11mo ago

Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

www.windowscentral.com

Google is transitioning Chrome's extension support from the Manifest V2 framework to the V3.
This means users won't be able to use uBlock Origin to block ads on Google Chrome.
However, there's a new iteration of the app — uBlock Origin Lite, which is Manifest V3 compliant but doesn't boast the original version's comprehensive ad-blocking features.

Privacy @lemmy.ml

Alsephina @lemmy.ml

11mo ago

Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

www.windowscentral.com /software-apps/browsing/google-pulls-the-plug-on-ublock-origin

Technology @lemmy.world

mesamunefire @lemmy.world

11mo ago

Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

www.windowscentral.com /software-apps/browsing/google-pulls-the-plug-on-ublock-origin

272 comments

I'd just like to reassure everybody that you can quit using Google Chrome. I switched to Firefox a year ago. You can switch to something else too. Give it a try.
Wait, I don't need to nudge anybody. After all the ads start invading their browsing experience I doubt anybody will need much prodding.
- Yep... when ublock quits working for me on Chrome then I will migrate.
  
  Why wait? Migrate now. There's even Firefox for mobile with ublock
  
  Yup
- Rocking Firefox even from my Android phone. It works great!
- It also blocks everything else on the website.
  
  iirc some hardened firefox configs, including arkenfox, recommend using ublock ONLY. other privacy extensions like noscript aren't worth using because ublock replicates all of their features plus more
  
  Why not both?
  
  You can basically use uBlock Origin as NoScript (or I think ScriptSafe? or did they change back?) if you put it into "hard mode."
  I personally like "medium mode". I guess I get why they hide it behind several obscure steps, but I feel like they should advertise it more. It's a nice middle ground. Still breaks every website the first time you go there but meh. Small price to pay.
- Firefox reader mode is the champ, especially when combined with uBlock
- You can even keep all your bookmarks
- I don't understand the inertia if I'm honest.
  
  Easy to understand. People don't like change.
  Despite 25 years in IT, and knowing better, I only recently switched back to Firefox. I expected a fair bit of hassle, and I won't say the transition was seamless, but I was astounded.
  Those of us in the know aren't doing any good circle jerking ourselves over our superior browser. We need to get our friends, coworkers and relatives engaged. And that should be easy if we contrast our ad-free experience with theirs.
- Nobody that cares about seeing ads is still on chrome. I bet they don't lose more than 8-10% market share in a year even that is probably super high
- I've always used Firefox on every other device I own, but now I need to do something about my Chromebook.
- Do you know if brave browser is better than firefox? they claim to prioritize user privacy more than firefox
  
  I'd use Firefox over brave. The company behind brave will still sell your data.
  They're selling the tor feature of brave. You can install tor in FF.
  I like brave because it's staffed with developers full-time to block YouTube. I don't love their crypto, but I don't use it, and it does pay their devs.
  
  brave is based on chromium, so it's not 100% safe from google
I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that even the United States FBI recommended using ad blocking extensions to protect yourself online.
https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221
- I always wondered about this and how all the ad blocking apps have complete access to every webpage you visit.
  Also to add to this, its made a little weirder considering ad blocking makes you more susceptible to fingerprinting.
  
  Yea, that is what gets me too, when I look at the blockers to use; Ad blockers have access to all keystrokes, forms and pages. They have access to my banking and other codes when I use them .
  While I am sure the more popular blockers do not abuse this, and the code most likely checked line by line. It’s still possible for a handful of mistakes to allow supply chain attacks or a dozen other things to happen.
  It worries me, so I don’t use them as extension and use security elsewhere
- see also: librewolf
- It is... revolutionary.
- Yea, I'm just waiting for the bomb to go off when Mozilla inevitably ends up following Google's example.
  
  Thankfully, Firefox is open-source, so we can just use one of the forks, or perhaps Ladybird will be ready for general release by that time.
  
  Firefox already adopted manifest V3 but specifically kept the features needed for adblockers
  
  Yep, I'm watching intently with the shit they've been doing.
- YouTube isn't playing on Firefox with Ublock for me either. I'll need to go through and reinstall my extensions, but I couldn't find the root cause so far, I'd just been using chrome with ublock for YouTube and Firefox for everything else.
  
