2mo ago

The great tracker blocker conundrum

vivaldi.com The great tracker blocker conundrum | Vivaldi Browser

In the spirit of keeping Vivaldi free for all our users, we are trying out some changes to the way our tracker blocker works. These changes relate to ways in which our tracker blocker was affecting…

Dear Vivaldi users, get ready to be fu¢ked.

In the spirit of keeping Vivaldi free for all our users, we are trying out some changes to the way our tracker blocker works. These changes relate to ways in which our tracker blocker was affecting our partnership with search engines in unexpected ways.

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10 comments

Vivaldi is dead once uBlock Origin stops being supported. uBlock Origin is mandatory it today's internet, ignoring all the privacy benefits, it's a basic security tool at this point. They keep saying they have built-in ad blocking, but it's nowhere near half the functionality that uBlock Origin offers.
Signed, long time Vivaldi user.
We will keep Manifest v2 for as long as it’s still available in Chromium. We expect to drop support in June 2025, but we may maintain it longer or be forced to drop support for it sooner, depending on the precise nature of the changes to the code.
Source: https://vivaldi.com/blog/manifest-v3-update-vivaldi-is-future-proofed-with-its-built-in-functionality/
The most ironic part is that some are calling Manifest v3 as a win for security. Sure in the most basic view, it's more secure by default since it limits total access, but it ignores the simple fact why the broad access is needed in the first place. If you are trying to protect from sites that have broad access to tracking, be it malicious or abusive, you can't protect from it if your browser actively removes tools needed to protect from it. So in the end you are less secure even if you don't use any extensions in the first place.
- I've taken to Arc for my Windows desktop and keeping a close eye on Ladybird. Vivaldi has become something unwieldy anyway, it's moving away from what it once was: a simple, fast and privacy centered browser.
  Ladybird is still a ways away though and Arc doesn't have sync between desktop and mobile yet.
  
  Arc is just another venture capital project. I would stay clear at all costs, we should have learned that lesson already. One thing Vivaldi had was that it was employee owned company and seem to have decent values, instead of looking to increase CEO pay at any cost.
  Ladybird is an interesting project though maintainers transphobic views are scaring away a lot of potential contributors. Time will tell if anything comes of it.
  
  So what remains? Firefox or one of its forks? I've tried Pale Moon for a while, didn't really fit
  
  Zen browser. It is basically Arc on the Firefox engine. Still in alpha though I've been daily driving it.
  
  I don't think Firefox is a valid option anymore, you can see why in more detail here.
  Like I said I'm sticking with Vivaldi until their stop supporting uBlock Origin after than the only real options left are various Firefox forks. Because even if something like Ladybird develops into something good, it will take a long time until community development catches up to bring us all the quality of life stuff we are used to.
  
  My biggest issue with Ladybird is that I will have to switch to Linux. I know Windows sucks and everything but the way I use my pc I need Windows. It has excellent audio processing support, drivers that just work, gaming is a lot more complete especially since I have an Nvidia GPU but the most important one is I have the HP G2 which uses Windows Mixed Reality.
  If Vivaldi's ad blocker does somehow stop functioning and they will become just another chronium browser, I'll just try to install AdGuard on my Linux server again but it's difficult if you use Docker and Nginx.
  
  I thought they are planning on supporting all the major operating systems.
  It's just building on Windows is stupid, since it requires WSL 2. And they don't provide any pre-built binaries in this pre-alpha state.
  
  They say there are no plans to develop for Windows at this time
  
  That makes it useless to be honest. Whether people like Windows or not, it still makes up 68% of the operating systems market share.
  Another project dead before it even launched.

10 comments