[HN Gopher] uBlock Origin 1.48 adds readiness status, code viewe...
___________________________________________________________________
uBlock Origin 1.48 adds readiness status, code viewer, and other
fixes
Author : rc00
Score : 303 points
Date : 2023-03-21 16:28 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| gred wrote:
| var internetExperience = uBO ? Experience.NICE :
| Experience.DIE_A_LITTLE_INSIDE;
|
| var internetSafety = -10;
|
| internetSafety += windows ? -5 : 3;
|
| internetSafety += uBO ? 4 : -9;
|
| internetSafety += uMatrix ? 13 : -99;
| 0l wrote:
| uMatrix is redundant with uBO Dynamic filtering:
|
| https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-qu...
| yborg wrote:
| I just wish it used the uMatrix UI, which I think was easier
| to parse, at the cost of much more space of course. But I
| have plenty of room on my desktop display.
| VWWHFSfQ wrote:
| why on earth would they add their own beautifying code viewer to
| the extension. this thing has become bloat city
| gorhill wrote:
| This is an auxiliary tool, it does not affect uBO's efficiency
| when not using the auxiliary tools (logger, viewers, etc.) You
| won't find a leaner content blocker than uBO CPU- and memory-
| wise, by quite a good margin, and this new auxiliary tool
| changes nothing about this.
|
| Being a volunteer filter list maintainer is a thankless and
| time-consuming task, and when I myself investigate filter
| issues, I repeatedly have to go through the same steps which is
| looking at the source code of pages and JS resources, which
| most often are minified, and it's also difficult to navigate
| between the different resources back and forth. If you want to
| understand the benefits, I suggest you regularly try to
| contribute to filter lists.[1]
|
| * * *
|
| [1] https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues
| throitallaway wrote:
| You help make the Internet more usable and less dangerous for
| countless people every day. This isn't to mention the real
| world impact of less power usage due to fewer assets being
| transferred and rendered (or executed.) Thank you!
| oriettaxx wrote:
| Thank you soooo much!
| ycombinete wrote:
| Thank you for everything that you do with Ublock Origin.
| beardog wrote:
| Thank you for all your efforts!
| joshspankit wrote:
| With the Code Viewer, uBlock may (un?)intentionally win a
| separate war: one where pages are acting against users who open
| the inspector.
|
| Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35235732
| clircle wrote:
| Pro tip: if you are concerned that you are spending too much time
| reading the internet, just uninstall ublock. You'll be so
| disgusted by the current state of affairs that you'll want to
| spend as little time online as possible.
| vmoore wrote:
| I've been using uBo since the start. Went to use the web
| without it and it was like using the web naked. It didn't feel
| right.
| kgwxd wrote:
| Every time I setup a new OS and forget to install uBO, I'm
| instantly reminded when I go anywhere but HN. Then I feel like
| I have to wipe the harddrive again just to be sure I'm not
| infected with something after the exposure.
| A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote:
| My work does not filter anything ( it won't let me use some
| websites, but will happily let me see ads for new yard gizmos )
| so the few times I actually am forced to look for something on
| work PC, it is a quick reminder why I bother doing all the
| things I do.
| shuntress wrote:
| Pro Tip: That's why you need to pay for what you read.
| yieldcrv wrote:
| I bit the bullet and subscribe to Bloomberg, WSJ and NY Times
| which is a good mix of center, moderate-right and left
|
| and this is far improved my experience. it makes me sad that
| people arent/cant get these articles and have this other
| rage-bait experience, but I'm glad I opted out of that crap
| petodo wrote:
| anyone visiting HN should be able to install Bypass
| paywalls chrome clean and uBlock origin
| yieldcrv wrote:
| none of which work for the default mobile browser, or
| those service's associated mobile apps
|
| and there's an experience beyond archive.is
|
| moving on
| Kye wrote:
| I'm not going to subscribe to some random regional newspaper
| to read one article. And some of the most egregious
| advertising implementations don't come with a way to pay to
| make it go away, like Fandom.
| agumonkey wrote:
| ad agencies: caring about you since -oo
| samstave wrote:
| HOLY CRAP! this is a good statement.
|
| As someone who has sat in front of a computer daily for nearly
| 30 years, this really hit me.
|
| I am REALLY good at maintaining a no-ad/no-spam experience for
| my self with high-density-information content, that I almost
| never see ads.
