Can you trust uBlock Origin?
After I added the privacy permission to make uBlock Origin (uBO) reliable when it comes to blocking network requests, a lot of people questioned uBO's trustworthiness.
First, uBO is completely developed in full public view. All the sources and all the changes to the sources are fully accessible on GitHub.
Second, uBO does not have a dedicated server, it can't "phone home" with your browsing data, there is only GitHub, and GitHub is completely unrelated to uBO.
Third, I have no intent to ever monetize uBO. It started as a personal project, and it still is a personal project. So uBO has absolutely no interest in data mining you.
I think it's time I give examples of how requiring fewer permissions is not a sure sign of higher trustworthiness.
Chrome store: Web Protector - Reliable Phishing Protection (the extension no longer exists on the Chrome Web Store).
This extension requires the same permission as uBO, minus the privacy one. Some might be inclined that it can thus be more trusted than uBO, which requires the privacy permission.
However, Web Protector has a home server, and it does "phone home" as opposed to uBO (which has no home server in the first place).
For every web page you visit, you can see Web Protector sending behind-the-scene network requests to webovernet.com:
This is just to demonstrate that the permissions alone do not tell the whole story. What must be assessed are:
- Is the code developed in full view?
- Under which license does the code fall?
- Is there a home server?
- What network requests are made by an extension behind the scene?
- uBO's logger allows you to see it's own behind-the-scene network requests (mainly to GitHub, for updating filter lists).
- How is an extension monetizing itself?
- Learning about this factor will help you best understand whether the extension's developer's interests are aligned or at odds with yours.