The consensus, even among tech people, seems to be that this is a good thing. Sure, lots do argue it shouldn't be maintained by Google, but ultimately such list itself is fine.
I personally don't agree with, as I think modern browsers (not just Chrome) already do way too much handholding to a point that neutrality is inevitably lost.
I would go even further and say I don't like ideas like Firefox's/Brave's "Enhanced Tracking Protection" which blocks certain services with a handpick ruleset. Don't get me wrong, I block these trackers myself in uBlock Origin, but I don't like idea that a browser maintains an arbitrary list itself of what to block for the users.
>I would go even further and say I don't like ideas like Firefox's/Brave's "Enhanced Tracking Protection" which blocks certain services with a handpick ruleset. Don't get me wrong, I block these trackers myself in uBlock Origin, but I don't like idea that a browser maintains an arbitrary list itself of what to block for the users.
The primary difference is in the messaging. Tracking protection is an opt-in feature, so the user is always aware of it. Additionally, at least in the forms I've encountered it, it doesn't outright prevent you from navigating to a website. At worst it breaks some sites, and you disable it, it's sitting right there in your browser navigation bar. Don't agree with some block? Overriding it is a click away.
Meanwhile, safebrowsing doesn't announce itself anywhere except when it hits you in the face with a giant red screen, specifically designed to inspire a sense of fear/dread. Override buttons are intentionally not outright presented to the user, and the toggles to completely disable the feature are tucked deep into advanced features where no muggle may reach.
It may sound stupid but this simple difference in optics radically changes the effect such a "manual blacklisting" feature has on its users. That said I agree it'd be nice to have more control over the tracking protection feature in firefox, e.g. by allowing custom lists, like uBlock does.
I personally don't agree with, as I think modern browsers (not just Chrome) already do way too much handholding to a point that neutrality is inevitably lost.
I would go even further and say I don't like ideas like Firefox's/Brave's "Enhanced Tracking Protection" which blocks certain services with a handpick ruleset. Don't get me wrong, I block these trackers myself in uBlock Origin, but I don't like idea that a browser maintains an arbitrary list itself of what to block for the users.