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Just got this blocking modal. In mine, the title says “Turn on an ad privacy feature”. That is misleading to say the least. This is a privacy-invading feature,

by tobr 3y ago

Just got this blocking modal. In mine, the title says “Turn on an ad privacy feature”. That is misleading to say the least. This is a privacy-invading feature, leaking summaries of my browsing history to anyone who wants to have a look. What’s worse, the modal completely blocks the UI, so you can’t even search for it to understand more. Why am I even using this browser anymore? EDIT: Note this section about privacy goals, from the draft proposal by two Googlers: “Users should be able to understand the API, recognize what is being communicated about them, and have clear controls. This is largely a UX responsibility but it does require that the API be designed in a way such that the UX is feasible.” [1] I guess it’s just a little oopsie that made the people responsible for the UX present it to the user through misleading copy. 1: https://github.com/patcg-individual-drafts/topics https://github.com/patcg-individual-drafts/topics

ht85 3y ago
The popup is absolutely disgusting. I would love to think this would backfire and push more people towards Firefox but their target is obviously not HN readers, they know what they are doing.
- xmprt 3y ago
  I was wondering why I didn't see this popup and realized that I've been using Firefox for almost a year now. Haven't looked back.
  - talonx 3y ago
    Ditched Chrome years ago.
- johnchristopher 3y ago
  > I would love to think this would backfire and push more people towards Firefox but their target is obviously not HN readers, they know what they are doing. I am gonna make a generalization but HN readers is not the demographic pushing for Firefox usage and when they do it's usually for the wrong reason: "performance".
  - benterix 3y ago
    Which is false BTW, unless you are using some Google services optimized for Chrome, such as Google Sheets.
weikju 3y ago
> Why am I even using this browser anymore? Yeah, stop putting up with all these anti-features! Firefox, Brave etc are not perfect but at least they're not THAT. No matter how many hoops you jump through, still using Chrome means it is being endorsed. Wish more people would reconsider it like you and jump ship!
- nicbou 3y ago
  I've been back to Firefox for 3-4 years and it has been rock solid on MacOS and Android. I have only very minor gripes not worth mentioning.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Firefox seems ok to a layman so far. Time to throw Chrome of the Windows part of my daily now.
- mangecoeur 3y ago
  I have been using Firefox since version 2.x and I never understood what downsides people find with it. I've used chrome and the only difference i saw was annoying pushes from google to log in so that i could be tracked all the time. Otherwise, it shows web pages, what more do you want?
  - laserdancepony 3y ago
    I quite dislike all the crap they try to tack on like Sync or Pocket, sometimes cluttering the UI after an update. But still everything can be disabled, so not too much of an annoyance.
    - bmicraft 3y ago
      I wouldn't use Firefox if it cloudn't sync history and bookmarks between computers and my phone. Sending tabs is also a nice bonus.
  - permo-w 3y ago
    Firefox's branding has always felt a little unusual to me. not as bad as some other popular free apps (SumatraPDF, VLC) but perhaps that subconsciously puts people off? Chrome has always looked and sounded quite clean and cool in comparison. I say this as someone who only ever uses FF or Safari
tacker2000 3y ago
Im sorry but if you are using Chrome as a “pro” nowadays, its your own fault. There are countless alternatives available, starting from Firefox, to Brave, to some exotic browsers, and if you must use Chrome, then there is a de-Googled one called Chromium. Its clear that Google is milking every single one of its users using their browser, since they have access to your computers. Probably this is the “vector” they use to gather the most info about users, apart from Android maybe.
- maleldil 3y ago
  > there is a de-Googled one called Chromium There's Chromium and there's Ungoogled Chromium[1]. If you're looking for (some) independence from Google, you want the latter. Or just avoid it altogether and use other browsers. I wouldn't recommend Blink-based browsers (Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, etc.) You're still indirectly giving Google power over the web by using their engine. [1] https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium
  - akyuu 3y ago
    IMO the browser is far too important to use third-party builds containing patches that don't receive serious audit. For example, the Chromium packages provided by the vast majority of Linux distros disable security features like CFI (check your favorite distro's x86_64 Chromium package build log and look for the "is_cfi" argument). I think Arch is the only exception. ungoogled-chromium has similar problems https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/ https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/ If you are going to use a Blink-based browser, I would recommend just using the official Google release, or maybe Edge or Brave if you trust the organizations behind them. Otherwise, just switch to Firefox. It has its own problems, like being overall less hardened than Chromium, but it's far less user-hostile. And regarding security, for browsing untrusted sites, I think you should always virtualize the browser since they're all routinely exploited anyway.
    - bmicraft 3y ago
      > Linux distros disable security features like CFI Why would they even do that?