|
| My viewing is clean, I have never been accidentally rick-
| rolled, I have never seen TG1C, TubGirl, etc... no Ogrish or
| other crap...
|
| I am my own 'curator'
|
| -
|
| But yeah - if you dont take time to set mental-health-
| boundaries against the internet - then the internet is the same
| as the experiments when they just plugged in a machine (win98?
| xp? cant reacall) - pwnd in matter of minutes.
|
| Thats the same as your mind.
|
| put mental firewalls up.
|
| Be open to positive content, but destroy negative impacts on
| your mental health with impunity.
| warner25 wrote:
| Yeah, I've said before that whenever my wife wants to show me
| something from the web on her laptop, I blown away by how bad
| it is. The experience in her browser (Chrome with all defaults,
| usually on ad-supported social media or puzzle or pop culture
| news sites, or shopping sites) is like being assaulted to me.
|
| Of course the other thing that's been happening is that most of
| it isn't "reading the internet" anymore; it's all watching
| short-form videos (also laced with ads).
| nicoco wrote:
| Not installing ublock on your wife's laptop? Why are you so
| cruel?
| medo-bear wrote:
| i think that is grounds for divorce
| jjoonathan wrote:
| The real difficulty hurdle isn't installing it (or having
| someone install it), the real hurdle is when it breaks
| something important and you have to realize that Ad Block
| belongs on the suspect list and you have to know how to
| disable it, reset cookies, and try again.
| 12345hn6789 wrote:
| This basically never happens if you're using default
| config uBlock origin
| [deleted]
| thrwy_ee_custmr wrote:
| Happens occasionally. It is uncommon but happens enough
| to ruin the day of unsuspecting users.
|
| For example, go to https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/My-EE-
| app-and-website/EE-Site-... and search for "Adblocker" in
| this page. You will find a story where their mobile
| service provider blacklisted their IP because they
| clicked on a button on the website while their adblocker
| was enabled.
|
| Exactly the same thing happened to me with the same
| mobile service provider except that I was using uBlock
| origin when my mobile service provider blacklisted my IP.
|
| Bank websites sometimes breaking in the presence of an
| adblocker is a common occurrence in many parts of the
| world.
|
| You live in one geography and you visit websites that you
| need in your life. Do not assume everyone else is having
| the same experience as you. Websites breaking in the
| presence of adblockers is a real thing that sometimes
| makes us hesitate to install it on the browsers of our
| friends and family who may not be as tech savvy as we
| are.
| Shared404 wrote:
| My no contract phone provider is broken by adblock, and
| will shadow ban my IP temporarily if I forget to entirely
| disable it and then grant all permissions the site
| requests.
|
| I still install uBlock Origin on most of my friends
| computers, but make sure they know to open any sites that
| break in a private tab.
| kleiba wrote:
| Yeah, except that has never happened to me in 20+ years
| of using ad blockers.
| ktta wrote:
| Never? So many news websites detect adblocker use and
| stop you from reading the article till you disable it
| 411111111111111 wrote:
| It depends on how strongly you filter.
|
| The default rules probably won't cause issues, but you'll
| still see a lot of ads. As you optimize these away,
| things start breaking
| hiccuphippo wrote:
| I feel like it's not that it never happens to me but that
| I quickly leave and forget the site that blocks me. Non-
| survivorship bias.
| bennysonething wrote:
| I just use Firefox with unblock for general browsing.
| Chrome if I'm trying to buy something and I need the page
| not to break.
| warner25 wrote:
| I've offered, but she declined. She really likes sales and
| coupon offers, extensions for cash-back that are based on
| tracking, etc. Someone else said it best about their spouse
| on another thread:
|
| "...whenever a website doesn't work for any reason I get an
| earfull about my 'damn adblocker'..."
