uBlock Origin Lite removed from Firefox's official extension store due to unhappiness with review process



The developer of the ad blocking extension

uBlock Origin Lite , a Manifest V3-compliant version of the extension, has removed the extension from the store, citing dissatisfaction with Mozilla's review process.

uBOL version updates missing in Firefox add-ons store · Issue #197 · uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home · GitHub
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/issues/197



Mozilla's massive lapse in judgement causes clash with uBlock Origin developer - gHacks Tech News

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/10/01/mozillas-massive-lapse-in-judgment-causes-clash-with-ublock-origin-developer/

At the time of writing, uBlock Origin Lite has been removed from Firefox Add-ons, the Firefox extension store, and the only way to use the Firefox version is to download it directly from GitHub. The regular version of uBlock Origin is still available at Firefox Add-ons.

According to the developer, the reason for the deletion was dissatisfaction with Mozilla's response. The trigger was an email the developer received from Mozilla.

The email stated, 'The Mozilla Add-ons team has independently evaluated and manually reviewed uBlock Origin Lite and found that it violates the following Mozilla policies:

Add-ons that collect or transmit user data must notify users and provide a clear and easy way for users to control that data collection.
Your add-on contains any code that has been minified, concatenated, or otherwise mechanically generated
If you list your add-on on addons.mozilla.org, you must have a privacy policy and outline your data collection in your add-on's description.

Based on the above, Mozilla has disabled all versions of uBlock Origin Lite except for the oldest version, and has notified the oldest version that it 'has the same problem and will disable it unless the problem is resolved.'



In response to the above criticism, the developer cited the code on GitHub and argued, 'Where is the data collection in this?' and 'Where is the shrinking?' He also said that the privacy policy has been public for over a year, and expressed dissatisfaction that the above criticism was made in the 'manual review process.'

The developer himself decided to disable the oldest version, stating that he was worried that users might accidentally use it if the oldest version was released. He also stated that he would not appeal Mozilla's process and would not release uBlock Origin Lite as a Firefox Add-on in the future, saying that he 'doesn't want to waste time on nonsense.'

After the developer announced his intention, Mozilla sent an apology in the form of an email stating, 'After re-reviewing the add-on, we have determined that our previous decision was incorrect and have reverted it. We apologize for our mistake. If you have any questions or concerns about the review in the future, please contact us at any time.' However, the developer did not change his mind.

The developers say that in the future they will release a self-hosted version of uBlock Origin Lite on GitHub that will be able to automatically update.

in Software,   , Posted by log1p_kr