Google says that it does not kill ad blockers

In response to the controversy surrounding an impending Google Chrome change, Google said this week not to kill ad blockers. Instead, he's just trying to make them safer.

"We do not prevent the development of ad blockers or prevent users from blocking ads," says a new post on the Google Security blog. "Instead, we want to help developers, including content blockers, write extensions to protect the privacy of users."

The problem here is rather complex because it involves changes to the internal platform brought by Google to Google Chrome that affect the operation of certain types of browser extensions, including ad blockers. The changes made by Google are collectively known as Manifest V3. The parts that have the most impact on the developers of extensions are in a new API called Declarative Net Request, which replaces parts of an old Web query API.

"Instead of a user granting each extension access to all [the user’s] With sensitive data, we are creating ways for developers to request access only to the data they need to achieve the same functionality, "says Google. "With the current Web Query API, users allow Google Chrome to transmit to the extension all the information related to a network query (which may include items such as emails, photos, or pictures)." Other private information). On the other hand, the Declarative Net Request API allows extensions to block content without requiring the user to grant access to sensitive information. "

And in addition to the security and privacy benefits, the new Declarative Net Request API also offers "significant system performance benefits."

But this change is controversial because many popular extensions, including ad blockers, rely on the Web Request API. Google claims to work with extension developers to help them update their offerings to work with the new API and continue to "iterate" the Manifest V3 "to find solutions that address current usage issues. extensions and to protect our users in a secure and integrated way. control."

It looks great. But the makers of extensions that block ads do not seem very impressed by Google's efforts.

"They tried to give the impression that they were working with the developer community, whereas in reality they are well anchored in what they want to do," said Jeremy Tillman, president of the advertising blocker focused on privacy and security. Ghostery told Wired. "The new API is not a bad thing in itself, but it becomes a bad thing when it is the only option because it lacks the flexibility offered by the Web Requests API."

This does not help that Google's main source of revenue is, by far, the sale of ads. And that Google collaborated with the advertising industry to create a built-in Chrome ad blocker that, wait for it, does not actually block ads. This ad blocker will be deployed worldwide in July.