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30150762
| vuln wrote:
| x3
|
| "I like the ads." - Wife
| nvr219 wrote:
| I would highly recommend installing pihole at home.
| sciencesama wrote:
| wish we can use ublock as a proxy to do a network wide adblock !
| oriettaxx wrote:
| I love this one https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole
| skrause wrote:
| I used https://www.privoxy.org/ around 2002-2005, before
| adblockers as browser extensions existed. Proxy based
| adblocking was much easier when basically no website used SSL.
| shoffmeister wrote:
| uBlock Origin is what makes the Internet usable.
|
| I am saddened that I do not know how to best express my gratitude
| towards gorhill, and the filter list maintainers, for their
| incredibly valuable, tireless work, so "Thank you, so, so much!"
| will have to do here.
|
| It's only thanks to uBlock Origin, I believe, that my parents (of
| rather old age) are able to make positive use of the Internet. A
| world without uBlock Origin would see them drowning in an
| onslaught of noise, attacks, flashing attention-grabbing spam,
| none of which improves the quality of their lives.
|
| So, thank you, thank very very much, gorhill, and the filter list
| maintainers!
| vmoore wrote:
| uBo is great, but can sometimes break sites who ask you to
| 'disable your AD blocker to view this page'. That's rare
| though, but it does happen.
| gorhill wrote:
| By default we defuse such anti-blocker. If it happens, it's
| just a matter of reporting it to filter list maintainers. The
| more people report issues, the better the default filter
| lists get.
|
| Also, a common cause of such anti-blocker walls is the use of
| other content blockers beside uBO, as this often breaks uBO's
| own anti-blocker mechanisms -- we often resolve such issues
| by asking people to disable other content blockers.
| kgwxd wrote:
| My solution is to leave the site :) and then add the domain
| to an add-on I made for myself that hides any links to it,
| on any page, any where.
|
| I was hoping uBO would eventually get a dedicated feature
| like that, I don't think it's possible with filters. I
| tried pretty hard. I think knowing anyone could decide to
| completely erase a domain from their entire internet
| experience, down to the link level, would motivate sites
| not to do stupid things like this.
| mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
| I would totally use that add-on if you were interested in
| maintaining it as a publically available add-on.
|
| Does it just strip out the <a> tag?
| kgwxd wrote:
| It is in the official extension repository [1]. I had to
| put it there because of how difficult/impossible it is to
| run a local extensions. But it's definitely not designed
| for general use. I'll be glad to guide you if the tiny
| amount of help I've included isn't enough.
|
| The source [2] is available too.
|
| The actual idea of the extension is "Style stuff using
| regular expressions". So you specify a regex; what to
| search, attributes and/or text (text can cause a lot of
| undesired results so I don't use it much); and css styles
| to add to the elements containing matches. I only really
| use it to apply visibility: hidden to any element with an
| attribute matching one big regex that's basically just a
| bunch of domains regex |'d together. The example in the
| options UI is what I'm still using years later, I've just
| added more domains.
|
| EDIT: I just realize the example has "searchText" set to
| true, you'll probably want to set that to false.
|
| To give you some idea of how user unfriendly it is,
| configuration is JSON in a textarea and the regexs are
| defined in a string in that JSON, necessitating the use
| of many backslashes for escaping from both regex and
| strings. It's basically brainfuck :)
|
| I originally started with just taking out tags but that
| idea was quickly shot down. Lots of links aren't <a>
| tags. Sometimes the domain being linked to is buried in
| some JS in a onX event attribute, or some data-* attr
| that the UI framework uses and a bunch of other oddities.
| So the code searches all attrs. It's not super efficient
| but I've never noticed it causing a slow down.
|
| Another problem is, often, the original request doesn't
| even contain the links, they're loaded after. So it uses
| a MutationObserver and looks at the new elements for
| matches.
|
| [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ssure/
|
| [2] https://github.com/7w0/ssure/blob/master/content/cont
| ent.js
| gorhill wrote:
| > I don't think it's possible with filters
|
| We constantly create filters for detection issues[1].
| Filter list maintainers have a lot of experience on how
| to work around such issues, with solutions that are often
| not obvious to people that are less familiar with
| filtering capabilities and syntax. The only way to know
| for sure whether it can be addressed is by reporting it.
|
| * * *
|
| [1] https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues?q=is%3
| Aissue+...
| BystanderX wrote:
| Donate to the filter list maintainers if they accept it.
|
| https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don%27t-you-accep...
| unity1001 wrote:
| > I do not know how to best express my gratitude towards
| gorhill
|
| Them opening a Patreon and you patronizing them would work
| great. And ensure the continuity of the project.
| foepys wrote:
| I somewhat wished that when Chrome switches to manifest v3,
| uBlock Origin would stop supporting Chrome and its clones.
