“From the founder of Honey.” Which means that stealing code and affiliate links is just the surface of shady stuff they are up to.
For-profit Pie Adblock (from the founder of Honey) called out for copying uBlock Origin open source code without credit
Submitted 4 months ago by dantheclamman@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/04/pie_adblock_ublock_origin_code/
Comments
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 months ago
The founder of Honey no longer owns Honey, and hasn’t for some time. It’s owned by PayPal, a much more notoriously shady company that some people still use for some reason.
Bibbiliop@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Now I feel bad. I use paypal because in some cases of purchases it is the only means I can use. What is shady about them?
Squizzy@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The founder still made it do what it does.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Who in their right mind would use this bootleg piece of shit when uBO exists?
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 months ago
Probably people who see a big banner about uBO no longer being supported in Chrom(e)ium
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Old people who still believe that if you’re paying for a product it must be better, right?
rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Isn’t that illegal? What kind of license is uBO under?
sushibowl@feddit.nl 4 months ago
The very first sentence of the article answers these very two questions.
joyjoy@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Closed-source browser extension Pie Adblock was this week accused of copying code and text from rival uBlock Origin in violation of the latter’s software license – the GNU GPL version 3.
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
GPLv3
HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 months ago
Guy belongs behind bars
muelltonne@feddit.org 4 months ago
Never use a “for-profit adblocker”. Ublock Origin is free, open source and therefore won’t fuck you over. You can guess where this “profit” is coming from when you’re not paying for your “for-profit” adblocker
daddy32@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Most prominently, this includes Adblock Plus, which functions as extortion-ware, extorting payments from ad-dealers to let their ads through.
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
We have a problem. People have learned that they shouldn’t use a free VPN. By that logic you shouldn’t use a free ad blocker either. People don’t understand the details enough so they operate on broad ideas.
GekkoState@lemmings.world 4 months ago
There is a difference between “free & open source” and “free because you don’t pay with money”.
The first means it can be peer reviewed by anyone to make sure they aren’t doing anything shady.
ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 4 months ago
I dunno if there’s just a lack of education around what open-source means or what. Like jeez, you can contribute to unlock origin. You can study it and see if there’s anything you disagree with. You can fork it and change it.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 4 months ago
Can’t save them all.
narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 4 months ago
I agree, unless it’s straight up paid software which I usually don’t mind paying for if it’s good and I need it. Although arguably uBlock Origin is so close to perfection that I can’t imagine how a paid ad blocker would hold up.
brbposting@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
What software have you paid for? Over here, proud owner of (off the top of my head) Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool, Shottr, and superwhisper for Mac.
Would be hard to live without these automation/macro, screenshot, and dictation tools!
joyjoy@lemm.ee 4 months ago
For-profit ad blockers make their money from either ad injection or extorting ad companies to whitelist their ads. This is why the original adblock plus fell out of use.