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Chrome API Update Will Kill a Bunch of Other Extensions, Not Just Ad Blockers (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the endgame dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A planned update to one of the Google Chrome extensions APIs would kill much more than a few ad blockers, ZDNet has learned, including browser extensions for antivirus products, parental control enforcement, phishing detection, and various privacy-enhancing services. Developers for extensions published by F-Secure, NoScript, Amnesty International, and Ermes Cyber Security, among others, made their concerns public today after news broke this week that Google was considering the API change. Furthermore, efforts to port NoScript from Firefox to Chrome are also impacted, according to the plugin's author, who says the new API update all but cripples the NoScript for Chrome port.

4 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Makes it simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they do this then goodbye all Chromium based browsers that implement this and hello Firefox - and any browsers that fork from that...

    Sorry (not sorry) but my ability to block evil crud that pollutes my browsing and can potentially infect my devices is more important to me.

    1. Re:Makes it simple by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Before jumping ship, it's worth reading the actual thread discussing this change: https://groups.google.com/a/ch...

      Google staff are participating. They are talking about the need to keep the old API around indefinitely, perhaps with some limitations on functionality. The purpose of the proposal is to gather feedback from add-on developers about what functionality the new API doesn't offer and needs to be kept in the old API.

      In particular, they recognize that for privacy reasons it's important for users to have a 100% guarantee that certain things are blocked and not merely hidden, which is the main performance issue at the moment.

      Also, the developer of AdBlock Plus chimed in to dispel the myth that it's got something to do with them. They point out that AdBlock is affected by the change as well.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re: Makes it simple by houghi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Remember when google listened to the concerns when they raped Dejanews? Or any other time?

      Neither does anybody else, because they do not care. They have never cared. The moments they are on your side is just lucky, not intentional.

      Remember when Microsoft was the worst? They have not changed, others have just become even worster.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  2. Time to go back to Firefox. by AJWM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although, on my home machines I never left. Firefox isn't perfect, but at least it lets me run NoScript.

    Just as well. A browser monoculture, whether the old IE or the new Chrome, is and was never a good thing, however much web developers might think so.

    --
    -- Alastair