Clearly, Google is serious about trying to oust ad blockers from its browser, or at least those extensions with fuller (V2) levels of functionality. One of the crucial twists with V3 is that it prevents the use of remotely hosted code – as a security measure – but this also means ad blockers can’t update their filter lists without going through Google’s review process. What does that mean? Way slower updates for said filters, which hampers the ability of the ad-blocking extension to keep up with the necessary changes to stay effective.

(This isn’t just about browsers, either, as the war on advert dodgers extends to YouTube, too, as we’ve seen in recent months).

At any rate, Google is playing with fire here somewhat – or Firefox, perhaps we should say – as this may be the shove some folks need to get them considering another of the best web browsers out there aside from Chrome. Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has vowed to maintain support for V2 extensions, while introducing support for V3 alongside to give folks a choice (now there’s a radical idea).

    • thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      For those of us who work in (or love) tech - we (myself included) grossly overestimate how much the general public cares about, or cares to be informed about, this stuff. Heck, even people in tech who know better.

      I wish it wasn’t the case but look how long and hard Microsoft moved on Internet Explorer and ActiveX back in the early days of the web.

      Google and Chrome is just another bit of history repeating.

      As an aside, I’ve been using Zen for about a week and it’s been wonderful. Easy transition from Firefox because it largely is Firefox, so all my containers, extensions, and settings carried over. Zen’s workspaces provide exactly the promise I’d hoped “tab groups” brought with Safari (but never worked right). I just wish there was an equivalent to the Hush plug-in on Safari (even after a year of full-timing FF, consent-o-matic is quite poor).

      • Orygin@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Yeah I work in tech and I’m the only one that cares enough to use Firefox. All my colleagues use chrome or chrome with makeup.
        Maybe ad blocking will be what broke the camel’s back, but I doubt more than a few will care enough to switch.

    • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I kinda have to at work. Our classroom computers reset between classes and Chrome is the only browser installed. I might ask IT about that, moving forward, given uBlock getting neutered soon.

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        when you ask them, don’t only mention ublock, but the privacy aspects of only allowing the browser of the largest data collection fueled ad company

        • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Honestly, our IT peeps aren’t idiots. They’d probably agree with me. It’s admin who make the overall decisions. I might be able to swing “also Firefox” to be included when they inevitably update the repo.

      • alphabethunter@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I have a similar issue at my school as well. Chrome is the only allowed browser, and each of us have to use our own school email as our login session in chrome, so we get that much of user space, and that actually works quite decently. I had ublock installed on my user account so far, but if it breaks, I’ll just have to suffer. Although, the real problem is that the school I work in uses some digital books that only work 100% in Chrome, and all show some form of weird behaviour in non-chromiun based browsers. And there’s a 0 chance they are changing it.

      • Konala Koala@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        And the only place I can think of where uBlock is not getting neutered anytime soon is in LibreWolf.

          • Konala Koala@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I didn’t say anything about Firefox fucking with uBlock Origin, but was merely suggesting to try LibreWolf as its a hardened Firefox fork that comes with uBlock Origin preinstalled.

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      It’s not about intelligence it’s about what keeps you up at night. Most people aren’t bothered by cookies and ads, somehow.

        • omarfw@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          It used to be worse. Pop up ads are mostly a thing of the past. The web used to be an advertisement shit hole and there were no ad blockers back then.

          Regardless, you’re right. I don’t understand why or how people could be ignorant of the existence of adblock in 2024 unless they’re boomers.

          • wewbull@feddit.uk
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            3 months ago

            Since ads began, there have been ad-blockers. You just didn’t know about them.

        • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          And the creepiness. Advertisers can deduce many habits based on the information you give them. Some techniques can tell when people are pregnant before they do based on their pathing inside the store, for instance.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Most people are stupid, myopic imbeciles that arent bothered by anything until it personally affects them.

        Then they’ll howl like wolves at the moon about the great injustice of it all, and how could anyone allow this to happen.

    • Daemon Silverstein@thelemmy.club
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      3 months ago

      The problem here is not just Chrome (as in Google Chrome) but Chromium, the web engine behind many browsers out there (such as Opera, Vivaldi, Edge, among many many others). For now there are two main web engines available, those being Chromium and Gecko (Firefox, Palemoon and many other Firefox forks). The deprecation of Manifest v2 is a Chromium change that includes (and focuses on) Chrome.

      • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I know people who I thought brilliant until they said they were voting for trump. Way to shatter my opinion of you, jagoff.

    • Stern@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’m only using it atm for extensions that are, ironically enough, blocked on Firefox… Though thats only one website in particular.