Google is cracking down on ad blockers, but here's how you can fight back(lifehacker.com)
lifehacker.com
Google is cracking down on ad blockers, but here's how you can fight back
https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-cracking-down-on-ad-blockers
50 comments
Use Firefox. It's not much of a difference given the big picture, but makes sense to me.
I avoid Chrome based browsers for a long time now. Firefox (I use Floorp right now, but if they sell out it’s easy to switch back to pure Firefox) is not perfect but I never missed a single thing. If there is an interesting service or plugin that only works with Chrome, I press x (Surfingkeys) and move along.
Although I remain a strong advocate of Firefox and Librewolf, the statistics for browser marketshare tell me that the vast majority of users does not care about blocking ads.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/545520/market-share-of-i...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
https://www.statista.com/statistics/545520/market-share-of-i...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
The only way of fighting back is stop using Chrome and preferrably chromium based browsers.
I recommend using https://librewolf.net/
I recommend using https://librewolf.net/
As a user, I prefer Firefox more than any Chrome or chromium based browsers. As a developer, chrome dev tools is just more soother to make use of.
Can we have a month per year without ads? Like Stoptober, but for ads?
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stoptober-campaign-will-e...
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stoptober-campaign-will-e...
How can Google get away with this behavior legally? I am so disappointed that the most recent antitrust lawsuit that they "lost" regarding their search engine monopoly basically forced their hand to defund their only real competitor, thus making sure that they cannot get into trouble for killing it off to cement their other monopoly on the browser market. This vertical integration of being both a browser vendor and having a massive stake in how much browsers allow users to control how content is processed should have been stopped a long time ago by forcing them to split development of Chrome into a separate company.
Google might still be about to get broken up, and that might be a good thing. Not betting on either, though.
How can they get away for not providing you free services ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
It’s entirely possible to be illegally anti-competitive while giving shit away for discount/free.
It’s entirely possible to be illegally anti-competitive while giving shit away for discount/free.
I think the sentiment was that without ad revenue Google could not afford to provide free services. As a rule, "stuff" costs someone something.
Maybe I don't want "free" services if it means I have to pay with my attention and mental health.
Yeah, fuck this. Advertising is literally the root of so many of our social problems.
Advertising has completely gutted the news and information ecosystems to the point that every site is a rage-click race to the bottom.
Advertising has completely gutted the news and information ecosystems to the point that every site is a rage-click race to the bottom.
> Advertising is literally the root of so many of our social problems.
I block and/or avoid advertising everywhere I can. Ergo consider me an extreme case. But I note that television advertising ("TVbiz") is observably less toxic than the WWW/social-media ad business ("WSbiz").
TVbiz has its darker side, of course. And "smart TVs" can take screenshots and do unwanted things if connected to the Internet. All undocumented.
But WSbiz is at a whole new level and scale of toxic ecosystem.
I block and/or avoid advertising everywhere I can. Ergo consider me an extreme case. But I note that television advertising ("TVbiz") is observably less toxic than the WWW/social-media ad business ("WSbiz").
TVbiz has its darker side, of course. And "smart TVs" can take screenshots and do unwanted things if connected to the Internet. All undocumented.
But WSbiz is at a whole new level and scale of toxic ecosystem.
I'm using Zen browser
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> Google's changing the ways ad blockers work on Chrome, but there are ways to get around it.
Yeah. Just use Safari, Firefox or Edge. I did not use Chrome for years now.
Yeah. Just use Safari, Firefox or Edge. I did not use Chrome for years now.
It’s mentioned in the article. But they also mention Edge will follow along with deprecating Manifest v2 so it’s no help.
Ok, then don't use any browser that is on Blink engine? Problem solved.
Doesn't Safari massively gimp ad blockers?
A good way to test the adblocker is with this website:
https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock
For me, Firefox and uBlock Origin on Linux and on Android both block 99-100% of ads.
https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock
For me, Firefox and uBlock Origin on Linux and on Android both block 99-100% of ads.
AdGuard (Free OS Safari extension), 93%. Good enough. Couldn't care less about Blink engine.
People are really so stuck on Chrome that they don't see other options that are just as viable if not better infront of their eyes (Firefox, Safari).
People are really so stuck on Chrome that they don't see other options that are just as viable if not better infront of their eyes (Firefox, Safari).
I must be doing good because that site is broken for me. Null not/blocked and null total. (Ninja edit: Safari btw)
Safari with AdGuard and NextDNS here: 134 blocked, 1 not blocked. Ad blocking on Safari is just about perfect.
97% with a pihole and uBlock Origin Lite. 99% if I turn the filtering mode to "complete".
Yeah, Safari is on manifest v3 for some years now. Please that recomend it over Chrome for adblocking are clueless.
Safari is much more limited than even manifest v3. Gorhill's mv3 extension, uBlock Lite, can't support Safari because Apple refuses to support half the web APIs necessary, despite constant requests and appeals, including directly by Gorhill to Safari's DevRel person.
Works fine for basic ads but more tracking goes through, which is silly.
Works fine for basic ads but more tracking goes through, which is silly.
Safari’s existence (in iOS, at least, for now) is what keeps Chrome from unilaterally determining the future of the web.
That's a fallacious argument: https://infrequently.org/2022/06/apple-is-not-defending-brow...
No; your link immediately waters down its claims: “at least that's not the primary effect”.
It needn’t be primary to be important. If iOS didn’t enforce Safari, we’d see a lot more “only works in Chrome” signs on sites and “emerging standards” would be added to Chrome without much chance of Firefox keeping pace.
Apple’s motivations are hardly pure, but as a FF user I’m glad iOS has the market share it does.
