These 6 browser extensions will protect your privacy online
The internet is not a private place. Ads try to learn as much about you to sell your information to the highest bidder. Emails know when you open them and which links you click. And some of the biggest internet snoops, like Facebook and Amazon, follow you from site to site as you browse the web.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. We’ve tried and tested six browser extensions that will immediately improve your privacy online by blocking most of the invisible ads and trackers.
These extensions won’t block every kind of snooping, but they will vastly reduce your exposure to most of the efforts to track your internet activity. You might not care that advertisers collect your data to learn your tastes and interests to serve you targeted ads. But you might care that these ad giants can see which medical conditions you’re looking up and what private purchases you’re making.
Here comes the Google Chrome change that worries ad blocker creators
Google says it s addressed concerns some Chrome extension developers had with its Manifest v3 technology. Listen - 04:08
Manifest v3 will arrive with Chrome 88 in mid-January, Stephen Shankland/CNET
With the next version of Chrome, Google is moving ahead with a plan to improve privacy and security by reining in some abilities of extensions used to customize the browser. The move had angered some developers who expected earlier it would cripple ad blockers.
Manifest v3, the programming interface behind Google s security plans, will arrive with Chrome 88 in mid-January, Google said Wednesday at the Chrome Dev Summit. Extensions using the earlier Manifest v2 will still work for at least a year.
Web advertising giant says it has been working with filter makers, others to evolve the platform Share
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Google, which makes most of its money from online ads, insists it wants ad blockers to continue working under the latest, more locked-down iteration of its Chrome browser extension platform, known as Manifest v3. We have been working closely with the developers of many extensions – including ad blockers, shopping extensions, productivity enhancements, developer tools, and more – to evolve the platform, said David Li, Chrome product Manager and Simeon Vincent, Chrome developer advocate, in a blog post on Wednesday.
To emphasize that point, the post quotes Sofia Lindberg, tech lead at Adblock Plus maker Eyeo – paid by Google and others not to block their ads – offering a similar assurance that ad-blocking extensions will still be available after Manifest v3 takes effect.
It s been a long slow hog and I almost gave up a few times (more than a few) but when covid hit this year it gave me some time to really focus on my product. There were stupid user journey things that I knew needed fixed. There were some features I knew needed added. And I knew the pricing was wrong.
I spent some hardcore time working on these things back in March / April and since then my MRR has continued to grow.
My product is SongBox (https://songbox.rocks) - it s an alternative to things like bandcamp and soundcloud for creators who need to share audio files privately.