Ad blocking on Chrome: from January it will be more difficult

In Italy almost one in three users use blocking tools advertising on Chrome or in at least some of their online activities, while the world average reaches 37%. This is what emerges from the last report on Hootsuite digital trends. To do this, most of these users use extensions on their Chrome browser, by far the most used on both desktop and mobile. Starting next January, however, Google’s browser will implement a new one framework development tool for extensions, called Manifest V3which will go to severely limit the operation of adblocker And tracker blocker – this is the name of the extensions that block advertisements and trackers while browsing. The Mountain View giant justifies this change as an improvement both in terms of safety and performancebut many developers and associations dealing with privacy and digital rights are strongly criticizing the choice, seen as a way for Google to further expand their control over the web.

Many extensions, one file

Let’s start from the basics: extensions are small software that can be downloaded through special web stores that go to expand the functionality of your browser. In addition to the adblocker we find translators, password managers, news aggregators, extra features for social networks and more. If from a functional point of view the variety is enormous, from a technical point of view these extensions have a lot in common: in particular, a fundamental element is a file called manifest.jsonwhich provides the browser with basic information on how the e. extension works on his permissions. The bone of contention is precisely one of these permissions, the one that regulates access to the named API Web Request: this API is compatible with Manifest V2 but will not be compatible with the new version, being replaced by a new API called Declarative Net Request. Both have the function of regulate the connections that pass through the browserpossibly locking or modifying them. This is what makes it possible for all those extensions that block advertisements or modify the URLs visited to work, removing their tracking parameters (for example the string that starts with ? fbclid in URLs opened via Facebook). The difference between the way they work Web Request And Declarative Net Request lies in the times and ways in which this happens: if the first allows a large degree of freedom to the extension, managing requests in real time, with the second developers will need to state in advance how individual requests will be handled from your software, thus limiting its functionality.

Security and privacy

Google claims that the new API will improve browser performance, making them faster, and user safety. Being able to manage and modify the requests that pass through the browser is in fact a rather invasive permissioneasily exploitable in a malicious way to direct users to an address where a malware or more simply to advertisements other than those provided by the site you are visiting. According to Google Manifest V3 it will reduce malicious uses of this feature, improving user security. He doesn’t think the same wayElectronic Frontier Foundationa non-profit organization that defends civil rights in the digital world, which defines Manifest V3 “Dishonest and threatening”, explaining how Manifest V3 will continue to allow extensions to monitor all browser traffic and use Javascript to interact with web pages, another way to divert traffic and extract data. Furthermore, the declared improvement in performance would translate into a saving of a few milliseconds in practice, an imperceptible difference for anyone without measurement tools. The developers of extensions such as Adguard and Ghostery that this change will greatly worsen user privacy. The Eff also points out how Manifest V3 is “A new example of the Google’s conflict of interestwhich simultaneously controls the most used browser and the largest advertising network on the internet “. Chrome has been traveling on for years percentages of market share which are around 60%, a percentage that rises further when counting all the other Chromium-based browsers, such as Edge, Opera, Vivaldi and Brave. The only two real competitors left for Chrome are Safarilimited to Apple devices, and Firefox, for years considered in decline. The Cupertino browser has already been compatible with Manifest V3 for some time, while Firefox will adopt the framework, but also leaving Manifest V2 running.