution by injecting Content-Security-Policy directives, and removing the outgoing Cookie headers.
And he argues that if these changes get implemented, Chromium will no longer serve users.
The Register points out that this will not just affect Google Chrome and Chromium, but also Chromium based web browsers such as Brave Browser and Microsoft Edge.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 23 2019, @05:18PM (7 children)
Except the web is actively breaking around them. It's now weekly that I have to switch to something Chrome-based, despite having up-to-date Firefox forks, to complete some desirable web task.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 23 2019, @07:52PM (4 children)
Are we returning to a world of "This site is best viewed in Internet Explorer 6"? That would be truly depressing.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 23 2019, @08:34PM (3 children)
Some of the pseudo-privatized parts of the australian Government (Australia Post parcel tracing, in particular) have websites that just don't work even on vanilla versions of some mobile browsers.
Screwing around can sometimes trigger a pop up suggesting you install an app, but the page itself just doesn't load.
Lainess means they likely tested two or three desktop browsers and the app. Budget restraints meant testing mobile browsers was "out of scooe" (hey, moile users can use the app!)
If they had the "works best on..." message, it would be *slightly* less annoying, as you'd see they had thought about it.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 23 2019, @10:25PM (2 children)
Some of the pseudo-privatized parts of the australian Government (Australia Post parcel tracing, in particular) have websites that just don't work even on vanilla versions of some mobile browsers.
For JavaScriipt-free parcel tracking you can use the following websites (which support many carriers in addition to Australia Post):
https://packageradar.com/ [packageradar.com]
https://en.trackitonline.ru [trackitonline.ru]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 23 2019, @11:00PM (1 child)
Yes, ther are work-arounds, but they shouldn't be neccesary
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @03:28PM
Is there something wrong with the device you are using to post with?
You seem to keep dropping letters out of the posts.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday January 24 2019, @01:02AM
But remeber that it's THE WEB that's broken, not your preferred browser.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday January 24 2019, @02:44AM
Lately when I need a "modern" browser for those cranky sites that won't play nice with SeaMonkey, I've been using Borealis instead of Chrome. (Sometimes Borealis works better, too.) Now if only addons worked.... cuz the browser itself is fast and beautiful. (Basically portable FF60 in a retro wrapper, with actual menus.)
Main site downloads were not working last I checked, but I get it from this guy who is doing XP-compatible builds of various browsers:
http://rtfreesoft.blogspot.com/2019/01/weekly-browser-binaries-20190119.html [blogspot.com]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.