Transparency efforts behind the Helium Browser(helium.computer)
26 pointsby twapi7 hours ago5 comments
  • feverzsj5 hours ago
    They messed up basic color scheme, making it almost unusable.

    [0]: https://github.com/imputnet/helium/issues/1532

    [1]: https://github.com/imputnet/helium/issues/1850

    • duskdozer5 hours ago
      This is mostly an argument for full user customization. I'm willing to bet some people prefer the current scheme. Presumably the developer(s).
  • willtemperley5 hours ago
    In the same sense that a blockchain can be forked by using software that only accepts certain types of block, is it possible to fork the WWW in a similar manner? e.g. with changes that neuter the ad-mongers.

    For example coming up with a way to get rid of these god awful cookies. Maybe ad-monger sites could be allowed in the same way an insecure connection is allowed behind a series of warnings?

    • vitally36435 hours ago
      The internet is literally just a pipe. There's no limitation binding us to HTTP. You can use any protocol you want over the internet, anything at all.
      • bastawhiz4 hours ago
        Not sure I'd call it just a pipe, but maybe a series of tubes.
      • willtemperley5 hours ago
        Well quite. So why are we living in this surveillance hellscape?
  • pogue6 hours ago
    How are they going to be adding uBlock Origin to Chromium going forward if manifest v2 gets completely deprecated/removed entirely?
    • gruez5 hours ago
      AFAIK some of the other chromium forks (brave and/or edge?) were committed to backporting manifest v2 (or more specifically the webRequestBlocking API) for future chromium versions.
      • bjord5 hours ago
        this is not correct. neither brave nor edge has committed to that.

        as of yet, there's no (publicly stated) contingency plan if the upstream mv2 code is excised, but I could be mistaken.

        • rpdillon3 hours ago
          Brave has integrated uBO directly into their core logic. Visit brave://settings/extensions/v2 and you can download it, even with no MV2 support. I'm not aware of any other browser adopting this approach.
    • feverzsj5 hours ago
      Nothing. It will be a huge burden for them to maintain all the removed code. Their only choice is to integrate brave's adblocker.
      • pogue5 hours ago
        This seems to be the only way forward from what I can figure. Helium's main selling point is that it's essentially degoogled chromium + a few miscellaneous patches & full uBlock. But once Google completely strips all that out of Chromium project, that won't be a tenable option.

        I'm not sure what Opera/Vivaldi/et al. use for their native adblocking, but Brave's rust adblocker makes the most sense to me. Really it's uBlock's filtering lists that keep the whole thing working anyway.

  • NetOpWibby4 hours ago
    I just set Helium as my default browser yesterday after dual-wielding it with Arc. Never thought I'd move on from Arc but here we are.
  • mrbluecoat6 hours ago
    > cause havoc, and put people first

    An odd pairing

    • tancop4 hours ago
      if you follow wukko on twitter you know it makes sense. its the same guy who made cobalt the video downloader.
    • willtemperley5 hours ago
      Not really. Every activist that made a real difference for the good caused some kind of havoc.