|
| Firefox is the only browser where uBlock Origin is actually
| working as intended, Chrome on the other hand (even in manifest
| v2) is blocking so many features that uBO isn't actually able to
| work as a privacy and anti-malware tool. CNAME uncloaking is
| essential because websites can counter any filter rule by just
| aliasing the Google Analytics domain but Chrome doesn't have an
| API for that. Instead you need a gigantic list of filter rules,
| one for each domain, making loading web pages slower.
|
| uBO is even slower in Chrome because Chrome doesn't allow
| extensions to use wasm.
|
| https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-b...
| sharps1 wrote:
| uBlock Lite is already in testing.
|
| https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin-lite...
|
| EDIT: Discussion from 6 months ago
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32911640
| tyingq wrote:
| I wished it had been named "uBlock Neutered" or something
| that more strongly highlighted the relationship to uBlock
| Origin.
| [deleted]
| bornfreddy wrote:
| Or uBlock Chrome Edition. When it doesn't work as good as
| uBO on FF, let it be known whose fault it is.
| dpkirchner wrote:
| uBlock Reduced Functionality exclusive to Chrome
| favaq wrote:
| Chrome will still be faster even if ublock doesn't block
| as much as FF does. In fact the new declarative filters
| will most likely be faster than the current ones.
| tyingq wrote:
| In the same way that a car is faster if you make it
| lighter by removing parts that aren't technically needed
| to drive down the road :) Airbags, ABS, Crossmembers?
| Meh.
| therealmarv wrote:
| There is a solution for Chromium based browsers:
|
| https://github.com/brave/adblock-rust
|
| but you will only have it built-in in Brave currently.
| charcircuit wrote:
| >CNAME uncloaking is essential
|
| >Chrome doesn't have an API for that.
|
| It rolled out a year ago.
|
| https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=115104...
|
| >Chrome because Chrome doesn't allow extensions to use wasm.
|
| Chrome doesn't allow loading remote web assembly in mv3
| extentions. You can't run remote javascript either. It's fine
| if you bundle the wasm with your extension.
| jhoelzel wrote:
| I can not even thank the existence of this project enough!
|
| the simple improvement in internet speed is well worth it, even
| though i do too have a pihole running.
|
| Sometimes when i visits friends i barely recognize sites that i
| use frequently.
| pkulak wrote:
| I just run AdGuard Home network wide and have never seen a huge
| need to run a browser blocker as well. What are you getting out
| of using both?
| kgwxd wrote:
| The ability to leave the house for one :)
| babypuncher wrote:
| DNS-based ad blockers only block connections to domains known
| to serve ads.
|
| A browser-based blocker is able to block ads served by the
| same domain as the content you actually want, without
| blocking said content. They are also able to apply fixes to
| pages that break or have bad layouts when ads fail to load
| in.
| tedivm wrote:
| UBO catches things for me that Adguard doesn't, so having
| both is pretty useful to me.
|
| UBO also blocks harmful elements inside of a page, not just
| page loads. I've used it to automatically remove the annoying
| paywalls that are just an element over the text I want to
| read.
| asdff wrote:
| I block all sorts of stuff thats not even ads. Stuff like
| "suggested for you" sidebars on websites I frequent I will
| just right click and block. All sorts of stuff. If I don't
| use it, no need to load it next time, so out it goes.
| ycombinete wrote:
| Is Adguard better than Pihole? I always thought that adguard
| were baddies, but maybe I'm conlflating them with another
| product...
| zwog wrote:
| Maybe you are confusing AdGuard with AdBlockPlus? The
| latter[1] and the parent company Eyeo GmbH have some points
| of criticism.
|
| AdGuard is basically pi-hole, just with different pre-
| configured filter lists and especially child and parental
| control settings. IIRC, some services can also be blocked
| there directly, Instagram for example.
|
| 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus#Controversies
| throitallaway wrote:
| A concrete example here is YouTube. I also run AdGuard Home,
| but that does nothing for YouTube ads. Firefox + uBlock kills
| them.
| Dwedit wrote:
| Unfortunately, uMatrix (the other gorhill project) has bad bugs
| on Firefox.
|
| When you navigate to another page, it will sometimes get the host
| for a web request wrong, causing it to apply the wrong rules for
| that request. This can cause you to lose your login cookies. And
| since uMatrix has been discontinued, so there's no more central
| repository to collect bug fixes.