  Make sure jnn-pa.googleapis.com isn't blocked anywhere in your network. It may perhaps be blocked in a filter list you have activated in uBO, DNS, VPN, Firewall, anti-virus, Firefox enhanced tracking protection, etc.
  
  Try NewPipe or a fork of that for YouTube on Android.
  
  Saaaaame for me on PC. Such a bummer.
  
  FreeTube is available for Windows and Android. It has SponsorBlock built in as well.
Susceptible to intrusive ads and viruses.
My Windows computer was infected more than once by virus spreading ads on legitimate websites. The site owners denied any responsibility for the viruses saying it was the fault and responsibility of the ad companies. Never again.
- The site owners are correct. And if the ad companies can't be bothered to vet their ads, I can't be bothered to look at them.
- 13 years ago I got a virus from a justin.tv ad. That was the last time you ever allowed an ad on my machine.
KilledByGoogle up next: Chrome. You mean they pulled the plug on Chrome.
A lot of momentum to dissipate but the ad blocker defines a bearable web experience.
- Nah, chrome will block "intrusive" ads to maximise Google's revenue
Use Firefox. If something you use ABSOLUTELY needs Chromium yell at whoever makes the thing. If that still doesn't work use Brave. But then go back to Firefox for everything else.
- I've switched to Brave. I only use it for general internet use. What am i missing out on if i don't go back to Firefox?
  
  I know its everyone's personal choice and all that but in my opinion people should stop using chromium engine browsers. It was a good engine however the fact that chromium has the majority users is the only thing holding lazy developers from porting websites to work with other browser engines gives google more control.
  
  What you are missing out on? Probably not much. Some sites might even work worse if you switch, due to lazyness or sabotage by devs.
  Using Firefox is good for the ecosystem in general, to have a counter balance to Google. I use both Firefox and chromium and see very little difference. Some extensions might be worth it (like the title says), so that might be a difference for you.
  
  fuck brave. use librewolf.
  
  Support for Chromuin backed browsers ?
  I keep Throriim there for the odd shit ball site thear refuses but then thats the point.
- What’s the general consensus on Arch? I really like the UX, although I stuck to Firefox on mobile.
- Screw that. Use Firefox, but if you need Chrome, use brave, use Vivaldi, use Opera for all it mattwrs. Asanything that still works is fine.
  This brave paranoia is just insane. You don't want crypto, don't use it. You don't trust brave use Vivaldi, but spreading fake fear is BS.
  
  Brave altered URLs clicked to add their own affiliate links. Browsers should go to where you click. That's like their whole job. There are reasons to dislike Brave apart from crypto.
  
  You don’t want crypto, don’t use it.
  I use Brave as my Chrome based browser when not using Floorp but there were other issues with Brave in the past like injecting their affiliate links unbeknownst to users so they could make money off them. They have reverted that decision but that they thought it was acceptable in the first place leaves some to question, rightly, what other shenanigans they might pull. They've also had issues with paying out Creators BAT tokens.
Even the FBI sent a warning imploring everyone use AdBlockers
- https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221?=8324278624
If you're still using chrome at this point you're just asking for this shit
FYI TELL YOUR LOVED ONES ABOUT THIS
If you are on here you're probably like me "the it guy of the family"
Mom and dad aren't going to switch themselves, remove chrome for them as the default install Firefox and tell them to use that unless something absolutely refuses to work. Pick your battles.
- If you are the IT guy just buy a raspberry pi or a cheap mini pc and install pi-hole at your parents place that you can access remotely. That way their entire network is blocked from ads and you can troubleshoot from anywhere.
  
  And then it gets blamed every time something doesn't work right with the internet
  
  Honestly that's way too much work. Keep it simple imo.
- I can't even get my mom to stop believing that her bank would text her asking for her account info.
  
  Good news for Mom, Firefox doesn't really change functionality wise compared to Chrome.
  
