this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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We’ve been anticipating it for years, and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.

Now that it is finally happening, many seem to be oddly resigned to the idea that Google is taking away the best and most powerful ad content blocker available on any web browser today, with one article recommending people set up a DNS based content blocker on their network 😒 – instead of more obvious solutions.

I may not have blogged about this but I recently read an article from 1999 about why Gopher lost out to the Web, where Christopher Lee discusses the importance of the then-novel term “mind share” and how it played an important part in dictating why the web won out. In my last post, I touched on the importance of good information to democracies – the same applies to markets (including the browser market) – and it seems to me that we aren’t getting good information about this topic.

This post is me trying to give you that information, to help increase the mind share of an actual alternative. Enjoy!

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[–] beanlink@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I have been using a fork of Firefox called Floorp and so far pretty happy with it. Chrome and any variant of it has essentially a monopoly on the browser and Firefox will just follow what Google says anyway so I wouldn't recommend native firefox. It would be nice if Safari(WebKit) was more stable and available as an alternative.

Anyway: https://floorp.app/

[–] potentiallynotfelix@lemmy.fish 1 points 5 hours ago

I use regular firefox with a hardened config, and for mobile I use the Mull browser(available on F-droid). It's a privacy focused firefox port made by the DivestOS team, which is my mobile OS of choice.

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.world 10 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Hardened Firefox, here I come.

[–] minimap@lemm.ee -1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

For people who want to keep using Chrome, disabling auto-update works for me.

[–] Fox@pawb.social 7 points 8 hours ago

Never updating your browser again is a pretty bad idea when it comes to security

[–] helloworld55@lemm.ee 52 points 1 day ago (18 children)

Can I just add a different perspective on this?

My dad is really old (like early baby-boomers), and I am basically the in-family tech support when the home computer starts acting strange.

Well, right after google rolled out this update, my dad clicked on what he thought was an online shopping link. It was actually an ad for a toolbar add-on. Queue like 6+ hours trying to uninstall that add-on and the bundled software.

I never had to worry about that in the past with him because I had u-block origin installed. Now I need to find something else that can run quietly in the background. And probably a better antivirus.

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 hours ago

Nooooo, but MV3 is all about security!

This is how I know this is bullshit. I was reading the article and thinking "So, let me get this straight. The ads aren't the security risk. It's the ad blockers!"

Sure. Pull the other one.

[–] sibachian@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago

so what you're saying is; this will bring old-school computer repair shops back? i'm sort of in favor of that 😂

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[–] Lutra@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago

Kids, remember, Google is an advertising company.

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 71 points 1 day ago
[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

It blows my mind that there are major companies that are actively, and very publicly- working their asses off to undermine the interests of their own customer base. And not only are they still are enabled to exist- they’re profits are constantly growing. Which means, despite their nefarious and intrusive updates to their services…. People are eating it up!

Nothing will change until people do the work to make that change.

Take YouTube for example:

They have screwed people over time and again. From their content creators, to those that enjoy watching them. Yet- those that hate it so much would seemingly never organize themselves to boycott their services on a level that will ever hurt them.

So they continue to do it unstopped.

Nothing changes until something changes. It isn’t ever easy, but if you want it to happen badly enough, it is always worth it.

All it takes is for someone to stand up and take the reins!

(I cannot be that person as I have ADHD and will probably forget that I wrote this come later this afternoon)

[–] onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 hours ago

Well said. Also maybe you forgot you wrote the comment by the afternoon, but it reminded me that I've been meaning to finally research more into adhd for better managing it, so thanks!

[–] JonEFive@midwest.social 3 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Hate to break it to you, but you are not Google's customer. Don't believe me? How much did you pay for Chrome?

This move is in fact being made with their actual customers in mind.

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago

You're correct, but your argument is bad. I also paid $0 for Linux.

[–] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Sooo… those that buy ads you mean.

[–] shyguyblue@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Google is an advertising company. Vertical integration ftw?

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