|
| A fork is available called nuTensor which does resolve the cookie
| clearing problem, but I often see hosts that are not part of the
| current page (they were from the page I was previously viewing)
| appearing on the grid.
| yborg wrote:
| >This can cause you to lose your login cookies
|
| Huh, so that was why that was randomly happening. Sigh, I
| totally understand gorhill not wanting to have to support
| another overlapping tool, but uMatrix is unparalleled for
| visualizing the sheer mass of privacy vampirism on the modern
| Web. I've learned a lot from using it on sites, and am now kind
| of a cottage expert on CDNs thanks to determining the minimum
| whitelisting to get a site's basic functionality to run.
| Semaphor wrote:
| Do you have an example of how one can test that? Or be more
| specific? I don't remember ever encountering any issue like
| that, but that might simply be because I didn't know about that
| bug.
| userabchn wrote:
| I believe uMatrix development was discontinued a few years ago,
| so it is not surprising that it doesn't work reliably anymore.
| eshack94 wrote:
| Correct, it was discontinued awhile ago, sadly. I loved that
| project.
| tgv wrote:
| Me too. I still use it.
| msla wrote:
| This is uBlock Origin. uBlock is, sadly, a separate project.
| codetrotter wrote:
| Yep. Title should be: uBlock Origin 1.48.0 Adds Readiness
| Status, Code Viewer, and Other Fixes
|
| uBlock Origin is the good one
| baal80spam wrote:
| I knew uBlock Origin was "the good one" but I didn't know its
| repo is called uBlock, it's quite confusing. Can you rename
| repos in github?
| Arnavion wrote:
| >Can you rename repos in github?
|
| Yes you can, and GH sets up an automatic redirect from the
| old name to the new name (as long as you don't create a new
| repo with the old name).
| Atlas22 wrote:
| If i recall correctly, they have the same name because they
| were once the same project. Renaming would likely break
| many workflows/bookmarks that people use to tell the
| difference. Maybe mirroring the existing repo to another
| with origin in the name would be a compromise?
| masfuerte wrote:
| It is confusing. I find it easier to remember that gorhill
| is the good guy.
| dizhn wrote:
| To make things even more confusing gorhill is actually
| the creator of the original ublock too.
| codetrotter wrote:
| The way that I recall it is like this:
|
| gorhill created uBlock.
|
| After some amount of time gorhill found that the uBlock
| project was taking up too much of his time.
|
| gorhill handed over the uBlock project to someone else.
|
| That other person or other group of people took the
| uBlock project in a direction that gorhill did not agree
| with.
|
| gorhill decided that because of this, he should continue
| to maintain a version of uBlock.
|
| Thus was born uBlock Origin.
| dang wrote:
| Ah ok, we've put Origin in the title above. Thanks!
| princevegeta89 wrote:
| Does anyone know if there is a way to sync settings/filters
| across multiple uBlock Origin installations? I use a ton of
| browsers and find the manual export/import to be a hassle.
| rmkrmk wrote:
| I think there's a setting to enable cloud storage, so as long
| as you're logged into Firefox Sync/Chrome it can be synced but
| has to be triggered manually to sync/merge the filter lists.
| princevegeta89 wrote:
| Is it possible to sync between Firefox, Chrome, Brave, Edge?
| I assume we're limited to the same browser only though?
| gorhill wrote:
| Yes, same browser since uBO just uses the
| `browser.storage.sync` API.[1] The sync storage is quite
| limited but uBO compresses the data to make the most of the
| limited storage.
|
| * * *
|
| [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-
| ons/Web...
| frereubu wrote:
| I've got that set up, but it doesn't seem to work:
| https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Cloud-storage I've
| followed the steps carefully a coupe of times, but still no
| luck. The page does include the caveat "Cloud storage
| services offered by specific browser vendors have limitations
| and quirks and are out of the control of uBO" which seems to
| be the case for me.
| neurostimulant wrote:
| Your list/filters is probably too large.
|
| > If syncing is enabled, the data is synced to any Chrome
| browser that the user is logged into. If disabled, it
| behaves like storage.local. When the browser is offline,
| Chrome stores the data locally and resumes syncing when
| it's back online. The quota limitation is 100 KB approx, 8
| KB per item. Consider using it to preserve user settings
| across synced browsers.
|
| https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/stor
| a...
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(page generated 2023-03-21 23:01 UTC)