Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

uBlock Origin is amazing in that it has not succumbed to scammers. Every other blocker including AdBlock and the original uBlock have sold out to scummy companies. It's a problem with every successful browser extension, they all start getting offers from scammers to sell out.

We all owe a huge debt of gratitude that gorhill is a principled character and has stayed on to guide uBlock Origin all these years.




That's not an accident. uBlock Origin used to be called just "uBlock". The author of uBlock Origin gave up control of uBlock because he was frustrated with requests to the project.[0] He immediately regretted this decision, forked the original project and this event cemented his view that uBlock Origin would never be out of his control.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin


Absolutely. Ublock origin is probably one of the highest impact products on my life. I would have a measurably worse time if it didn't exist or didn't work as well as it does. And it is free!

The developer is a saint, and it just occurred to me that I should donate to their project.



This should be recognized more. I can think of a lot of applications that have like-wise succumbed to the darkness. uTorrent off the top of my head.

VLC should get a special award for not sucking after gaining popularity.


Sadly uTorrent did succumb to darkness a while ago by bundling a bitcoin miner and other dodgy software with the client as installer opt-out checkboxes.


> We all owe a huge debt of gratitude that gorhill is a principled character and has stayed on to guide uBlock Origin all these years.

Absolutely. Thank you gorhill!


Given uBlock's popularity and impact on advertising (money), I'm wondering what kind of scrutiny and attacks the devs and project gets continually.


Oh me too. Despite addons being less dangerous nowadays (no FS access), a supply-chain attack on UBO would be massively bad.

That's a reason why I strictly install very few addons.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: