So, when Google announced that their Chrome browser's selective ad-blocking functionality would be rolling out worldwide, I was cautiously optimistic. I was even considering switching back to Chrome from Firefox, just to see what sort of a web browsing experience I could have on Google's browser, now that I didn't have to be running multiple extensions in order to block the bad guys.
And then, Google had to go and break everybody else's ad-blockers. Because of course they did; Google sells advertising, and obviously they want you to stop blocking as many ads as possible. Which sucks; they're basically taking away consumer choice, just to line their own pockets. Even worse, though, Google aren't just breaking ad-blocking extensions; they're breaking a whole bunch of other stuff in the process.
As reported by ZDNet:
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, and various privacy-enhancing services.
[...]
The biggest of these categories would be extensions developed by antivirus makers and meant to prevent users from accessing malicious sites and for detecting malware before it's being downloaded.Yikes.
"In addition to ad blocking this seems to affect also security software that rely on extension capabilities of dynamically blocking https traffic that is rated as malicious or otherwise harmful for user," said Jouni Korte, Senior Software Engineer for Finnish antivirus maker F-Secure.
"This includes pages spreading mal/spy/whateverware, but also for example parental control type of functions, i.e. protecting (child) user from content categorized as harmful/unwanted for him/her," he said.
The F-Secure developer's opinion that this would impact almost all security-related Chrome extensions was also echoed by Claudio Guarnieri, Senior Tehnologist at Amnesty International.
ZDNet goes on to note that this "feature" isn't yet finalized, and that Google might be convinced to not do this if enough people complain: "The question now remains if Google will back down after the enormous pushback from both end users and extension developers." Which is a very generous way of saying that Google had every intention of doing this horrible thing if they thought they could get away with it, but might back down now that people are talking about the need to begin anti-trust actions against the firm, something which is suddenly much more difficult to argue against.
The real good news, though, is that you, the consumer, have an alternative to Google and their anti-competitive, anti-consumer bullshit. It's called Firefox, and it's pretty great. So, if you're suddenly wanting to send Google a strong message that their bullshit simply won't fly, you can vote with your feet, switch to a different-but-equally-good browser, and keep right on blocking all the ads you want... and fuck Google's revenue stream.
Because make no mistake, Google's revenue stream is what this move is all about, regardless of whatever hand-waving claims they're making about protecting users' privacy and security by breaking all their malware-blocking-in-browser options. The fact that Google, whose revenue comes primarily from advertising, are taking steps to make it harder to block advertising, while making the weakest possible effort to limit the depredations of their advertiser clients, is not an accident.
There was once a time when Google's company mission statement was "don't be evil," and I still believe that most rank-and-file Googlers still hold to that ethos. On days like today, though, Google's "don't be evil" past feels like a long, long time ago.
The real good news, though, is that you, the consumer, have an alternative to Google and their anti-competitive, anti-consumer bullshit. It's called Firefox, and it's pretty great. So, if you're suddenly wanting to send Google a strong message that their bullshit simply won't fly, you can vote with your feet, switch to a different-but-equally-good browser, and keep right on blocking all the ads you want... and fuck Google's revenue stream.
Because make no mistake, Google's revenue stream is what this move is all about, regardless of whatever hand-waving claims they're making about protecting users' privacy and security by breaking all their malware-blocking-in-browser options. The fact that Google, whose revenue comes primarily from advertising, are taking steps to make it harder to block advertising, while making the weakest possible effort to limit the depredations of their advertiser clients, is not an accident.
There was once a time when Google's company mission statement was "don't be evil," and I still believe that most rank-and-file Googlers still hold to that ethos. On days like today, though, Google's "don't be evil" past feels like a long, long time ago.