It also spells out that the new API can consist solely of static, known ahead-of-time rules[1]. The rules are json, so that kills any logic beyond pattern matching. We already know that approach severely limits the effectiveness and usability of an ad blocker. It's pretty much the same as ad blocking with a hosts file, other than being able to also statically provide path info. Imagine a list of "bad sites" and/or "bad uris". Limited to 30k entries to cover the entire internet.

The fact that the plan ends with extensions still able to see all web requests, record all web requests, forward a log of all web requests to any arbitrary endpoint, etc...means the "privacy" angle is pure bullshit. I suppose the "performance" angle is somewhat true, but the net performance gain of NOT downloading all the ads makes up for any performance loss of processing/filtering requests. Sites with ads are faster when you load an adblocker.

The only thing being taken away is the ability to dynamically observe a web request and cancel it. Who uses that functionality outside of ad-blockers? Not many. There's no hyperbole in the headline.

[1] https://developers.chrome.com/extensions/declarativeNetReque...