Will the proposed Manifest V3 changes to Chrome break Privacy Badger?

[zikalify]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/22/google_chrome_browser_ad_content_block_change/

[pipboy96]

Related: ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium#706.

[pipboy96]

See the issue in HTTPS Everywhere's repository for statements recently made by browser vendors: EFForg/https-everywhere#17268.

[sillyjaybird]

@ghostwords I'm finding little current info on MV3 generally and wondering if you've learned anything new about it's impact on Privacy Badger? Is any work being done to develop a POC/ MV3-compliant version of the extension?

[ghostwords]

You can read our latest update on the EFF blog, Google’s Manifest V3 Still Hurts Privacy, Security, and Innovation. While the post doesn't go into Privacy Badger specifically, we talk about what happened around Manifest V3 in the last two years, what's (still) wrong with it, and how it could be better.

I have been participating in the W3C WebExtensions Community Group to advocate for extension developers and to raise awareness of the many problems with Manifest V3.

Privacy Badger in Manifest V3 is blocked by at least one (long-outstanding) bug, Chromium Issue 102421: webRequest listeners not called after service worker stops.

[ghostwords]

Privacy Badger version 2024.5.30 is live in Chrome Web Store. You can get get this update now by visiting chrome://extensions/, enabling "Developer mode" and clicking the "Update" button.

Producing this version took months of running to stay in place. MV3-based Privacy Badger is not a "lite" version of Privacy Badger. It is functionally similar to MV2-based Privacy Badger, slightly better in some ways, and worse in other ways, some of which will get fixed over the coming months.

[sillyjaybird]

Privacy Badger version 2024.5.30 is live in Chrome Web Store. You can get get this update now by visiting chrome://extensions/, enabling "Developer mode" and clicking the "Update" button.

Producing this version took months of running to stay in place. MV3-based Privacy Badger is not a "lite" version of Privacy Badger. It is functionally similar to MV2-based Privacy Badger, slightly better in some ways, and worse in other ways, some of which will get fixed over the coming months.

Are you able to describe the feature pros and cons of the MV3 version and which ones may get fixed over time? Or will you do this later as development progresses or is finalized, e.g. via an EFF blog post?

[ghostwords]

I've got to put out a few fires first. Afterwards, I'll be able to start documenting and generally sharing more. But there are few "pros". Manifest V3 is a huge mess. If Google wanted to, they could have rolled out a Manifest 2.5 with all of the pros and none of the cons, you know?

A list of outstanding issues from uBO's perspective: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions-%28FAQ%29#filtering-capabilities-which-cant-be-ported-to-mv3

[sillyjaybird]

I've got to put out a few fires first. Afterwards, I'll be able to start documenting and generally sharing more. But there are few "pros". Manifest V3 is a huge mess. If Google wanted to, they could have rolled out a Manifest 2.5 with all of the pros and none of the cons, you know?

I don't know how many developers contirbute to the project, but will you maintain both MV2 and MV3 versions or settle on the latter when it's more polished given it's shortcomings?

[ghostwords]

We will maintain MV2 Privacy Badger for as long as it makes sense to do so. Right now only Chrome is on MV3.

I think the main bright side here is that we should now be much closer to having Privacy Badger for Safari on macOS.

[sillyjaybird]

@ghostwords Any news on developments regarding upcoming releases of Privacy Badger?

[ghostwords]

Not yet! You can get release notifications by "watching" releases in this repository, or you can follow @[email protected] on Mastodon.

I'm closing this issue as a Manifest V3 version of Privacy Badger has been live in Chrome for a few months now.

[Mikaela]

We will maintain MV2 Privacy Badger for as long as it makes sense to do so. Right now only Chrome is on MV3.

Is there any guesstimate on for how long that is? I am coming from #3061 having poorly remembered this issue and I was under mistaken impression that everything was MV3 since

MV3-based Privacy Badger is not a "lite" version of Privacy Badger. It is functionally similar to MV2-based Privacy Badger...

---

I'll be able to start documenting and generally sharing more.

I guess that documentation will answer at least some of these questions

[ghostwords]

Our Edge and Firefox versions are still MV2. The main reason for staying on MV2 is that MV3 is buggy.

Edge adds its own bugs on top of ones it inherits from Chrome (for example). I am sure Firefox's MV3 implementation is similarly buggy (for example).

At some point we will either be forced to migrate, or MV3 will become less buggy and more fully featured than MV2 (at least for Privacy Badger's immediate needs), in which case we will migrate voluntarily.

[ghostwords]

https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/07/google_chrome_extensions/