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The Chrome Web Store is grossly understaffed. Google as a whole relies too much on automated processes rather than humans, but this is particularly a problem in

by _qulr 6y ago

The Chrome Web Store is grossly understaffed. Google as a whole relies too much on automated processes rather than humans, but this is particularly a problem in the Chrome Web Store, because Google requires every extension to be distributed via the Store, but they just don't have the staff to review every extension properly. There's no way Google can "curate" the volume they handle, especially with their limited staffing.

zentiggr 6y ago
Then it's time to mark all but the most used and obviously trustable extensions as untrusted. Then they can take whatever staff they have, and review them properly. And accept the fallout of their staffing choice if it means drop in Chrome usage or whatever else. They want to leave a gaping malware hole, it's time to hold them accountable dammit.
- _qulr 6y ago
  > Then it's time to mark all but the most used and obviously trustable extensions as untrusted. That's basically what Firefox has done.
  - pritambaral 6y ago
    More, actually. Some excerpts from https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/firefox-recommended-extensions/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/firefox-recommended-extensi... : "Our team evaluates all content under consideration for the Recommended Extensions program.", "... subject to ongoing re-evaluations to ensure they continue ...", "... not only perform as they promise, but do so at an exceptional level. For instance, there may be many ad blockers out there, but not all ad blockers are equally effective.", (and last but not the least) "... undergo full code review by staff security experts ..."
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  The problem here is tons of non-technical users get those untrusted extensions installed. The solution is to actually delist any extension they can't adequately review.
kevingadd 6y ago
After a fraudulent DMCA notice took my extension down, when it came back up it was flagged for manual review for another month or two. The manual review on bug fixes and updates took about a week per upload, and that was before they further scaled back investment in the Web Store. It's neglected in every possible way.

by _qulr 6y ago

zentiggr 6y ago

Then it's time to mark all but the most used and obviously trustable extensions as untrusted. Then they can take whatever staff they have, and review them properly. And accept the fallout of their staffing choice if it means drop in Chrome usage or whatever else. They want to leave a gaping malware hole, it's time to hold them accountable dammit.

_qulr 6y ago
> Then it's time to mark all but the most used and obviously trustable extensions as untrusted. That's basically what Firefox has done.
- pritambaral 6y ago
  More, actually. Some excerpts from https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/firefox-recommended-extensions/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/firefox-recommended-extensi... : "Our team evaluates all content under consideration for the Recommended Extensions program.", "... subject to ongoing re-evaluations to ensure they continue ...", "... not only perform as they promise, but do so at an exceptional level. For instance, there may be many ad blockers out there, but not all ad blockers are equally effective.", (and last but not the least) "... undergo full code review by staff security experts ..."
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
The problem here is tons of non-technical users get those untrusted extensions installed. The solution is to actually delist any extension they can't adequately review.

kevingadd 6y ago

After a fraudulent DMCA notice took my extension down, when it came back up it was flagged for manual review for another month or two. The manual review on bug fixes and updates took about a week per upload, and that was before they further scaled back investment in the Web Store. It's neglected in every possible way.