  Sometimes people just refuse common sense and have to be left to ruin their own lives, no matter how much you love them.
  Cause theres no point drowning yourself, trying to keep idiots that refuse to swim above water.
Hopefully the DoJ case against Google includes getting bent over a barrel for abusing their position as a market maker to force their revenue model.
Intrusive ads and...
MALWARE!
- Yep, the main reason I started using adblockers in the first place is because I was tired of the weekly disinfection routine of my pc.
  Hiding ads wasn't my main motivation to start with, I just wanted to keep my system safe and shit free.
- To be fair, some add-ons are the worst malware you can have. Google is trying to combat that
  
  Bullshit, they are trying to kneecap ad blocking to protect their bottom line. They could have protected people from sketchy add one without fucking up ublock
What a disaster... USE FIREFOX
If you want to avoid ads it might be a good idea to not use products from a company which primary goal is to make money on ads...
But hey, what do I know...
I have said this in other threads about this issue in response to all the "use Firefox" comments.
Thousands upon thousands of school children are currently using Chromebooks they get from their schools. Now they will be forced to look at ads.
- Now they will be forced to look at ads.
  I'm pretty sure they would've been seeing ads anyways. I doubt that school IT administrators had uBlock Origins as an extension that was being installed and I really doubt they didn't have the chromebooks locked down so students could install whatever extensions they wanted.
  
  Good, smart IT would have installed ublock and locked that shit down. Saves bandwidth and protects the kids.
  But you're probably right, most IT departments are useless.
  
  I was able to install it on my daughter's Chromebook.
- They're forced to look at ads anyway, as the IT dept blocks installing extensions
  
  The IT department at my daughter's school allowed me to install the uBlock Origin extension last year. Granted, some extensions (and websites for that matter, no PornHub) were blocked, but not that one.
- Gotta get 'em hooked while they're young...
  
  Joe Camel
- Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t a goal of the chromebook project
- Thousands upon thousands of school children are currently using Chromebooks they get from their schools. Now they will be forced to look at ads.
  I don't want to be "that guy", but the ads school-aged kids are viewing come from the apps they are using, not their web browsing on Chrome.
  And they are even more heavily impacted when their favourite content creator hucks sponsored products, which can't be blocked with an adblocker.
  I feel like I've dodged a bullet by not being exposed to 99.9% of the ads out there, but that's only because I don't use toxic social media apps or YouTube in its designed form.
  
  Except no they don't because they have to do things like research for their essays, which requires using the web in general.
- I was done with school before giving out computers to students was the norm, but my brother's school district seems to be issuing Surface Laptops instead of Chromebooks. With Firefox preinstalled.
  
  It must be a wealthier school district because Chromebooks are far cheaper, even in bulk, than Surface notebooks.
  https://discountcomputerdepot.com/shop?product_listings=Chromebooks+For+Students
- given the typical IT inertia, that will be a problem when they update chrome in 5 years.
Next week: Over 30 million users pull the plug on Chrome, leaving Google execs to make the surprised Pikachu face and wonder aloud why millennials hate web browsers.
- The sort of person who would sit through a Youtube ad or is still on Reddit won't change. They'll just get angry or perhaps not even notice.
  
  That type of person didn't use ublock to begin with. Anyone that did is going to be a Firefox user today.
  
  Even if only a fraction of those kinds of users switch, that's still millions of users chrome loses, and no longer get to make a buck off of.
- Normal people are too lazy to care they are just going to get another ad blocking extension, even if it’s not as good as ublock.
  
  Yeah, it takes some mental effort to change your habits, people are more likely to just install a new extension.
  BUT, those extensions are probably next, dropping uBlock is part of a long-standing war by Google against ad blocking of all kinds. So at some point Chrome users won't be able to escape ads, and then i do wonder if they'll switch.
  I feel like normal people who are too lazy to care would probably just use the default browser that came with their device. It will be Chrome if it's an Android, but it will be everything but Chrome if it's any other OS, it will be Edge or Safari.
  Now i haven't installed Chrome in a minute, but how many devices is it the default for? My understanding is that a lot of Chrome users specifically looked for it and installed it to use instead of the default, especially Windows users. And for that public, i do think it matters, i do think they would consider switching.
"always do evil" ~Google
I used Firefox when it first came out. Google and Mozzila got into a hot race to make the best browser and they both did well. Somehow I ended up using Chrome a lot more even though I thought that by the time the race ended they were pretty even. Both were very fast and had great plugin libraries. Chrome looked nicer out of the box, but Firefox is highly customizable. Since the end of that race, Chrome has gotten worse and Firefox is about the same. I've switched back fully to Firefox, and the only thing I miss is the "Piss off publisher frames" plugin, that I haven't found a replacement for. It's a nice browser.
- I switched to chrome for several years. Back then I was using Gmail and google docs et cetera. I naively thought Google were the good guys.
  At that time the chrome ui was better. As an example, Firefox still had a separate search bar and address bar, although you could search in the address bar if you wished.
  More recently I think the "nice ui" thing has tipped back towards Firefox. Chrome seems to have evolved some extra buttons.
  
