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0 pointssymlinkk4y ago0 comments

Why does uBlock Origin need to be able to block things dynamically?

0 comments

It blocks requests based not merely on the full url, but just parts of it such as the the filename or path, or based on which tab or frame the load is for.

trzeci4y ago

It's impossible to provide a list of all ads urls. Simple RegEx matching works better, but that requires a dynamic approach

tyingq4y ago

Heuristics can use information like parts of the url, context of the request (origin domain for example, or "request is coming from an iframe"), existence of third-party cookies, already detected page behavior, and so on. It also allows for updating the rules on the fly. Like if I allowed something, but it turned out to be a bad idea.

staunch4y ago

And Chrome won't allow the extension block lists to include regexps/wildcards, they all have to be FQDNs?

It seems reasonable to require a static list for privacy reasons. But not supporting pattern matching rules would seem to be an explicit attempt to stop ad blockers.

xdennis4y ago

> It seems reasonable to require a static list for privacy reasons.

It's rich to cite privacy reasons for not allowing the blocking of ad sites whose goal is to spy on you.

1 more reply

tyingq4y ago

The block list rules can have regexes, yes:

https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/decla...

I don't personally believe that solves anything. Domain names are cheap. If I don't want my ad to be blocked, I can just rotate through lots of them.

Google has responded to some pressure by upping the max number of rules and allowing some amount of dynamically defined rules.

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db48x4y ago

It blocks requests based not merely on the full url, but just parts of it such as the the filename or path, or based on which tab or frame the load is for.

trzeci4y ago

It's impossible to provide a list of all ads urls. Simple RegEx matching works better, but that requires a dynamic approach

tyingq4y ago

staunch4y ago

And Chrome won't allow the extension block lists to include regexps/wildcards, they all have to be FQDNs?

It seems reasonable to require a static list for privacy reasons. But not supporting pattern matching rules would seem to be an explicit attempt to stop ad blockers.

xdennis4y ago

> It seems reasonable to require a static list for privacy reasons.

It's rich to cite privacy reasons for not allowing the blocking of ad sites whose goal is to spy on you.

1 more reply

tyingq4y ago

The block list rules can have regexes, yes:

https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/decla...

I don't personally believe that solves anything. Domain names are cheap. If I don't want my ad to be blocked, I can just rotate through lots of them.

Google has responded to some pressure by upping the max number of rules and allowing some amount of dynamically defined rules.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse