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from the when-the-new-shiny-is-not-always-better dept.
Google's plans to limit ad blockers in Chrome have already led many users to consider switching browsers. People's anger was made worse by the confirmation that the only people who will avoid the changes to the way ad blockers work in Chrome will be Google's enterprise users. Advertising is at the heart of Google's business model and so unsurprisingly, users have been questioning the software giant's motives.
And now, another prominent voice has entered the debate. Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says the move will not help security and in fact, will probably hinder it.
The plans, dubbed Manifest V3, represent a major transformation to Chrome extensions including a revamp of the permissions system. As a result, modern ad blockers such as uBlock Origin—which uses Chrome's webRequest API to block ads before they're downloaded–won't work. This is because Manifest V3 sees Google halt the webRequest API's ability to block a particular request before it's loaded. The plans are earmarked for release into the Google Canary channel around now.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:11AM (16 children)
It's like Wolf-brand chicken wire. You deserve to lose all your chicken.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @07:37AM (4 children)
Or PaleMoon "No, No-Script for You!" browsers. They are sooooo fucked.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday August 02 2019, @07:54AM
Not every [noscript.net] version of palemoon..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mer on Friday August 02 2019, @09:48AM
I'll admit the drama between the Noscript devs and the Palemoon devs is idiotic but why do you need Noscript when Palemoon has µmatrix?
Shut up!, he explained.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:20PM (1 child)
Weird, I'm using noscript in palemoon right now. I guess your fanny got flustered by a warning message that used leftover default mozilla scary text they didn't change.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @05:24AM
Same here. I'm using Pale Moon 28.6.1 with NoScript 5.1.8.6, on Linux.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 02 2019, @08:04AM (10 children)
Lost in translation. What does it mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Insightful) by rigrig on Friday August 02 2019, @08:20AM (9 children)
You want a fence which protects your chickens from wolves, but you buy the fence from a wolf.
So in this case:
You want a browser which protects your privacy from advertisers, but you use Chrome from Google.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 02 2019, @08:25AM (8 children)
Thanks. In the cultures I was exposed to, foxes were the ones to keep out from your chickens, wolves being more interested in sheep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @08:43AM (3 children)
I used to own chickens but the fox came.
so I bought sheep thinking the fox is too small, and the wolf came.
so I bought a cow thinking the wolf's too small, and the bear came.
so I bought an elephant.
still no omlette though.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:22PM (2 children)
The elephant would attract poachers.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Friday August 02 2019, @03:43PM
But an omelette is made with SCRAMBLED eggs
Young people won't believe you if you say you used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:17PM
And that's how you make poacher eggs... [/Badum-tss]
(Score: 2) by schad on Friday August 02 2019, @12:17PM (3 children)
No, you're right. In the US it's also foxes-chickens (esp. hens) and wolves-sheep. This is just a mixed metaphor.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Friday August 02 2019, @04:55PM
Ah, not a problem, forget it then. Milk spilled under the bridge and all that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:43AM
Firefoxes catch chickens.
Young people won't believe you if you say you used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:45AM
Firefoxes catch chickens.
Is that a mixed metaphor?
Young people won't believe you if you say you used to get Netflix by US Postal Mail.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @12:47PM (4 children)
And now it is impossible to stop firefox from auto updating too. Disgusting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:27PM (1 child)
I assume you're on windows since you'd probably update via package management otherwise. It is still possible to prevent it from updating, just not from within the browser. You need to toggle a group policy [ghacks.net] for that now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @01:53PM
Thanks for that link, I've been using autoconfig for years and wasn't aware of the GPO efforts. There's also some useful lockPref settings discussed in the comments.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:23PM (1 child)
Automatic updates are putting a tremendous amount of faith into the software maker to not do horrible things to your system since they already have a foothold there. While it is arguable that they can do that anyway, in this case they arguably already have your trust and have embedded their software into your work environment, making it much less likely that you will be willing (or able) to dispose of them, giving them an increasingly free reign to do as they will with no oversight but themselves.
Forced automatic updates are basically handing the software makers outright ownership of your computer, seeing as how they now have what amounts to a back door.
I would suggest considering solutions such as virtual machines or other environments that are easier to control, although if you're running Windows 10 there isn't a whole lot of a point; even Google's spyware isn't nearly as bad as modern Windows spyware.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @05:09PM
The problem isn't so much the software vendor (not that I disagree with you on that point), but more that anybody who gains control over the update pipeline will gain control over everybody hooked into the
botnetforced automatic updates.(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday August 02 2019, @02:13PM (2 children)
In the old days I ran privoxy, like when it was new around turn of the century. Now I rely mostly on in browser blockers. Sounds like in the future its back to privoxy. Not really seeing a huge impact.
I see there haven't been many recent updates on privoxy. Once it gets a couple million new users, I'm sure the repo activity will pick up.
I prefer the privoxy architecture because every browser in my home domain will perform the same; its weird when some sites with some browsers on some computers don't work due to inconsistent filtering.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:56AM
Privoxy, and non-browser blockers, are simply not as powerful as in-browser blockers. They are close currently, but with anti-adblocking getting more common, you need the additional power that browser-based blockers have. For example, blocking Google Analytics breaks all sorts of web pages. That is the reason why NoScript, uBlock, ABP, etc. don't actually block Google Analytics, but replace it with their own version. The same goes for dozens of other scripts as well.
Simply put, Google is smart enough to know the need for browser-based blockers and how to get around other filtering techniques. Plus, it is much easier to just download an addon, compared to downloading some sort of proxy, or buying a Pi Hole, or the other alternatives. I'm honestly surprised this move didn't come earlier, but maybe they were waiting for some critical mass of Chromebook usage or their establishment as THE low-end alternative for most people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 05 2019, @09:40AM
It's time to switch to pihole.
https://pi-hole.net/ [pi-hole.net]
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Friday August 02 2019, @02:21PM
uMatrix works. Most of the core addons I used to use in Firefox work. What me worry?
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:26PM (5 children)
Pale Moon with eMatrix, UBlock is great on desktop, no problemo. What is nasty is Android, which I use all the time, has open source Chromium based Kiwi Browser with extension suppott, uMatrix and uBlock work perfectly, and the advertising assholes will fuck it up. Fitefox on Android is worse and Mozilla assholes might wanna kiss Big G's ass and implement v3 to get their money. What then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @03:38PM
Use firefox for developper on android. It is significantly better than regular Firefox 🦊
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @01:23AM (1 child)
Blokada for android:
https://blokada.org/#download [blokada.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:20AM
May want to avoid that RAT: https://www.hybrid-analysis.com/sample/0e4fede38fcaad584c4fae9c33e73318f367111c0d48cc33ad75cdbd86d83ade/5d44f912038838a14753cef1 [hybrid-analysis.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @05:30AM (1 child)
On Android I only use Privacy Browser, available from F-Droid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 05 2019, @09:45AM
What's wrong with IceCat on Android?
I run it with uMatrix, uBlock origin, privacy badger, canvas blocker etc. Runs most Firefox plugins.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Friday August 02 2019, @08:50PM (4 children)
I don't have an Ad blocker, I have a malware blocker. We have collectively made a mistake by calling them "Ad blockers". The problem was never the ads. The problem was the malware in the ads. I wish we would stop calling them "Ad blockers".
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 02 2019, @09:32PM (1 child)
NO, the ads are the malware. The problem is the ads. We want to block ads. Blocking malware, and tracking and profiling, are just side benefits. Perhaps you are too young to remember the
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Monday August 05 2019, @01:45PM
I doubt if I'm "too young to remember" virtually anything IT-related. When I started coding we were still using punched cards.
Yes I remember those terrible pop up ads and all that garbage, and yes I consider all of that malware. Anything that takes away the control of your computer can be considered malware, IMO.
What I mean to say is that the display of static ads has never been a problem with me and that is not the problem now.
(Score: 2) by Mer on Friday August 02 2019, @10:51PM
Even a static image ad with no hidden script is not okay.
It's malware for your brain.
Shut up!, he explained.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:59AM
For me the problem is both the ads and the malware.
I have ADHD, professionally diagnosed though I choose to be un-medicated. Ads steal a big chunk of my working memory that I cannot spare. Working the web without them is a game changer for me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:31AM
I stopped trusting browsers and extensions to do the right thing a long time ago. While I do use uMatrix and hosts file, I've recently begun using a Pi-Hole for the bulk of blocking on my home network. Not as elegant and certainly not as portable as an extension but perhaps we will be using cheap "ad blockers on a USB stick" in the future. At some point I may just stop using the Internet for anything other than banking/bills. Not as a protest but rather because it's quickly becoming intolerable to use.
I just spent two weeks completely unplugged from the news and it was the single most healthy thing I've done in a while. It took years but the water eventually became hot enough for this frog to jump out and I imagine the same will someday be true for computers and phones. I would be curious to know how others feel about it. Is there a threshold where the default value proposition of browsers and operating systems becomes unpalatable and pushing back with hacks/tweaks just isn't worth it?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:56AM (3 children)
I'm (voluntarily) test driving the Edge Beta Chromium-derived browser. It's been my first-choice browser for about two weeks now. So far it looks good. Adblock plus has a dev version for it, but it's only about 80% effective. I'm reporting the misses so they can fix it.
(Full disclosure, I work for Microsoft and therefore my opinion is invalid.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:01AM
Even your opinion about your opinion being invalid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @10:18AM
Thank you for your efforts. Your opinion is very much valid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 05 2019, @09:52AM
Thank you for disclosing.
I don't think you are evil or dismisaable on the grounds of a mainstream worldwide recognisable mostly upright employer (yes what they do is sometimes bad, but that does not make all their employees bad).
I am a public servant. Wait. Is that the sound of pitchforks being sharpened? Can anyone smell tar burning?