Jan 22, 2019 - The Google Chrome development team is working on making some changes to the Chrome Extensions platform that would end the. To the rescue comes uBlock Origin, a highly customizable and powerful Chrome extension (also available for Firefox and Opera) that takes its mission to block.
by Martin Brinkmann on January 22, 2019 in Google Chrome - 120 comments
Google is working on the Chrome extension manifest version 3 at the moment which defines the capabilities of Chrome's extensions platform.
The updated manifest is available as a draft currently that anyone may access. Draft means that it is not set in stone yet and that things may change. Google will release the updated version of the manifest eventually though and make it mandatory after a transitional period.
Interested users and extension developers may follow the tracking bug, issue 896897, on the Chromium Bugs website.
Raymond Hill, known as Gorhill online, the author of the popular content blockers uBlock Origin and uMatrix, voiced his concern over some of the planned changes; these changes, if implemented as proposed currently, remove functionality that the extensions use for content blocking.
Google plans to remove blocking options from the webRequest API and asks developers to use declarativeNetRequest instead. One of the main issues with the suggested change is that it made to support AdBlock Plus compatible filters only and would limit filters to 30k.
Hill mentioned on Google's bug tracking site that the change would end his extensions uBlock Origin and uMatrix for Google Chrome. While it would be possible to switch to the new functionality, it is too limiting and would cripple existing functionality of the content blocking extensions.
If this (quite limited) declarativeNetRequest API ends up being the only way content blockers can accomplish their duty, this essentially means that two content blockers I have maintained for years, uBlock Origin ('uBO') and uMatrix, can no longer exist.
There are other features (which I understand are appreciated by many users) which can't be implemented with the declarativeNetRequest API, for examples, the blocking of media element which are larger than a set size, the disabling of JavaScript execution through the injection of CSP directives, the removal of outgoing Cookie headers, etc. -- and all of these can be set to override a less specific setting, i.e. one could choose to globally block large media elements, but allow them on a few specific sites, and so on still be able to override these rules with ever more specific rules.
The new API would limit content blockers for Chrome-based browsers and eliminate options to create new and unique content blocking extensions. All that would be left are AdBlock Plus like filtering extensions that would all offer the same blocking functionality.
While there would still be adblockers for Chrome, the limit of 30,000 network filters would make even those less capable than before. EasyList, a very popular blocking list, has 42,000 filters and if users add other lists used for other purposes, e.g. social blocking, that number would increase even more.
You can follow the discussion on uBlock Origin's GitHub page as well.
Closing Words
Could this have been Google's plan all along? Create a web browser and use it to combat the use of content blockers? Block some annoying ads, allow basic content blockers, and block any other form of content blocking to make sure that Google's advertising business improves again?
Some users would certainly move to Firefox if uBlock Origin, uMatrix, and other content blockers would no longer work in Chrome-based browsers. Even if millions would migrate, it would still leave Chrome dominate the entire desktop browser market.
It will also be interesting to see how Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, and other Chromium-based browser developers react to the change, if it passes the way it is proposed right now.
Now You: What is your take on this?
Chrome Extension Manifest V3 could end uBlock Origin for Chrome
Description
The proposed update of the Chrome Extension Manifest to version 3 could end the content blocker uBlock Origin and others for Chrome.
Author
Ghacks Technology News
![U block origin chrome extension U block origin chrome extension](https://www.dailywoke.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ublock-origin-settings-explained.png)
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AdvertisementWith almost 70% market share, Chrome has well and truly won the web browser war. A crucial factor behind this is Chrome has a new user interface, but there's a much less welcome addition coming as well
GoogleIn a new public document called Manifest V3, Google has announced it will change how extensions work in Chrome and the big casualty is it will break ad blockers - arguably the most popular extension any web browser has.
This has already led to a backlash, and the developer of uBlock Origin (which has over 10M users) has been one of the first to speak out condemning Google’s planned changes to Chrome and confirming its ad blocker will no longer work.
So why has Google done this?
The short answer is security. Google is cracking down on the ability of extensions to load code from remote servers. In theory, this is a good thing as it stops malicious extensions from appearing harmless in the Chrome Web Store then becoming dangerous once installed. The problem is Google’s approach is something of a blunt instrument.
Many ad blockers rely on remote code to continually update their Chrome extensions with data to pre-emptively block ads. Pre-loading the extensions with data won’t work either since Google is restricting filters to 30,000 items and, as Ars Technica points out, uBlock Origin requires 90,000 filters by default and runs with up to 500,000 to be most effective.
The good news is some ad blockers may escape unscathed. Most notable is AdBlock Plus (also over 10M users), where developers believe it may be possible to adapt. For many, however, the process of completely rewriting how their ad blockers work will prove a step too far.
Needless to say, conspiracy theories are already building.
Popular ad blockers like uBlock Origin will no longer work in Google Chrome
GoogleGoogle’s core business is ads and ad blockers present a sizeable problem. In its defence, Google has already taken steps to improve the quality of ads online via the Coalition for Better Ads and Chrome now blocks the most invasive ads automatically. That said, a complete block on all ads, as offered by Ad Blockers, is not good for business.
Would users desert Chrome if their favourite ad blockers no longer work? It’s impossible to say, but running ads means more data consumption and more processor intensive websites at a time when Chrome is already consuming additional memory. So users with older hardware could be tempted to jump ship.
Either way, Google - despite its broadly good intentions - has opened a crack in Chrome’s armour just as the browser was looking unstoppable…
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