Technology@lemmy.worldbyspaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
22 hours

Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Microsoft Edge, Opera to follow

www.neowin.net English

For a while now the transition away from Manifest V2 (MV2) to MV3 has been on-going and it looks like it is entering its final phase of deprecation, at least, in the case of Google Chrome. A recent discussion thread in the w3c WebExtensions Community Group GitHub repo has highlighted how the latest and upcoming versions of the most popular browser are expected to be its final releases with support for MV2 extensions.

What this essentially means is that the tricks and bypasses that were used to keep MV2 extensions like uBlock Origin and others alive will not work any more on Chrome, or at least not for very long. For example the Windows Registry mod that could extend MV2 availability will cease to function after Chromium version 151.

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    Google Chrome is looking to finish off the various bypasses that help uBlock Origin and other such MV2 extensions to keep functioning. Edge and Opera could soon follow too.
    • NGC2346@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      56 minutes

      Ungoogled Chromium and Librewolf really suits my needs, i dont even think about those issues ever since i started using them.

    • EtzBetz@feddit.orgEnglish
      3 hours

      Just use Firefox (or Zen Browser, which is a nice fork of Firefox)

      • SpaceCadet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        59 minutes

        Zen Browser, which is a nice fork of Firefox

        I wouldn’t trust something as important and complex as a browser to what’s essentially a 1 man project.

        • EtzBetz@feddit.orgEnglish
          39 minutes

          I in turn wouldn’t call a project with 221 contributors a 1 man project :D

          • SpaceCadet@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            34 minutes

            Commit history where you see the number of commits per developer tells a different story.

    • steam@programming.devEnglish
      16 minutes

      good thing i use brave,i recommend everyone to use it it has great adblocker that wont be affected by mv3.

      • appauled@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5 minutes

        Brave is fine but still collects a lot of user data and isn’t privacy centric from their own perspective. Plus their fingerprint protection sucks

    • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
      3 hours

      What’s to stop the developers of a Chromium fork like Cromite from mainting MV2 compatibility themselves?

      Cromite’s only flaw (IMO) is that it based it’s built in adblocker on AdBlock instead of Ublock.

      I’ve tried moving to Firefox and I don’t know, it just feels ugh to me. (scientific critique, I know…). It’s just something I can’t put my finger on; Firefox just doesn’t feel performative. whether that’s a frame-buffer animation thing, or icon shadows, or something else entirely, it just feels off to me in some uncally valley sort of way.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 hour

        Visibility.

        See: Helium Browser. Which is already doing this, and shipping full UBO, yet most aren’t aware of it.

      • Bazoogle@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        What’s to stop the developers of a Chromium fork like Cromite from mainting MV2 compatibility themselves?

        It’s a lot of work, mostly. And how many of those V2 extensions are going to continue to provide patches anyway.

        it just feels off to me in some uncally valley sort of way.

        Maybe it’s the subliminal messages Google has been injecting over the years to make you avoid Firefox/non-chromium browsers.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
          3 hours

          Maybe it’s the subliminal messages Google has been injecting over the years to make you avoid Firefox/non-chromium browsers.

          Well that would certainly explain my irrational fear of foxes.

      • sunbeam60@feddit.ukEnglish
        60 minutes

        Whether you use Firefox or Librewolf you are entirely dependent on the hundreds of full timer developers Mozilla’s got working on the Gecko codebase.

        • zawius@europe.pubEnglish
          1 hour

          No, and do not intend to. But I remember they recommended Ironfox, which is very similar and good, imo.

          • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            6 minutes

            Is Ironfox capable of interfacing with Librewolf? As in sharing bookmarks and credentials? Because to tell you the truth that is the one thing that is holding me to Firefox.

      • Identikit@leminal.spaceEnglish
        6 hours

        So many people asked “Why not Opera?” When I jumped off the AI browsers.

        This. This is why. Didn’t trust em.

        • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5 hours

          I don’t think it’s a matter of Opera being untrustworthy as much as it is the fact that they’re a Chromium-based browser, same as Edge.

          • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3 hours

            I’m just curious as to how this is going to affect duckduckgo browser since DDG is a fork of Edge.

      • heirday@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        librewolf broke too many websites for me to reasonably keep using it :(

        also just keep in mind: it’s lack of a fingerprint now becomes the fingerprint.

        • als@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2 hours

          The default settings do break quite a few sites, but after 10 mins of tweaking it works like Firefox but without all the AI bullshit and adverts

    • nukeforyou@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8 hours

      Great… I work in IT so this means MORE “virus” calls because you 100000000% need an adblocker on the web to stop those fake “your computer is being hacked” malicious advertisements from websites.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 hour

        How about SRWare Iron?

        It’s corporate backed, so security may view it favorably over FOSS forks like Helium or Ungoogled Chromium.

        There’s a whole slew of Chromium forks that I think are trying to preserve V2 functionality.

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        Time to polish those presentation skills and deliver a memo to your company, extolling the virtues of Firefox as a company-wide browser instead of the now malware inducing Chrome, Opera, and Edge.

        • dwokimmortalus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3 hours

          Wont happen. Security teams will block it still. Firefox blocks deep packet inspection which corporate security suites use for monitoring. Its the reason chrome is the default now in almost all companies.

    • nullspace@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10 hours

      The browser wars have been kind of strange from the perspective of someone who’s been using Firefox for well over a decade. It’s a bit like hearing about the Civil War while living in Oregon.

      • shneancy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8 hours

        i used opera for around 13 years. i knew about the flaws but i was simply used to it, and as long as adblock worked i couldn’t be bothered to switch to anything else

        then my laptop broke and only that happening gave me the incentive to install something else, i was starting from (close to) scratch anyway

        it’ll take a lot of effort for people to abandon what they know, even if they’ll be moving towards something better

        i use Zen now :) it’s nice

    • glockenspiel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6 hours

      Zen still works beautifully. The only downside I’ve come across is that there isn’t a mobile app, so the ability to hand off isn’t there.

    • timestatic@feddit.orgEnglish
      6 hours

      Lets see if Brave will hold. Im gonna keep sticking to Firefox tho

        • timestatic@feddit.orgEnglish
          1 hour

          I dont use or like Brave that much but its definitely not Malware. This is how we lose normies. They use google chrome or whatever and infighting tells them “look this significantly more private product is awful”. We kinda gotta stop doing that. That had some scretchy incidents with referral links but their BAT thing is like whatever. You dont have to use it. Their defaults are much more private then all the other mainstream chromium browsers. And it Open Source. I also think their development for their search engine has been interesting.

        • gemakey@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4 hours

          How so? I’ve been using Firefox for years. Started trying Brave the other day and it’s extremely resource heavy. With a few background tabs it runs like shit on a Pixel 10 Pro XL and i7-10510 running EndeavourOS with 32GB. I also have a Pixel 8 Pro running Graphene and it also runs like shit there. I haven’t been impressed with legit Brave, now hearing a malware claim is kinda funny.

          • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3 hours

            Yeah it’s resource heavy because it’s malware. 90% of what does is record your entire browser usage in order to better send ads at you.

      • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.todayEnglish
        4 hours

        The problem is the core of how Origin works. Right now, Origin sits in the stream of data that comes in from a website, and uses its own filtering to block or change things that are unwanted. That mechanism was removed in Manifest V3. Now it has to supply to the browser a list of things to block or change, and there’s a limit to how many things can be on that list.
        There’s a new version of uBlock that works with Manifest V3 but it doesn’t work as well as the V2 version.

    • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
      15 hours

      Oh look all the “chrome but in a different outfit” browsers are doing the same terrible shit? What a shocker, no one could have predicted that the many many things all on the same base where actuality just fake competition.

      • whoisearth@lemmy.caEnglish
        9 hours

        God it still pisses me off what they did to my boy Opera. All of us left when they diverted after v12. We all saw this coming.

        Then Vivaldi came which I have tried in quite a while but it sucked. Firefox it is.

