4 ms·

This is great! On another note, I'm wondering when I can remove uBlock Origin?

by lprd 7y ago

kgwxd 7y ago
Don't, ever. There's no reason to trust Mozilla will keep this up forever. They're not even close to doing what uBO does. Blockers are best kept as a third-party solution with no conflict of interest. If too many people stop using uBO because the FF built in tools are "good enough", eventually we'll loose proper extension support and we will be at the mercy of browser vendors again.
- Vinnl 7y ago
  What's Mozilla's conflict of interest?
  - symlinkk 7y ago
    Most of their funding comes from Google, in return for making Google search the default search engine on Firefox
Someone1234 7y ago
I guess it boils down to your goal with using uBlock Origin. Are you anti-tracking or anti-ad? This blocks some ads as almost a side-effect but that isn't its goal. If ads aren't tracking, they're fully visible/working. I use this because I value my privacy, but choose not to use uBlock Origin because I understand websites I use need revenue. It is about finding your own personal balance.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  I'm anti-tracking. I don't, and have never, blocked ads specifically. I do block scripts, though. The side-effect of that is that I don't see most ads, but that isn't the point.
sp332 7y ago
uBO relies on 3rd-party filter lists to know what to block. The most popular of these is Easylist, which is not well-maintained and doesn't have a good appeal process. I don't think Firefox should build this in unless they're going to support the maintenance of a high-quality filter list with a transparent add/remove process.
- coldpie 7y ago
  > The most popular of these is Easylist, which is not well-maintained I've never had a problem with a website that was solved by turning off Easylist. I also almost never see ads. So it seems high quality to me. What problems have you had?
  - sp332 7y ago
    Here's an example. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-old-pentium-g-based-server-the-results-are-worth-sharing/?comments=1&post=37620223#comment-37620223 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-... Ars Technica has certain posts, clearly marked with a header and everything, that include Amazon affiliate links. Easylist has a specific list of sites, mostly tech sites, which are not allowed to use Amazon affiliate links. It's not a general ban on affiliate links, and blocking them this way simply removes the text from the middle of a sentence. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-old-pentium-g-based-server-the-results-are-worth-sharing/?comments=1&post=37620731#comment-37620731 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-... and the response from the maintainers https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/3524 https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/3524 [Edit: previous general discussion about EasyList https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20593563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20593563 ]
    - coldpie 7y ago
      Wow yeah, that does look pretty terrible. Going to sub to that issue, thanks for the link.
    - gorhill 7y ago
newscracker 7y ago
I don’t think Firefox will get into complete built-in ad blocking, like Brave does. But the days (or years) of uBlock Origin seem to be numbered because of the approach proposed by Chrome (called Manifest V3) to prevent extensions from modifying network requests, and being limited to just providing a block list of URLs for the browser engine to block (this design has been the case with Safari’s built-in content blocking).
- ric2b 7y ago
  > But the days (or years) of uBlock Origin seem to be numbered because of the approach proposed by Chrome (called Manifest V3) to prevent extensions from modifying network requests Numbered on Chrome, you mean.
  - dhimes 7y ago
    Exactly. The only thing I use Chrome for is Google stuff (GSuite, some YouTube). Everything else: firefox.
    - r00fus 7y ago
      GSuite has been getting better in FF. I used to have major issues with GSites (new) but now I can leave FF open for week+ without crashes or spinning if GSites tabs are open. I use Chrome mostly to edit the GSites or present GSlides in full screen (in FF it still shows the window chrome in fullscreen).
  - GuB-42 7y ago
    Firefox tends to follow Chrome closely. And as time goes on, they limit extensions more and more. The latest preview of Firefox Mobile doesn't support them at all. Hopefully, it is just temporary but it used to be the killer feature of Firefox mobile. It is not pure evil, there are security reasons behind that. Manifest V3 is also a security improvement so I wouldn't put it passed Mozilla to implement it.
    - newscracker 7y ago
m463 7y ago
I would switch to uMatrix (more detailed than ublock origin, by the same folks) where you can clearly see what sites are referenced and what kinds of things they are doing.