  As an example, Firefox still had a separate search bar and address bar, although you could search in the address bar if you wished.
  The advantages of that was you could set the URL bar and search bar to different search engines. I would do a Google search with the URL bar while keeping the search bar set to Wikipedia. Eventually this feature was removed, and then the search bar itself (since there was no reason to search from the URL bar and a dedicated search bar.) It's a feature I missed for a while, but I got over it.
  
  I have never understood the desire to combine the search and the address fields. I occasional search a url when I forget the rules for what it thinks is keyword. It just seems like a scheme to collect more data by bouncing your intended site to google and increase your reliance on them rather than being a real UI feature.
  
  Yeah, it's ironic that one of Google's selling points was that Chrome didn't have a lot of clutter. It's even where the name comes from. Now it looks messy. It's no Microsoft product yet, but it's definitely one of the ways it used to be better.
- I would be on Firefox myself except that I need Webassembly that functions at a decent speed and It's about 30-100 times slower on Firefox than it is on Chrome and hasn't changed in yeeeeears.
Skill issue
All the webdev companies' across the planet at their sprint planning in a few weeks: "So, shit, we finally need to support Firefox correctly."
- That's not in the budget and you know it
  
  See also: accessibility
  
  Hahahahaha, so true. "Maybe when we have one of those hackathons you can try and do it."
Just finished migrating to Firefox this year to prep for this. See Ya later Chrome! Give my regards to Netscape.
- Firefox is basically netscape navigator https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/browser-history/
Not trying to troll or anything, but what can Chrome do that Firefox cannot?
I've always felt like Firefox has more useful features like screenshotting, etc.
- Even if it didn't have superior functionality, I'd still support & use firefox over chrome just because I don't care how fast the sports car is: if it's not going where I tell it to, I ain't gettin' in.
- I only break out Chrome(or Edge) for two reasons:
  One is access to serial ports to flash ESP devices, or update the firmware on my XR glasses. Firefox can’t do that.
  The other is to automate Twitch drop collection. The addon I found to reload broken streams and collect drops while I’m at work only has a Chrome version.
  
  I really hope ff gets WebSerial support.
  
  The addon I found to reload broken streams and collect drops while I’m at work only has a Chrome version.
  The question is, is it gonna have a Manifest V3 version?
- Some websites intentionally break Firefox for some reason. I’ve had numerous issues on Firefox which were resolved by switching to Chrome. These could potentially be fixed by a User-Agent string change, but instead of dealing with it I switched to a Chromium based browser.
  
  What if we stop using User-Agent altogether? It would increase privacy and prevent browser discrimination. Too bad for the Analytics services, but after all... who cares?
- Last time I checked: tab groups. Yes there are extensions for it, but all the ones I tried were either really over complicated or buggy. Chrome tab groups are pretty simple and seamless to use.
  But I'm going to have to figure something out because I'd rather lose tab groups than ad blocking, so I'll have to switch to something.
  
  Didn't know about those in Chrome. Sounds good, though I've always just grouped my Firefox tabs by having a browser window of tabs per logical group
  
  Waterfox has a native sidebar/vertical tab feature along with container tabs that might fill your tab group needs (I stopped using chrome before they added tab groups so I watched a 4m video on them and seems like you could get all the features and more out of the sidebar).
  
  Firefox native tab groups are coming soon!
  
  To be honest, the Lite version is working well enough for me right now that I don't feel like I need to switch.
- Another thing that comes in mind is native PWA support. Currently you need an extension.
Just imported all my stuff into firefox. Bye felicia.
Stop making you extensions/site only work on chromium based browsers
- okay, opera only, heard.
  what do we do if a user isn't running iOS? can it involve spiders?
  
