Manifest V3, webRequest, and ad blockers
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@TalGarik said in Manifest V3, webRequest, and ad blockers:
it seems quite obvious that the users who will notice how crippled will be their privacy extensions once V3 will kill V2 are users of uBlock Origin and other similar extensions, people liking a granular control of what is going on.
If we look at the download numbers of these extensions - in Chrome, Firefox and Opera's extensions stores - we can notice that these users represent a very small niche, so IMHO the damage to the performance of the extensions brought by V3 is a side effect, it would be ridiculous to think that Google created a complex novelty like V3 to bother 20 millions users (at best)
At the same time that same niche of users - which for Chrome is a drop of water in an ocean - is vital for small companies like Vivaldi.
I guess Vivaldi needs to elevate the level of its internal ad-blocker to uBO levels, this is the only way not to lose users to Firefox.
Frankly I do not know what I will do myself, there are two browsers having features that I consider essential and both of them are chromium based browsers and Firefox cannot match those features.
Alas all of this was sadly predictable: who owns the engine owns the browser.This is spot on. I know for a fact one way or another I will not be having my privacy infringed on. I can pretty much guarantee that if Vivaldi doesn't step up someone else will.
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In Reddit of uBO:
"June 2023 is the deadline for manifest v2 (for stable chromium version) according to this article"
https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/xrvw9q/june_2023_is_the_deadline_for_manifest_v2_for/
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/mv2-sunset/
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@barbudo2005 . I don't know, but I don't get rid of the suspicion that with Mv3 Google is going to shoot itself in the knee.
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@Catweazle said in Manifest V3, webRequest, and ad blockers:
@barbudo2005 . I don't know, but I don't get rid of the suspicion that with Mv3 Google is going to shoot itself in the knee.
while these days we are seeing a sort of psychodrama on various social platforms, most of it is due to the misunderstanding that with Manifest V3 Google will ban/eliminate ad-blocking extensions. IMHO the number of users who will see a dramatic change in their desktop internet experience is very limited: people who simply install uBO and don't use its advanced features will not notice much of a difference with uBlock Lite.
If ad-blockers - and particularly uBlock Origin - were a factor capable of moving people to another browser then Firefox' android market share should not be around 0%
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The pertinent question based on this information (https://developer.chrome.com) is, will we be able to continue using uBO until June 2023?
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@barbudo2005 , yes but
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The Brave content blocker (Brave Shields) is also open-source and freely-licenced (see below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbko-tcviFc&t=963s
It would make more sense for Chromium-based browsers to adopt and work with that, rather than starting again. The uBlock Origin developer has shown disdain towards Chromium-based browsers in the past; it wouldn't surprise me if he ditched Chromium support at some point and just concentrated on Firefox (which is the browser he's really interested in). Brave would have more accountability than relying on a single anonymous extension developer.
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I know, but 9 months are better than 3.
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@Catweazle said in Manifest V3, webRequest, and ad blockers:
@barbudo2005 . I don't know, but I don't get rid of the suspicion that with Mv3 Google is going to shoot itself in the knee.
More like in the head.
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I agree. The Brave Rust-based content blocker is open-source and freely-licenced (see below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbko-tcviFc&t=963s
It would make sense for Chromium-based browsers to adopt and work with that, rather than trying to keep webRequest functioning to allow uBlock Origin to continue working. The uBlock Origin developer has shown disdain towards Chromium-based browsers in the past; it wouldn't surprise me if he ditched Chromium support at some point and just concentrated on Firefox (which is the browser he's really interested in). Brave would have more accountability than relying on a single anonymous extension developer.
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"For users, it means that they do not have to worry about extensions running out of support until January 2024, provided that they either apply the Enterprise policy to extend the deadline, or have it applied by the maker of a Chromium-based browser."
https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/29/google-delays-the-death-of-manifest-v2-extensions-to-2024/
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With a year, this (In Vivaldi we trust):
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@barbudo2005 Updates will be disabled sooner. But yes, Vivaldi potentially has a full year to create the best internal adblocker there is.
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Update on what?
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@barbudo2005 Manifest v2 extensions. That they will continue to run doesn’t mean Google will allow updates. Updates were supposed to end in January 2023, I’d expect them to stop in the following summer with the new plan, well ahead of the complete phase out. It should also be noted new v2 extensions can no longer be uploaded to the webstore, this stopped working at the start of this year.
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@luetage
Said:That they will continue to run doesn’t mean Google will allow updates.
@Demizz
Said:The uBlock Origin developer has shown disdain towards Chromium-based browsers in the past; it wouldn't surprise me if he ditched Chromium support
uBO it is such a polished and excellent extension that in a year I don't think I will notice that there have been no updates.
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However, v2 will die, we need to accommodate to v3.
Google sets the rules. -
Even if Vivaldi will stay with MV2, it will not help in the long run. Chrome's migration to MV3 will effectively kill Chrome's extensions. So they won't be available on Vivaldi either.
Vivaldi Firefox is probably just a wish than a realistic product, which is extremely sad.
I really hope Vivaldi team will resolve this somehow. Embracing MV3 together with creation of an internal ad-blocker on par with uBlock Origin and uMatrix-style resource loading management seem like a cheapest solution. It's not uncommon to integrate extensions directly into the browser -- older guys remember that on the beginning there was Firebug extension, and later every browser has created their own developer tools integrated with the browser (including old Opera), modelled after the original Firebug. So I suspect a similar thing can happen with ad-blockers. (I hope.)
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@antekone said in Manifest V3, webRequest, and ad blockers:
It's not uncommon to integrate extensions directly into the browser
I would modify this to: "It's not uncommon to integrate 'extension' FUNCTIONS directly into the browser." And, of course, Vivaldi, being Vivaldi, does this all the time. That's why it's Vivaldi. That's why I don't have to use extensions.