This is great! On another note, I'm wondering when I can remove uBlock Origin?

by lprd 7y ago

This is great! On another note, I'm wondering when I can remove uBlock Origin?

Don't, ever. There's no reason to trust Mozilla will keep this up forever. They're not even close to doing what uBO does. Blockers are best kept as a third-party solution with no conflict of interest. If too many people stop using uBO because the FF built in tools are "good enough", eventually we'll loose proper extension support and we will be at the mercy of browser vendors again.

Vinnl 7y ago
What's Mozilla's conflict of interest?
- symlinkk 7y ago
  Most of their funding comes from Google, in return for making Google search the default search engine on Firefox

Someone1234 7y ago

I guess it boils down to your goal with using uBlock Origin. Are you anti-tracking or anti-ad? This blocks some ads as almost a side-effect but that isn't its goal. If ads aren't tracking, they're fully visible/working. I use this because I value my privacy, but choose not to use uBlock Origin because I understand websites I use need revenue. It is about finding your own personal balance.

JohnFen 7y ago
I'm anti-tracking. I don't, and have never, blocked ads specifically. I do block scripts, though. The side-effect of that is that I don't see most ads, but that isn't the point.

sp332 7y ago

uBO relies on 3rd-party filter lists to know what to block. The most popular of these is Easylist, which is not well-maintained and doesn't have a good appeal process. I don't think Firefox should build this in unless they're going to support the maintenance of a high-quality filter list with a transparent add/remove process.

coldpie 7y ago
> The most popular of these is Easylist, which is not well-maintained I've never had a problem with a website that was solved by turning off Easylist. I also almost never see ads. So it seems high quality to me. What problems have you had?
- sp332 7y ago
  Here's an example. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-old-pentium-g-based-server-the-results-are-worth-sharing/?comments=1&post=37620223#comment-37620223 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-... Ars Technica has certain posts, clearly marked with a header and everything, that include Amazon affiliate links. Easylist has a specific list of sites, mostly tech sites, which are not allowed to use Amazon affiliate links. It's not a general ban on affiliate links, and blocking them this way simply removes the text from the middle of a sentence. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-old-pentium-g-based-server-the-results-are-worth-sharing/?comments=1&post=37620731#comment-37620731 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/i-updated-my-crusty-... and the response from the maintainers https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/3524 https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/3524 [Edit: previous general discussion about EasyList https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20593563 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20593563 ]
  - coldpie 7y ago
    Wow yeah, that does look pretty terrible. Going to sub to that issue, thanks for the link.
  - gorhill 7y ago

newscracker 7y ago

I don’t think Firefox will get into complete built-in ad blocking, like Brave does. But the days (or years) of uBlock Origin seem to be numbered because of the approach proposed by Chrome (called Manifest V3) to prevent extensions from modifying network requests, and being limited to just providing a block list of URLs for the browser engine to block (this design has been the case with Safari’s built-in content blocking).

ric2b 7y ago
> But the days (or years) of uBlock Origin seem to be numbered because of the approach proposed by Chrome (called Manifest V3) to prevent extensions from modifying network requests Numbered on Chrome, you mean.
- dhimes 7y ago
  Exactly. The only thing I use Chrome for is Google stuff (GSuite, some YouTube). Everything else: firefox.
  - r00fus 7y ago
    GSuite has been getting better in FF. I used to have major issues with GSites (new) but now I can leave FF open for week+ without crashes or spinning if GSites tabs are open. I use Chrome mostly to edit the GSites or present GSlides in full screen (in FF it still shows the window chrome in fullscreen).
- GuB-42 7y ago
  Firefox tends to follow Chrome closely. And as time goes on, they limit extensions more and more. The latest preview of Firefox Mobile doesn't support them at all. Hopefully, it is just temporary but it used to be the killer feature of Firefox mobile. It is not pure evil, there are security reasons behind that. Manifest V3 is also a security improvement so I wouldn't put it passed Mozilla to implement it.
  - newscracker 7y ago

m463 7y ago

I would switch to uMatrix (more detailed than ublock origin, by the same folks) where you can clearly see what sites are referenced and what kinds of things they are doing.