4 ms·

What are the limitations of uBlock Origin Lite compared to the original extension?

LiamPowell 2y ago
In practice, not much if you're not writing your own filters or using the umatrix-like functionality. There's a few rules that can't be ported but these don't apply to most sites: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions-(FAQ)#filtering-capabilities-which-cant-be-ported-to-mv3 https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-as... One massive upside is there's now a less comprehensive mode that doesn't allow the extension to view and edit the complete DOM of every page, which has actually made me comfortable enough to use it for regular browsing as opposed to just turning UBO on for certain sites.
- wruza 2y ago
  Another upside is that sites can now just use these banners that Lite cannot block. We can finally block ads in our webpages and have ads! Win-win. This couldn’t be ever achieved without the truly titanic coordination efforts from google.
  - LiamPowell 2y ago
    Will they though? I don't think they will for 2 reasons: 1. Ad blocking on Safari has worked like this for years and none of the major ad networks have chosen to act on that fact. 2. It has always been possible for ads to work around UBO in various ways but no major ad network has even tried (e.g. server-side embedding of randomly obfuscated JS).
    - wruza 2y ago
      Ad blocking on safari is obscure, I regularly see tech threads where people aren’t even aware it exists. Mobile ads blocking for default browsers was always a puzzle. This means too little market share to address. It has always been possible for ads to work around UBO in various ways but no major ad network has even tried Cause arms race with a dynamic blocker is expensive and futile. You are trying to s/UBO/UBO Lite/ in this sentence and convince things will work the same way, they won’t.
    - whamlastxmas 2y ago
      There is absolutely no reason Google would be doing this unless it meant forcing more ads down our throats
  - kennysoona 2y ago
    Can you link to a page with something that can't be blocked by Lite?
    - wruza 2y ago
      https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions-(FAQ)#if-i-install-ubol-will-i-see-a-difference-with-ubo https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-as... In general, uBOL will be less effective at dealing with websites using anti-content blocker or minimizing website breakage because many filters can't be converted into DNR rules (see log of conversion for technical details). https://x.com/gorhill/status/1792688494999155147 https://x.com/gorhill/status/1792688494999155147
      - LiamPowell 2y ago
        The given example has been fixed for what it's worth. You can search for "redirect-rule=noopjs" to find most of the sites that have had anti-adblocking broken, it's a pretty small list: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/blob/main/chromium/log.txt https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/blob/main/chromium... Also note that some of those won't be related to anti-adblock and some sites may use a different method for anti-adblock.
      - kennysoona 2y ago
        Quoting a FAQ isn't what I asked for. If you can show a site that definitively displays ads in Lite but not uBo, then proide it.
        wruza 2y ago
        Oh I apologize for inconvenience. Not really. Not sure why you’re expecting me to dig through the sites and ads networks that don’t use differentiating techniques too often due to basically non-existing ubol userbase to this date. We’ll see how it goes in just a few months, I guess. I’ll be baffled if this fuzz was really about user security and not pushing ads down the throats. I’m also expecting to see more ads on mobile safari for it becoming compatible with the new widespread ad vulnerability.
lalaland1125 2y ago
Currently the limitations don't matter because ad companies haven't exploited them yet to forcefully show ads to you. I would assume that once uBlock Origin Lite is highly used it will rapidly become worthless as companies start targeting it

In practice, not much if you're not writing your own filters or using the umatrix-like functionality. There's a few rules that can't be ported but these don't apply to most sites: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions-(FAQ)#filtering-capabilities-which-cant-be-ported-to-mv3 https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-as... One massive upside is there's now a less comprehensive mode that doesn't allow the extension to view and edit the complete DOM of every page, which has actually made me comfortable enough to use it for regular browsing as opposed to just turning UBO on for certain sites.

wruza 2y ago
Another upside is that sites can now just use these banners that Lite cannot block. We can finally block ads in our webpages and have ads! Win-win. This couldn’t be ever achieved without the truly titanic coordination efforts from google.
- LiamPowell 2y ago
  Will they though? I don't think they will for 2 reasons: 1. Ad blocking on Safari has worked like this for years and none of the major ad networks have chosen to act on that fact. 2. It has always been possible for ads to work around UBO in various ways but no major ad network has even tried (e.g. server-side embedding of randomly obfuscated JS).
  - wruza 2y ago
    Ad blocking on safari is obscure, I regularly see tech threads where people aren’t even aware it exists. Mobile ads blocking for default browsers was always a puzzle. This means too little market share to address. It has always been possible for ads to work around UBO in various ways but no major ad network has even tried Cause arms race with a dynamic blocker is expensive and futile. You are trying to s/UBO/UBO Lite/ in this sentence and convince things will work the same way, they won’t.
  - whamlastxmas 2y ago
    There is absolutely no reason Google would be doing this unless it meant forcing more ads down our throats
- kennysoona 2y ago
  Can you link to a page with something that can't be blocked by Lite?
  - wruza 2y ago
    https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions-(FAQ)#if-i-install-ubol-will-i-see-a-difference-with-ubo https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-as... In general, uBOL will be less effective at dealing with websites using anti-content blocker or minimizing website breakage because many filters can't be converted into DNR rules (see log of conversion for technical details). https://x.com/gorhill/status/1792688494999155147 https://x.com/gorhill/status/1792688494999155147
    - LiamPowell 2y ago
      The given example has been fixed for what it's worth. You can search for "redirect-rule=noopjs" to find most of the sites that have had anti-adblocking broken, it's a pretty small list: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/blob/main/chromium/log.txt https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/blob/main/chromium... Also note that some of those won't be related to anti-adblock and some sites may use a different method for anti-adblock.
    - kennysoona 2y ago
      Quoting a FAQ isn't what I asked for. If you can show a site that definitively displays ads in Lite but not uBo, then proide it.
      - wruza 2y ago
        Oh I apologize for inconvenience. Not really. Not sure why you’re expecting me to dig through the sites and ads networks that don’t use differentiating techniques too often due to basically non-existing ubol userbase to this date. We’ll see how it goes in just a few months, I guess. I’ll be baffled if this fuzz was really about user security and not pushing ads down the throats. I’m also expecting to see more ads on mobile safari for it becoming compatible with the new widespread ad vulnerability.

lalaland1125 2y ago

Currently the limitations don't matter because ad companies haven't exploited them yet to forcefully show ads to you. I would assume that once uBlock Origin Lite is highly used it will rapidly become worthless as companies start targeting it