by tobr 3y ago

ht85 3y ago

The popup is absolutely disgusting. I would love to think this would backfire and push more people towards Firefox but their target is obviously not HN readers, they know what they are doing.

xmprt 3y ago
I was wondering why I didn't see this popup and realized that I've been using Firefox for almost a year now. Haven't looked back.
- talonx 3y ago
  Ditched Chrome years ago.
johnchristopher 3y ago
> I would love to think this would backfire and push more people towards Firefox but their target is obviously not HN readers, they know what they are doing. I am gonna make a generalization but HN readers is not the demographic pushing for Firefox usage and when they do it's usually for the wrong reason: "performance".
- benterix 3y ago
  Which is false BTW, unless you are using some Google services optimized for Chrome, such as Google Sheets.

weikju 3y ago

> Why am I even using this browser anymore? Yeah, stop putting up with all these anti-features! Firefox, Brave etc are not perfect but at least they're not THAT. No matter how many hoops you jump through, still using Chrome means it is being endorsed. Wish more people would reconsider it like you and jump ship!

nicbou 3y ago
I've been back to Firefox for 3-4 years and it has been rock solid on MacOS and Android. I have only very minor gripes not worth mentioning.
hef19898 3y ago
Firefox seems ok to a layman so far. Time to throw Chrome of the Windows part of my daily now.
mangecoeur 3y ago
I have been using Firefox since version 2.x and I never understood what downsides people find with it. I've used chrome and the only difference i saw was annoying pushes from google to log in so that i could be tracked all the time. Otherwise, it shows web pages, what more do you want?
- laserdancepony 3y ago
  I quite dislike all the crap they try to tack on like Sync or Pocket, sometimes cluttering the UI after an update. But still everything can be disabled, so not too much of an annoyance.
  - bmicraft 3y ago
    I wouldn't use Firefox if it cloudn't sync history and bookmarks between computers and my phone. Sending tabs is also a nice bonus.
- permo-w 3y ago
  Firefox's branding has always felt a little unusual to me. not as bad as some other popular free apps (SumatraPDF, VLC) but perhaps that subconsciously puts people off? Chrome has always looked and sounded quite clean and cool in comparison. I say this as someone who only ever uses FF or Safari

tacker2000 3y ago

Im sorry but if you are using Chrome as a “pro” nowadays, its your own fault. There are countless alternatives available, starting from Firefox, to Brave, to some exotic browsers, and if you must use Chrome, then there is a de-Googled one called Chromium. Its clear that Google is milking every single one of its users using their browser, since they have access to your computers. Probably this is the “vector” they use to gather the most info about users, apart from Android maybe.

maleldil 3y ago
> there is a de-Googled one called Chromium There's Chromium and there's Ungoogled Chromium[1]. If you're looking for (some) independence from Google, you want the latter. Or just avoid it altogether and use other browsers. I wouldn't recommend Blink-based browsers (Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, etc.) You're still indirectly giving Google power over the web by using their engine. [1] https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium
- akyuu 3y ago
  IMO the browser is far too important to use third-party builds containing patches that don't receive serious audit. For example, the Chromium packages provided by the vast majority of Linux distros disable security features like CFI (check your favorite distro's x86_64 Chromium package build log and look for the "is_cfi" argument). I think Arch is the only exception. ungoogled-chromium has similar problems https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/ https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/ If you are going to use a Blink-based browser, I would recommend just using the official Google release, or maybe Edge or Brave if you trust the organizations behind them. Otherwise, just switch to Firefox. It has its own problems, like being overall less hardened than Chromium, but it's far less user-hostile. And regarding security, for browsing untrusted sites, I think you should always virtualize the browser since they're all routinely exploited anyway.
  - bmicraft 3y ago
    > Linux distros disable security features like CFI Why would they even do that?