Manifest V3 will come with Chrome 88 in mid-January,
Stephen Shakland / CNET
With the next version of Chrome, Google is moving forward with plans to improve privacy and security by using some of the capabilities of the extension used to customize the browser. The move angered some developers, who had earlier announced they would crack down on ad blockers.
Manifest V3, the programming interface behind Google’s security plans, will come with Chrome 88 in mid-January, Google said at the Chrome Dev Summit on Wednesday. Extensions using the previous Manifest v2 will still work for at least a year.
The extension may change Chrome’s behavior through the capabilities displayed in Manifest v3. Among other things, Manifest V3 limits the number of “rules” that can be applied to a loaded text web page. Rules are used, for example, to check whether a website element comes from an advertiser’s server and should therefore be blocked. Google announced the change two years ago.
Reducing the number of rules allows angry creators of extensions such as the Ublock Origin ad blocker tax and Ghostry Tracking Blur tax. They said the limitations of the rules would prevent their extensions from running a full list of their actions on screen ads or block tracking. It can bypass websites extensions – and the preferences of those who have them installed.
Google has defended and argued its technology Giving extensions very much invites abuse of freedom. The search giant says it has listened to the developers and researched Manifest v3 in response. For example, he removed the original proposed rule limit and added a new method to apply some rules. Io, developer of one Widely used adblock plus extension, Said Tuesday it is satisfied with Google’s Manifest V3 approach.
The changes indicate how difficult it can be for Google to balance the need to provide developers with powerful tools and eliminate abuse. It’s especially hard to strike a balance if Chrome is one of the tech industry’s largest platforms. Google says more than a billion people use the browser, and according to analytics company StatCounter, it accounts for about 64% of web usage.
“We believe the extension should be trusted by default, which is why we’ve spent this year making it safe for everyone,” Google said in a blog post.
Edgard is not unhappy with Ghost Manifest V3
The shift brought by Manifest V3 will spread to all browsers, to the detriment of ad-blocking software software, said Adre Meshkov, co-founder and chief technical officer of the ad-blocking extension G Daguard.
The main prey of Manifest V3 is innovation, Meshkov said in a statement on Wednesday. Previously, ad blocker developers were exploring ideas like use Artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve their products. “This is no longer compatible. Now Chrome, Safari and Edge, suggest what can be blocked and what can be done and how it should be done.”
Ghostry Manifest is working to update its extension to V3 but will instead spend its time on “real privacy innovations,” President Jeremy Tilman said in a statement Wednesday. “We still have the real misconception that these changes are more about protecting Google from its bottom line than improving security for Chrome users.”
Google has included feedback from ad blocker developers Edgard and EasyList, the company said, and Meshkov credited the Chrome extension team for being “eager to fix it.”
“One of our goals is to make it as easy as possible for developers to achieve their core usage cases when less access to user data is required,” Google said in a statement.
The security risks of the extension are real. Google blocks more than 1,800 malicious extension uploads each month, it said in 2019.
The original developers of Ublock did not respond to a request for comment.
Getting the MicroSt Edge Manifest v3
The importance of Chrome team choices is heightened by the fact that other browsers, including Micro Edit Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Brave, built on its Chromium open-source foundation. Microsoft said it would also accept Manifest v3.
Microsoft said in an October October blog post, “After a detailed review of the concerns raised by content blockers and the community, we believe most of these concerns have been addressed or will be addressed.” “We recognize the value of content blocking extensions and appreciate their role in respecting user preferences.”
Another manifest V3 change is that extensions will no longer be able to update their capabilities by downloading code from third-party sites. Now that the full extension must be delivered through the Chrome Web Store, Google says it is improving security screens and motion reviews.
Manifest V3 should ultimately give Chrome users a better idea of how extensions use their data and provide more control over how it happens, Google said.
