Under the new specification, the blocking version of the Web Request API has been removed and replaced with an API called Declarative Net Request. But the same feature can be used maliciously to hijack users’ login credentials or insert extra ads into web pages, which has been Google’s rationale for changing how it functions in Manifest V3. In particular, they block domains that will load ads and stop information from being sent from the browser to any one of the thousands of tracking domains that collect data on internet users. Ad-blocking extensions use the feature to block incoming and outgoing traffic between certain domains and a user’s browser. The Web Request feature is powerful and flexible, and it can be used for both good and bad purposes. The example Google provides for developers shows an extension script that would block the browser from sending traffic to “”: Under the currently active specification - Manifest V2 - browser extensions can use an API feature called Web Request to observe traffic between the browser and a website and to modify or block requests to certain domains. The changes in Manifest V3 are part of a planned overhaul to the specification for Chrome’s browser extension manifest file, which defines the permissions, capabilities, and system resources that any extension can use. For Google though, sticking with MV3 will have a huge impact on the overall role of ad blocking on the modern web. Though Firefox has a far smaller share of the desktop marketplace than Chrome, it could be a chance for Mozilla’s product to really define itself. Google’s strategy has been roundly criticized by privacy advocates - the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been a vocal opponent - but the search company hasn’t been swayed. But, in a recent blog post, Mozilla made clear that Firefox will maintain support for Web Request, keeping the door open for the most sophisticated forms of ad blocking. Google has long had security concerns about Web Request and has worked to cut it out of the most recent extension standard, called Manifest V3, or MV3 for short. The rupture centers on a feature called Web Request, commonly used in ad blockers and crucial for any system that looks to block off a domain wholesale.
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