  Chromium got opera bruh…I’m sorry.
uBlock Origin Lite, which is Manifest V3 compliant but doesn’t boast the original version’s comprehensive ad-blocking features.
Then what is the purpose/value of it?
- Its able to block some ads. However, from a security perspective this basically means google chrome is no longer a web browser that should be used in a professional setting, let alone for your private and personal work
  
  I'll let corporate worry about corporate... I don't want the ads at home.
- It's not as comprehensive, but it still blocks ads. Personally, I've not noticed a difference. If you are a power user with custom rules and third party lists then your experience will vary.
  
  I went ahead and switched to Firefox which I can also use on my phone and now block ads there, too.
oh no.
anyway, have you heard about firefox,librefox,mulvad browser...
This is as good a place as any to challenge firefox users: what are you doing to support the project?
Using their software doesn't support them, unless you search with Google and I doubt many users reading this do.
Mozilla may be deserving of criticism, but criticism alone does not support them.
I fear that one day we will lose firefox.
- What's even worse is every time someone mentions Firefox, some chucklefuck has to go hardcore negative on everything Mozilla does that is 1/10th as shitty as Google. Just shut your piehole if you don't like the only somewhat private open source browser.
  
  Let's be honest, Mozilla is only 1/10 as shitty as Google because they're 1/100 the size. If they had the resources, they'd be just as awful. They've already shown us how awful they can be at their current size, I can't imagine how bad they'd be if they were at Google's scale. Firing your employees and giving your execs bonuses is 100% a Google-like move, and the only reason they stopped at a few hundred employees was because they didn't have more to give.
  Just because they make a good open source product doesn't make them immune from criticism.
- I pay for Mozilla VPN and relay throwaway email addresses. And I seldom use either it's basically just a donation.
- Soooo you're saying I should donate to the Mozilla foundation?
- My biggest worry about Mozilla is that most of their revenue comes from Google. What's stopping Google from demanding that Mozilla does certain things to Firefox, like forcing them to reduce the ad blocking capabilities, just like Chrome?
  
  I think that specific concern is unfounded, but it's obviously problematic that their revenue fines from Google.
  That said, everyone has been trying to find an alternative for the last decade, yet here we are.
Susceptible to malware even
Firefox ftw
Moved to Firefox years ago. I wish they could diversify their income though
The only thing that runs Chrome is my work computer only because they installed it and who gives a fuck if they get hacked? I don't even discern search results because I don't get paid enough to care.
- Just make sure your router is updated. I recommend gl.inet routers if you're a beginner - easy to keep up to date and their version of OpenWRT has AdGuard installed. Malware can affect more than just the computer you use
  
  I never do personal stuff or even search for non-work related stuff on the machine, and when I'm at home it's on a guest network by itself on a different subnet. Outside of work hours I manually turn off wifi on the machine and block it on the router.
My work has edge and chrome. Everything else locked.
Will be seeing ads at work now. Cool.
Charade you are, monopolistic asswipes! I switched to Firefox months ago!
Man, it's a shame there isn't a good alternative to Chrome based browsers :(
Firefox is a very nice experience. If you're still hanging onto Chrome, I strongly suggest you at least try Firefox. I suspect most people have very little reason to stay with Google products.
Aw man. I really like Vivaldi for its productivity and customisation. Guess I'll have to go back to FF and try trick it out some.
(Go)fucky(o)urself(gle)
I've started using Ecosia and i honestly have liked my results far more than on chrome
Still working for me
I just use safari. With other options.
Could use Brave, built using chromium but has ad block built in.
Edit - have been made aware that brave is not ideal - Link
Edit edit! - Yeah, Brave's CEO sounds like a grade a dick. I've switched to Firefox for sure. Not been here in a while.
- No thanks. Brave got some serious problems and you might as well use Edge or something that isn't owned by a bigot.
  
  Oh shit, I've only got a few lines into the article but will read the rest soon. Ty.
Does anyone still use chrome? lol.
- Nearly 3.5 billion people do.
  "Does anybody still use [literally the most popular product in its industry]?"
  
  They deserve what they get.
The news source of this post could not be identified. Please check the source yourself. Media Bias Fact Check | bot support
- Switching back to Firefox in the next few weeks. Fuck you google
  
  What did the fact checker bot ever do to you?

272 comments