Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

Re:Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill ... by thatguy0900 on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @03:07PM (#23170509)

When I read something like this I have to assume Google is just trying to kill off extensions, it's such a glaringly obvious problem there's no way any human has seen and okay'd it with good intentions.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill ... by aaanotherhnfolk on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @03:21PM (#23170689)

I'm the person at $dayjob who has to chart a course through the recent chrome web store changes and this is honestly my conclusion too.

These extensions don't make any money at all for Google, in fact some of them lose money for Google (privacy oriented extensions, ironically.)

They are a security nightmare for Google, capable of side channel browser attacks or direct abuse via a permission (all_urls permission can read your emails to grandma.)

Google doesn't want extensions to exist, and they also can't outright kill them without creating a new foothold for their competitors in the browser wars. So we get this intentionally masochistic process change. Jump this high or we'll ban you. Now jump higher but with your eyes closed. Okay, now backflip or you're banned. The extension developers have absolutely no power to fight back.

[ Parent | on HN ]