        • tomjuggler@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1 hour

          Yeah opera used to be the one. I’m STILL pissed that they deleted all of my notes

        • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
          6 hours

          I like Vivaldi except for two things: it uses the same engine as Chrome so facilitates Google’s stranglehold on web standards, and it is closed-source. For functionality and design it’s one of the best, but those are important downsides.

        • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
          6 hours

          Chrome is death to a browser, there is little reason to exist if google gets to make the big calls.

          • JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.netEnglish
            13 hours

            Communicating with external devices via USB or the old D-Sub connectors.

            Printers, microcontrollers, instruments, etc… Directly instead of through the OS.

            Notably, ESPHome Programmer uses it for flashing ESP32s wired. Other companies like Solo Motor Controllers use it for delivering a user GUI to customers that is always updated but that can switch between versions instantly for production without having to having to deal with window’s broken method of having to manually search and download .exes for every program.

            • nforminvasion@lemmy.worldEnglish
              8 hours

              I had to use Brave earlier this year to flash firmware onto a Meshtastic device. It’s good to hear that Firefox has that option now.

          • baner@lemmy.zipEnglish
            12 hours

            Even grapheneOS use it for adb into your phone to flash the images.

        • JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.netEnglish
          13 hours

          Really? Holy shit I can switch to zen fully at work and at home and uninstall chromium. Webserial was literally the only thing I needed

          • tomjuggler@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1 hour

            I heard about the web usb thing, it’s also going to be a game changer for me (I haven’t tried yet, hopefully it works)

        • Domi@lemmy.secnd.meEnglish
          12 hours

          It does? Guess I can finally yeet Chromium from my machine then.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14 hours

        They are all chrome with google scratched out and their name written in sharpie in its place.

        Of course they are all doing it, cause they are all the same thing.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
            14 hours

            because theres no fighting google.

            Microsoft tried, and google won, which is why Edge became a chrome reskin instead of what it was before.

            • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
              14 hours

              The winning move is not to do business with them, don’t compete just exist and pretend they don’t exist. Microslop played the game and lost, but it is a stupid silly game.

              • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
                14 hours

                kinda hard to do when google holds the internet by the balls. and can twist at any moment to get what they want.

                Microsoft and Mozilla employees have both accused them of doing this in the past, to sabotage non-chrome browsers on google services, to make chrome look better and drive users to chrome.

                • Babalugats@feddit.ukEnglish
                  11 hours

                  They only ‘hold the internet by the balls’ if you are using and reliant on Google products.

                  There are hundreds (if not more) tutorials and lists online to guide you through degoogling

                  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    8 hours

                    I’m sure we can get thousands of websites and every major corporation to degoogle cause you said they should.

                • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                  13 hours

                  News to me, Does google hold this site by the balls? They have a lot of power yes, but they are not some unsinkable boat.

            • MadPsyentist@lemmy.nzEnglish
              13 hours

              Microsoft “tried” about as well as a quadraplegic “tries” free climbing

        • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
          14 hours

          All the FF forks are the same. Soft forks.

      • andz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13 hours

        It’s a damn shame, I’ve always liked Vivaldi otherwise. I’ve been dual running Vivaldi and Firefox for years now, Vivaldi for casual browsing and Firefox for more serious stuff + YouTube.

        Oh well, it’s time to do a full switch, I guess.

        Kinda funny, I’ve been doing the exact same thing with Win/Linux for approximately the same length of time. Needed Win because of dome software that just doesn’t work linux, and sadly, I still do.

        Google and Microsoft can go fuck each other with a frozen cactus for all I care.

        • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13 hours

          The folks at Vivaldi have been doing some work on their internal ad blocker, I think with the intention to bring most of the functionality of uBo internally so that it doesn’t have to be an extension. Not sure how far along they are, but maybe they’re intentionally keeping it quiet.

          • reka@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8 hours

            Vivaldi have earned and deserve a lot of trust here I believe. All my chromium eggs sit in their basket.

            • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
              8 hours

              Same here. I’m an Opera refugee so to say (and I had high hopes for Opera actually). I’ve been using Vivaldi since its first public alpha/preview/whatever they were calling it.

              • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.worldEnglish
                6 hours

                Yup, Vivaldi user for 8 years and it hasn’t let me down yet, but this post is troubling news.

          • andz@lemmy.worldEnglish
            13 hours

            Aye, I’m just not sure how it’s going to play out. One can hope, though. It’s definitely one of the best options Chrome-wise either way.

            • kamen@lemmy.worldEnglish
              9 hours

              I’m wondering what the decision making was when they were starting (which is now 10 years ago already, time flies, yo).

              From today’s perspective, a Firefox fork sounds way more logical. Back then maybe things with Blink/Chromium weren’t looking so grim, maybe they were relying on the experience of that part of the team that moved over from Opera…

              • captainlezbian@lemmy.worldEnglish
                7 hours

                10 years ago Google was trusted and liked. The cracks were starting to show, but we’re talking about the Google that was still open sourcing a lot of their products and loudly opposing government censorship of the internet.

    • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      14 hours

      When will marketing people figure out our generation views ads as hostile, non-consensual, and unwanted? They are a negative way to introduce us to your product/service. I actively avoid things with obnoxious ads. Native, old spice, liberty mutual, all of those brands the first thing that comes to mind is the negative experience of an invasive advertisement I never fucking asked for.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 hour

        Apparently not, as ads keep selling.

        I hate to sound so cynical, but many folks are gullible. They’ll trust a flashy ad because it looks nice to them, and gives them a positive emotional response, and then internalize that judgement as their own decision (so when someone comes to challenge it, they take it personally).

        It’s not just old people living in another time, either. I’ve watched teenagers and young adults trust obviously-sponsored influencers like they’re friends.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7 hours

        Ads aren’t always there to get you to buy something specific. In fact, an ad you don’t interact with is a better ad because they don’t have to pay for click-through.

        You don’t want to buy brand A because they have ads, so you buy brand B instead, but both widgets are owned by the same holding company. Or they’re made in the same factory. Or they use the same components. Or they have the same shareholders. Any way you slice it, the same rich assholes are getting your money.

        The goal of the Ads is to put a bug in your head and get you to buy something.

        And that’s just the Ads. The tracking is also (increasingly primarily) about political manipulation and surveillance.

      • HrabiaVulpes@europe.pubEnglish
        12 hours

        Except we are not customers, and it’s the customers that are important. I’s like cows asking between themselves when will the butcher realize that they do not like being killed for meat.

        Butcher knows, but butcher doesn’t sell comfort to cows, he sells meat to customers.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zipEnglish
        12 hours

        When will marketing people figure out our generation views ads as hostile, non-consensual, and unwanted?

        Who knows. I was at the beach this past weekend and there were two different planes flying ad banners in front of me.

        What the fuck. That’s two different local businesses that I have noted I will actively avoid.

        Can’t even unplug and face a clear sky without getting ads shoved in your fucking face.

      • krisevol@lemmus.orgEnglish
        7 hours

        Because it works and makes them money, and people end up buying the products.

        What they really need is an option to leave ads or remove them. The ones that want ads gone aren’t buying your product, and the ones that like ads like to see new products. Just give us options. The options are usually to pay for the service and get no ads, or get the service for free and you get ads.

        Where people get mad is when you have to pay for an ad supported plan.

        All this doesn’t really work in the real world anyways, because YouTube offers both an ad free plan, and a free supported plan, and yet everyone still complains about having to pay for ad free. So the war continues.

        Btw i pay for YouTube premium, and every ad free streaming service because i support the ad free plans and hope they continue to exist.

      • Jako302@feddit.orgEnglish
        13 hours

        It doesn’t matter how we view them as long as they work.

      • GMac@feddit.orgEnglish
        13 hours

        Pretty sure all generations feel the same way.

      • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        12 hours

        They’re too busy milking the boomers for now (and even then, the smart ones also despise ads already)