It needn’t be primary to be important. If iOS didn’t enforce Safari, we’d see a lot more “only works in Chrome” signs on sites and “emerging standards” would be added to Chrome without much chance of Firefox keeping pace.
Apple’s motivations are hardly pure, but as a FF user I’m glad iOS has the market share it does.
From the article:
„Google’s new rules will likely affect all Chromium browsers, including Chrome and Microsoft Edge (a support page from Microsoft shows that Edge is losing access to the Web Request API).“
Safari: I would love to use it, but Apple moved all plugins to the AppStore and killed the ecosystem.
„Google’s new rules will likely affect all Chromium browsers, including Chrome and Microsoft Edge (a support page from Microsoft shows that Edge is losing access to the Web Request API).“
Safari: I would love to use it, but Apple moved all plugins to the AppStore and killed the ecosystem.
Just out of curiosity, what plugins do you really need in 2024 except AdBlock which is readily available on Safari in multiple flavors?
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Every now and then I download Firefox and try to gaslight myself that it's actually a good browser now. It usually doesn't take long before I'm using a chromium based browser again.
Ok, I’ll bite. What is your experience like on Firefox? What things convince you back to Chromium?
I'm not the person you asked, but I could have written the exact same comment. For me, SSB and chromium's much better profile functionality are the biggest hurdles when trying to move to Firefox or a Firefox-based browser.
I also encounter way too many bugs and weird behaviours in Firefox web dev tools. I hate chromium dev tools too, but I find it a more consistent bad experience.
The closest I've been to fully switching has been Zen browser. The ability to completely hide the browser's UI so you only see it when hovering is almost good enough to forget all other issues I got with Firefox. That "focus mode", vertical tabs, and side-panels, are the best UI elements to come to browsers since tabs, and I hope and expect all browsers copy them soon enough.
I also encounter way too many bugs and weird behaviours in Firefox web dev tools. I hate chromium dev tools too, but I find it a more consistent bad experience.
The closest I've been to fully switching has been Zen browser. The ability to completely hide the browser's UI so you only see it when hovering is almost good enough to forget all other issues I got with Firefox. That "focus mode", vertical tabs, and side-panels, are the best UI elements to come to browsers since tabs, and I hope and expect all browsers copy them soon enough.
Vertical tabs, an improved sidebar, and a better profile switcher are all in development for Firefox I believe, so that's something. And I guess the collapsed vertical tabs mode on Firefox gets pretty close to focus mode? (You can try that one out already on Firefox Nightly - there's "Firefox Labs" in the settings where you can enable it.)
You probably switch back too soon. It's probably largely that you're just used to Chrome, and it takes effort to switch to something that works slightly different. The bugs you are talking about are probably not bugs, but seem like bugs to you, because it doesn't work the same way as in Chrome.
(edit: sorry you were not talking about bugs, was confusing with another reply in this thread)
That is probably the biggest reason most people stay with Chrome. When Google created their browser and did their big global campaign they got most people used to using their browser, and now it's hard for people to move away from it, so they can make changes to the browser that are profiting for them.
It's up to the end user to decide if it wants Google to guide their internet browsing experience, or that it rather joins a more open and independent community.
(edit: sorry you were not talking about bugs, was confusing with another reply in this thread)
That is probably the biggest reason most people stay with Chrome. When Google created their browser and did their big global campaign they got most people used to using their browser, and now it's hard for people to move away from it, so they can make changes to the browser that are profiting for them.
It's up to the end user to decide if it wants Google to guide their internet browsing experience, or that it rather joins a more open and independent community.
I want to thank you for your service. It is courageous and principled people like yourself that supplies enough eyeballs on chromium that incentivizes bigcorp adtech to keep things slightly less worse.
Use brave, a browser that's actually private by default.
Isn't it Chromium based?
Yes, but they have vowed to maintain manifest V2 support, at least until it becomes unfeasible. It also comes with its own ad blocker.
Then again, Brave is an advertisement company, same as Google. And the CEO is Brendan Eich, notorious for two very evil and despicable things: being homophobic and creating JavaScript.
Then again, Brave is an advertisement company, same as Google. And the CEO is Brendan Eich, notorious for two very evil and despicable things: being homophobic and creating JavaScript.
They are profoundly untrustworthy: https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/191yu33/why_is_bra...
Fighting Google, what a good idea and great way to spend time hacking my life into pieces
Alphabet as globe-spanning empire of mediocrity is on the way out: it might take a year or a decade, but it’s too far along to reverse.
The hard-core of Google excellence will remain, by that name or another. It was called DEC (and Bell) before, and it will be called something in a decade.
These institutions have been so kind as to rebrand themselves when they went from excellent to awful: Google became Alphabet, Facebook became Meta, Twitter became X, OpenAI became, whatever they’re going to call the awful thing.
You fight back by waiting, and by voting for people who won’t fire Lina Khan.
The hard-core of Google excellence will remain, by that name or another. It was called DEC (and Bell) before, and it will be called something in a decade.
These institutions have been so kind as to rebrand themselves when they went from excellent to awful: Google became Alphabet, Facebook became Meta, Twitter became X, OpenAI became, whatever they’re going to call the awful thing.
You fight back by waiting, and by voting for people who won’t fire Lina Khan.
You know about Lina Khan too! She recognized the anti-trust problems with vertically integrated monopolies a long time ago. She's the youngest chair of the FTC. Biden appointed her and I hope that she serves another four years.
She has support from across the gamut: Bernie and Elizabeth Warren as well as Matt Gaetz and Josh Hawley https://www.notus.org/republicans/biden-official-lina-khan-f...
She has support from across the gamut: Bernie and Elizabeth Warren as well as Matt Gaetz and Josh Hawley https://www.notus.org/republicans/biden-official-lina-khan-f...