Adblock Plus for Safari released
adblockplus.org
adblockplus.org
Even if the allegations were completely untrue (which I doubt, since offline articles read seemed quite well and thoroughly researched), the fact that companies could buy a place on the whitelist seems the absolutely wrong approach to solve the underlying problem to me.
Edit: Highlight platform issue.
Michael Gundlach made enough money with AdBlock that he hired people to run AdBlock and don't work himself anymore. But he is way less transparent about it, than the guys from Adblock Plus. AdBlock has even closed their public source repository and issue tracker, to disguise who they are and what they are doing. I have never seen that any FOSS project ever did that before.
For example have a look at ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Extensions/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom/*/stats.js. There you find rather interesting code, that silently sends data about your configuration, environment along with a unique user id to their server.
For me AdBlock looks way more shady. While Adblock Plus just has found a business model, which might be controversial. But at least they are transparent about what they are doing.
I would expect some kind of disclosure to inform users of why this (once a day from what I gather) ping is required.
Maybe it is there and I am unable to find it though.
I also noticed a behind-the-scene connection to `https://goldenticket.disconnect.me/goldenticket/ticket/fetch...
It is absolutely unacceptable to that without asking the user. It is also illegal in some countries. Adblock Plus doesn't do that, and even provides an optional filter list to block tracking on websites.
[Citation needed]
>he hired people to run AdBlock and don't work himself anymore. But he is way less transparent about it, than the guys from Adblock Plus.
What? Just as the ABP project does outline their whitelisting process, Gundlach openly states the fact that other people get paid.
>AdBlock has even closed their public source repository and issue tracker...
With the power of your search engines combined: http://code.getadblock.com/releases/
>...to disguise who they are and what they are doing.
That's what you might feel and assume. Don't make this into a fact.
I already lost too much time with this reply.
>With the power of your search engines combined:
>http://code.getadblock.com/releases/
Of course they have releases and since JavaScript isn't compiled they include the source code. But what I said was that they have closed their public source repository (SVN) and issue tracker.
>>...to disguise who they are and what they are doing.
>That's what you might feel and assume. Don't make this into a fact.
So pointing out that AdBlock is tracking you doesn't count as a fact? I think that is something you really don't want to involve your community in.
I was referring to your statement of their alleged intentions.
It piggy-backed on the work already done for Adblock Plus (for Firefox). Adblock Plus for Google Chrome came much later.
It's why I switched permanently to Adblock Edge.
[0] http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/5/4496852/adblock-plus-eye-go...
EDIT: Downvoting doesn't change facts, although at times we wish it did.
(a) Acceptable ads always enabled after update - https://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17198
(b) Bug in Adblock Plus for Chrome and Opera caused acceptable ads setting to be reverted - https://adblockplus.org/blog/bug-in-adblock-plus-for-chrome-...
P.S. I've faced this issue numerous times on Firefox, so it wasn't just an issue on Chrome and Opera.
Indeed there was a bug on Chrome and Opera that re-enabled Acceptable Ads during an update. And of course it is tempting to believe that this was intended, given the controversy around Acceptable Ads. But believe it or not, every release of every software has bugs. And consider the complexity of the code initializing Adblock Plus, migrating old settings, setting up default filter lists and dealing with different storage APIs for almost every browser. Also a single setting being reset during update, is not a case you easily notice during testing. So it is no surprise that a bug like that made it into the release at some point.
Beside that there are several cases where browser profiles can be corrupted. That includes browser crashes, bugs in the browser itself, unreliable storage devices and a few other cases. You will realize that users of every extension that can be configured, occasionally report that their settings had been reset. Of course that don't bothers you if you use the default settings anyway. But also there is not much extension developers can do against that.
That's not an ad blocker. The trust is gone.
In the future they can just push more updates with new "features" enabled by default that allows more kinds of ads from their whitelist.
There's enough conversations on the web (and HN) on whether ABP "sold out" by white listing Google domains in return for cash. So when as a user you see a "bug" suspiciously and continously disregarding your choice of not wanting to see Google ads, the benefit of doubt ceases to rest with ABP. Especially when there are less compromised alternatives like Adblock Edge.
Adblock Edge just disabled Acceptable Ads by default and removed that option from the UI. Also considering that Adblock Edge is less maintained, it's not worth using it instead of Adblock Plus, if you ask me. You can just disable that option in Adblock Plus.
This point is untrue, at least in Safari, there is beforeload event and canLoad[1] function for preventing content from being loaded at all, not just hiding it after it is loaded.
https://developer.apple.com/library/safari/documentation/Too...
But even on Safari Adblock Plus blocks requests loading images, frames, scripts and other resources, by cancelling the beforeload event. Though it is not possible to block XMLHttpRequests and requests initiated by third-party plugins like Flash.
Wrong (for Chromium-based browsers). I am genuinely curious about how you came to believe this. Trying to understand how come that myth is still so spread.
Here, the API:
https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/webRequest
Edit: To make it clear my comment is about chromium-based browsers.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I unblock ads when the site that chooses to display them takes full responsibility for any malware or privacy leakage those entail.
That does not happen, therefore the ads stay blocked.
There are a few sites that run their own ad networks without the privacy issues and because they're reputable. Reddit is one such site that I will not block.
My hourly rate for fixing a machine is a lot more than the few tenths of a penny that ad view is worth. I never click on ads out of principle anyways.
Further, you as the web dev don't get to decide how and what content renders on my screen. That is my decision. If your business model doesn't pay the bills, that is your problem.
Oh well, adblock deals with it now anyway. In my opinion there is no such thing as a good ad. All ads go on the blacklist.
It is, but IMO adblockers wouldn't have sprung up if Ads were kept at an reasonable level. I remember some sites blaring fullscreen flash ads, where the 'X'-Button did not close the ad and forwarded to wherever, but the '█' did close it. I'm not making this up. This is not even touching the security and privacy implications and incidents.
I really think the there were too much grievances with the whole internet ads.
Related: It somewhat similar to the problem with torrents, people nowadays want their dope instantly – not necessarily gratis. Imagine HBO making GoT available at the same time world-wide for a moderate price. They would be swimming in cash.
In addition to blocking ads at the response level, GlimmerBlocker can be used block ads on mobile devices, do string replacement in requests or responses, keyword expansion, even entire page transformations w/ JavaScript.
It's not as idiot proof as ABP's "right-click and block", but nothing more complicated than anything else we see on HN. Also unlike ABP, there is no whitelist advertisers can buy into.
I set it up as a proxy for all known clients on my network, and it really makes the Internet better.
(http://i.imgur.com/pJ26iSr.png - screenshot of EasyList loaded)
Not wedded to the combination though - is ABP a better option?
Adblock Plus also blocks tracking when you add the EasyPrivacy filter list [1]. So you won't need Ghostery anymore. But you can also use both extensions at the same time, if you want.