Google has made it much more difficult to use the ad-blocking utility Adblock Plus on its latest Android OS and in its desktop Chrome browser. Adblock developers observed recent software changes implemented by Google and made some workarounds utilising automatic proxy server configuration, so that people could still use its ad-blocking utility. Google seems to have reacted to this and made Adblock Plus’s new workarounds on Android much more complicated and manual - in the name of system security. It sounds like this is a high stakes game (advertising revenue) of internet cat and mouse.
Android
The Adblock Plus Android app will no longer work on non-rooted Android 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 devices without going through an eight-stage configuration of a proxy server.
Till Faida, co-founder of the Adblock Plus project told The Register that “We are not opposed to the fix per se. We just think Google shouldn't deliberately break any functionality when fixing something”. Faida went on to say that Adblock coders have raised the issue on Google code forums and hope that the “do no evil” company will help “provide a solution that addresses security concerns and still respects user's choices”.
some of the fiddly manual proxy config stages
Chrome
Google also seems to have taken part in snake-like, body-swerving, goalpost-moving behaviour regarding Adblock Plus running within its Chrome browser. First of all the Adblock Plus extension stopped appearing in searches of web browser extensions/apps available to Chrome users, as the updated search function only looked at “apps”. Then, when Adblock was made into a Chrome app, it was only available for 12 hours before being removed.
Honesty is the best policy
If Google wants to stop the use of Adblock Plus on its platforms on commercial grounds, as it is a major online advertising industry player, it should just come out and say so. I think most people could understand that action and the business motives behind it. Are all these Adblock shenanigans really just about the security of end users?
