Chrome’s next weapon in the War on Ad Blockers: Slower extension updates

Stop using Chrome and switch to Firefox!

I've always helped everyone I'm helping with their computers to switch to Firefox, but that's not enough.

In 2004 I blogged about How to install Firefox 1.0 perhaps it's time for an update of that article?

The relevant: Manifest V3 drops support for filter list updates. Adblocker updates, even if only filter list updates, need to go through the Chrome Web Store extension update approval process.

When Manifest V3 becomes mandatory, those updates that need to arrive "at minimum on a daily basis" will no longer be an option. Limiting remotely hosted code sounds like a totally reasonable limitation until you realize that. like most Manifest V3 changes, it seems carefully crafted to cripple ad blockers more than other extensions. Is a filtering list update, which is essentially just a list of websites, really something that needs to be limited by the "no remotely hosted code" policy?

So since all filter list updates now need to go through the Chrome Web Store, how long does a review take? Multiple sources on the web put it at anywhere from a few hours to three weeks, depending on the whims of Google's review system. Keep in mind these timelines are before Google will dramatically increase the workload of Chrome Web Store reviews by requiring absolutely all changes to go through the review process.

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

YouTube can instantly switch up its ad delivery system, but once Manifest V3 becomes mandatory, that won't be true for extension developers.

If ad blocking is a cat-and-mouse game of updates and counter-updates, then Google will force the mouse to slow down.

The current platform, Manifest V2, has been around for over ten years and works just fine, but it's also quite powerful and allows extensions to have full filtering control over the traffic your web browser sees.

Engadget's Anthony Ha interviewed some developers in the filtering extension community, and they described a constant cat-and-mouse game with YouTube.

Firefox's Manifest V3 implementation doesn't come with the filtering limitations, and parent company Mozilla promises that users can "rest assured that in spite of these changes to Chrome’s new extensions architecture, Firefox’s implementation of Manifest V3 ensures users can access the most effective privacy tools available like uBlock Origin and other content-blocking and privacy-preserving extensions."

Google claims that Manifest V3 will improve browser "privacy, security, and performance," but every comment we can find from groups that aren't giant ad companies disputes this description.

The original article contains 915 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I need a list of better browsers to use. Anyone can help?

I noticed chrome actually slowed down my entire pc even if it wasnt on, updater constantly read or wrote something according to procmon. after I deleted chrome i actually noticed the difference. this was also before this whole adblock war properly started.

Stupid question: does this just affect chrome or chromium too?

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