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submitted 4 days ago by LWD@lemm.ee to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

Mozilla recently removed every version of uBlock Origin Lite from their add-on store except for the oldest version.

Mozilla says a manual review flagged these issues:

Consent, specifically Nonexistent: For add-ons that collect or transmit user data, the user must be informed...

Your add-on contains minified, concatenated or otherwise machine-generated code. You need to provide the original sources...

uBlock Origin's developer gorhill refutes this with linked evidence.

Contrary to what these emails suggest, the source code files highlighted in the email:

  • Have nothing to do with data collection, there is no such thing anywhere in uBOL
  • There is no minified code in uBOL, and certainly none in the supposed faulty files

Even for people who did not prefer this add-on, the removal could have a chilling effect on uBlock Origin itself.

Incidentally, all the files reported as having issues are exactly the same files being used in uBO for years, and have been used in uBOL as well for over a year with no modification. Given this, it's worrisome what could happen to uBO in the future.

And gorhill notes uBO Lite had a purpose on Firefox, especially on mobile devices:

[T]here were people who preferred the Lite approach of uBOL, which was designed from the ground up to be an efficient suspendable extension, thus a good match for Firefox for Android.

New releases of uBO Lite do not have a Firefox extension; the last version of this coincides with gorhill's message. The Firefox addon page for uBO Lite is also gone.

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[-] swag_money@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago
[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago
[-] swag_money@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

librewolf or that other browser that's in development, i forget the name

[-] Gingernate@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago
[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Are you just making words up?

[-] Moah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

Ladybird I think

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip -1 points 2 days ago

Ladybird?

It won't even reach Alpha until the summer of 2026 at a minimum. I wouldn't expect it to be a replacement for another few years assuming it doesn't fade away.

this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
442 points (94.2% liked)

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