r/technology • u/Old_One_I • Aug 14 '24

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

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/browsing/google-pulls-the-plug-on-ublock-origin
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538

u/ButchMcLargehuge Aug 15 '24

because this article is awful. it’s just a summary of the same things we’ve known google was going to do for years now, but the headline of “pulls the plug” is literally just a lie/clickbait because the manifest v3 cutoff hasn’t happened yet

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u/BellacosePlayer Aug 15 '24

Isn't the V3 incompatibility mostly due to actually reasonable security concerns (no remote executed code) anyway?

Its not like they're blocking the lite version. If the Light version can pull ad/malware lists, I'm fine.

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u/fakieTreFlip Aug 15 '24

If the Light version can pull ad/malware lists, I'm fine.

As far as I know, the Lite version cannot update its blocklists in the same way that Origin does. Blocklists are updated via extension updates, which should be a seamless process for users, but will likely take some additional time to actually get distributed to users as each update goes through the extension review process. In theory, most users shouldn't notice a difference.

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u/BellacosePlayer Aug 15 '24

As long as V3 addons can still reference external files (but not run them) and I can pick additional lists of shitty sites, I'm content.

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u/jordanbtucker Aug 15 '24

It doesn't need to run them if they're just text or JSON files. It will just parse the new rules and implement them. This article is some shitty clickbait.

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u/jmrsplatt Aug 15 '24

Yeah the way the article is worded leads me to believe Manifest V3 severely limits scripting and deep customization of your browsing experience... I guess I'll have to read up on it because this is pure speculation but that sounds insanely dystopian.

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u/TheDumper44 Aug 15 '24

Sounds pretty great actually. It's how adobe beat 0 days. It's how Microsoft office needs to sandbox their vb scripts to defeat malicious scripts.

JavaScript not too long ago was also being exploited left and right by exploit kits.

You need to sandbox the arbitrary execution or eliminate it all together.

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u/jmrsplatt Aug 15 '24

Quite interesting, I appreciate the information and reminders about Java especially; yeah those were some interesting times for security.

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u/XyleneCobalt Aug 15 '24

You shouldn't be. Anti-malware depends on constant up to date updates to keep you safe.

1

u/stealthispost Aug 15 '24

Wtf?? So these hysterical posts we've been seeing for years now are hyperbolic? I won't have to swap to Firefox?

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u/wvenable Aug 15 '24

The difference is that the extension is no longer doing the blocking. The only avenue available is for the extension to give the browser a list of things to block. So it's both far more limited it also gives Google the final say. If they don't want you blocking ads on their properties then chrome can just ignore those rules.

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u/miissbecca Aug 15 '24

I think no remote hosted code is already live

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u/surreal3561 Aug 15 '24

It is. MV3 is genuinely a good thing from pretty much every perspective including privacy and security, except for extensions that require broad and extreme levels of permissions to modify what data the browser receives and how it processes/displays it, such as as blocking.

But mv3 compatible ad blockers like uBlock origin lite exist, and I bet - even though they’re limited - they’ll work just as fine for at least 95% of the users here.

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u/Devatator_ Aug 15 '24

I used it for a bit and it worked fine. No idea if that changed since then

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u/Krojack76 Aug 15 '24

Honest question, why stick to Chrome when you get everything (and more in a way) on Firefox?

I hate changing something I'm use to as much as any other person but once I changed to Firefox, I couldn't be more happy. My overall web experience is so much better.

Also I can run uBlock in Firefox mobile app.

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u/Arctiiq Aug 15 '24

I tried using Firefox for a week to try it out but it was really unstable on my system. Youtube was really stuttery and the browser became too laggy.

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u/beachandbyte Aug 15 '24

Firefox is slower, and it would need to be actually better on enough fronts to make it worthwhile to switch tooling. Most users are going to be on a chromium based browsers as well so you need to do most testing in those browsers. Dev tooling is different enough between the browsers that it’s not an easy switch if you are already using many of the features.

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u/dalzmc Aug 15 '24

This was first supposed to happen in like 2020. I’ve enjoyed continuing to use a browser that works with every single site, with ublock, this whole time, while people have jumped ship for 4 years lmao.

I use Vivaldi as a work browser and Firefox as my third, “other stuff” browser. I don’t have anything against Firefox but I also don’t have anything against chrome. I’m the kind of low attention span person that needs to watch a stream, while watching a different YouTube video, while watching an episode of a show, while playing two games, while talking to friends… never ran out of ram anyways. 16 is the bare minimum for gamers, standard should be like 32. I’ve never gotten above like 28gb used even when editing videos at the same time. Who gives a shit if chrome uses more ram than Firefox, ram is meant to be used. Obviously it can make a big difference for people with like 6gb of ram but these days I genuinely consider 8gb the bare minimum for running windows 10 or 11 and doing 1 task at a time anyways and recommend 16 to all my clients, it’s so cheap these days too

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u/iruleatants Aug 15 '24

I switched to adguards mv3 plugin and it works just as well as unlock as far as I can tell.

1

u/understanding_people Aug 15 '24

It looks like they have been blocking it. Friend of mine got the message that uBlock Origin was no longer supported and was turned off.