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by qxnqd 2387 days ago
Try Safari and/or Brave
2 comments

I was using Safari up until they have yanked support for extensions. The web is unusable, outright hostile place without a proper script blocker. I can tolerate a lot of things, but browsing the web without uBlockOrigin isn't one of them.
But Safari still supports extensions, surely? I’m using it with extensions, there are not stories I can see about them removing support, and their Développement pages are still up.
Their apis only support declarative static blocking lists. No heuristics, right click to block, IAB ad size detection, etc. Similar to what chrome plans to do with manifest v3.

Advertisers are already figuring out how to get around that. CNAME cloacking, proxying with same domain, etc.

But on the other hand, it prevents malicious extensions from exfiltrating your browsing data.
A powered off computer is completely unhackable.

This idea of removing usability in the name of safety has gone way, way too far. It was crap when Mozilla did it, it's crap when Apple does it.

Privacy is half the point of an ad blocker. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to enforce privacy constraints on something that ostensibly protects your privacy.
More specifically, they blocked extensions that work a certain way. The deal breaker for me was when uBlock origin was no longer able to run. I immediately switched to Firefox and Brave.
I have uBlock running on Safari...? Newest version. Or is uBlock not the same as uBlock origin?
No, uBlock is not the same as uBlock Origin.

Quote:

In July 2018, uBlock.org was acquired by AdBlock,[19] and began allowing "Acceptable Ads",[20] a program run by Adblock Plus that allows some ads which are deemed "acceptable", and the publisher pays Adblock Plus.[21]

EndQuote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin

Well, damnit. Thanks for the info.
They are not the same product[1].

uBlock was the original tool but was handed over to another maintainer some time ago. The original developer of uBlock, being unhappy with the direction of the tool, forked the repo and made uBlock Origin which he maintains and is often considered the better product by people here

[1]https://ublock.org/faq/

Safari does still support extensions, but they operate differently now.
True, but the extension ecosystem is poor now.

1. Extensions in the app store are not easily searchable. They aren't indexed/sorted on the store properly, and many only show up on Google.

2. Many of the good extensions are no longer available, e.g., UBO and KeePass, Vimium (there is a Vim extension, but it's a poor replacement so far).

3. The store promotes junkware and throwaway extensions.

Literally the day Firefox finds the way to be able to use all my passwords in keychain/suggest and generate new ones, I'm switching to it full time. I loved safari, but killing extensions is crossing a line.
Password generation landed in 69, right?

Latest on Keychain sopport is in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=106400#c130 as WONTFIX due to macOS changes.

Still holding out hope. I'll have to look into the suggestions again then! Maybe I could figure out a way to migrate keychain
Then go with Brave. They stripped out the Google bits, and they won't remove support for the current uBlock Origin ad blocker.
Plus,[0]Brave is going to block [1]CNAME Cloaking first-party trackers, AFAIK no other browser, not[2]add-on, has or plan to have such blocking capabilities.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/4DdMh7X

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21604825

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21582698

It also sells your eyeballs by allowing certain adds after they've been paid.

It's basically racketeering.

If you're keen on using chromium with manifest v2 add-ons, Vivaldi and Microsoft edge are both options to keep in mind.

Brave won't be affected by manifest v3 though

https://twitter.com/brave/status/1088914000379731970

That is opt-in.

Edge hasn't been released yet.

Vivaldi UI is a buggy and slow mess (I invite you to try it yourself)

Edge-ium is about to be released. It's very stable. I've been using the preview for months.
I use Vivaldi alongside Chrome for dev, and from that perspective (for the other devs here on HN) they seem like clones of each other. Both running the same JS engine and dev tools.
the [2] link states that ublock origin in firefox already supports this. did you even read it or just copy paste from someone elses brave fanboy comment.
Snarky comment aside, I'd suggest you to re-read my post, i specifically wrote "not add-on"
Just curious: why would I need ublock origin if I am using Brave (which is already blocking ads)? Thx
I use it because I've written many filters for my favourite websites. Also you can use lists which can block even more things. In my case I've blocked all social network bullshit, including icons, share buttons, widgets, etc
Why Brave rather than the Epic Privacy Browser?

(They are both based on Chromium....)

Because Epic is purely "private browsing" a.k.a. constant "porn mode." Painful to use at sites you want to remember you.
I'm loving pihole https://pi-hole.net/
Pi Hole is a good first layer, but good sites occasionally have bad shit on them, so you can't rely entirely on host-based blocking.
But they rarely host the bad shit themselves, so it still is easily blockable.
Brave is Chrome(ium)