In March, Firefox released version 149 with many changes, such as a free built-in VPN, Split View that allows two pages to be loaded side by side, and the XDG portal file picker as the new default on Linux.
However, there was one interesting addition that had gone almost unnoticed. Firefox now has Brave code.
The image below shows a closed bug on Mozilla's bugzilla, titled "add a prototype rich content blocking engine"
Shivan Kaul Sahib, Vice President of Privacy and Security at Brave, published a post on his blog for something that wasn't included in the Firefox 149 release notes at all.
The browser now features adblock-rust, Brave's open-source ad blocking and tracker blocking engine based on Rust.
The change occurred through Bugzilla Bug 2013888, filed and handled by Mozilla engineer Benjamin VanderSloot. The bug is titled “Add a prototype rich content blocking engine” and keeps the engine disabled by default without any user interface or filter lists included.
For those who don't know, adblock-rust is the engine behind Brave's native content blocker (also known as ad blocker). It's written in Rust and available under the MPL-2.0 license, handles network request blocking, cosmetic filtering, and has a filter list compatible with uBlock Origin.
Shivan also mentions that the Waterfox, the popular Firefox fork, has already adopted adblock-rust.
Do you want to try it?
Before you begin, go to the Enhanced Tracking Protection shield icon in the address bar and disable it for the site you're testing this with. This way, adblock-rust will do the work, and not Firefox's existing feature.
We hope to see more settings in future versions of the browser.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
