Disaster Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads - Chromebros on suicide watch, Firefox pooner chads keep winning

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

Google ramps up its campaign against ad blockers on Chrome.
By Kevin Okemwa, published yesterday

What you need to know​

  • 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.
Google's campaign against ad blockers across its services just got more aggressive. According to a report by PC World, the company has made some alterations to its extension support on Google Chrome.

Google Chrome recently changed its extension support from the Manifest V2 framework to the new Manifest V3 framework. The browser policy changes will impact one of the most popular adblockers (arguably), uBlock Origin.

The transition to the Manifest V3 framework means extensions like uBlock Origin can't use remotely hosted code. According to Google, it "presents security risks by allowing unreviewed code to be executed in extensions." The new policy changes will only allow an extension to execute JavaScript as part of its package.

Over 30 million Google Chrome users use uBlock Origin, but the tool will be automatically disabled soon via an update. Google will let users enable the feature via the settings for a limited period before it's completely scrapped. From this point, users will be forced to switch to another browser or choose another ad blocker.

A new version of uBlock Origin​

uBlock Origin fans can rest at ease since a new and improved version is already available — uBlock Origin Lite. It's worth noting that while the new app ships with similar features to the original version, including core ad-blocking features, it doesn't support dynamic filters for blocking scriptlet injection. The Lite version's capabilities are relatively limited due to its compliance with the Manifest V3 framework threshold.

According to uBlock Origin's developer Raymond Hill

"I consider uBO Lite to be too different from uBO to be an automatic replacement. You will have to explicitly find a replacement to uBO according to what you expect from a content blocker. uBO Lite may or may not fulfill your expectations."

uBlock Origin will continue to work as usual across other browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Opera, and more.
 
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cactus said:
Someone already said most of the money Mozilla gets goes to the CEO and NGOs, read the fucking thread.
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Oh I see, you're retarded. Google is facing antitrust issues and Firefox is part of that because of their business arrangement. Google will likely have to stop "funding" Firefox, which means there will be no money for CEO, NGO's or browser development in general. So gg if you stick with Firefox as your solution.
 
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What did we JUST TELL YOU! (Seriously, in a thread about their efforts at Youtube here on kiwi a few weeks ago i got down voted to hell for daring to remind everyone that they have been quietly attempting to do the same with browsers.. this is like the 3rd major effort in the name of "security" that especially nerfs ad-blocking) All those fucking tech bros who pushed and pushed because 'newest thing' and got the public to go all in on what we all knew had dangerous potential even in the best of cases. All because it "OZMG" was a few tenths a second faster and seemed to conform to the fad of the day love for minimalism.... can eat fucking shit!

Look for firefox/MS (who get most of their money from google and switched to the same add-on system) to once again quietly jump on board too. Further limiting not only ad blocking but add-ons further once again! Almost every other browser is based on googshit so good luck going forward. Especially for those (like MS) who switched over to google's add-on system based solely on the argument that it will make things better and easier... universal add-ons!

A reminder that most of big business, even the ones who pretend to play nicely on this, actually view ad-blocking as some form of theft and even hacking. And would love nothing more than to join in on past calls to illegalize and even criminalize it if they thought they could get away with it. (Yes, there are people and companies who have and think tanks have suggested it as well. Some going as far as to suggest that it constitutes a criminal cyber crime on the level of hacking.)

The pressure from market and business analysts/nitwits on this cannot be overstated. I can only imagine the backroom calls and other bullshit going on trying to force other browser makers onboard.
 
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Unarmed Gunman said:
Oh I see, you're retarded. Google is facing antitrust issues and Firefox is part of that because of their business arrangement. Google will likely have to stop "funding" Firefox, which means there will be no money for CEO, NGO's or browser development in general. So gg if you stick with Firefox as your solution.
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You're the one repeating what other people already said because it's too hard for you to read the thread. And you call me retarded, sheesh.
 
The author of the Thorium fork of Chromium is committed to supporting ManifestV2.

Thorium dev said:
Manifest V2 support force enabled (Starting in M128 they are experimenting with disabling MV2). It will be completely removed in M136 (10 months from now), and when they finally do remove the actual code for loading MV2 extensions, it will be restored, because F**k Google! Even if it takes a crapload of work, I am determined to restore it, because without UBlock Origin working properly in Thorium, I wouldn't even want to use my own browser! If you want to use other Chromium based browsers, you will eventually be out of luck, and will either need to use Firefox, or find another Chromium fork that has MV2 support when the time comes.
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https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Win/releases/tag/M126.0.6478.231 - https://archive.ph/420Vo
 
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cactus said:
You're the one repeating what other people already said because it's too hard for you to read the thread. And you call me retarded, sheesh.
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The fact that I bothered to engage with someone with an anime avatar shows I probably am retarded, so fair point I guess.
 
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uMatrix still works fine. Don't just 'block ads', block or allow any page element.
 
Aaaaand now I'm on Brave (finally). Good thing it allows to import everything from Chrome, only Ublock and Tampermonkey needed some work with custom scripts.
It's also a great opportunity to finally look through 50 open tabs...
 
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