Under New Management is a new extension for Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. Its main purpose is to notify users when the owner of installed extensions changes.
Here is why that is important: an entire ecosystem of companies exist that buy extensions to, usually, exploit the userbase and extract as much money as possible from it.
Popular extensions may sell for five or even six figures. This is mostly based on the userbase, but factors such as the rating, comments, or track record play a role as well.
When an extension gets sold, the new owners may implement money making functions. These cross borders often, for instance, by tracking users and selling data, or by changing ads on the screen or affiliate links.
The main problem for users is that ownership changes are not announced by the browser. It would be simple, but no browser does that at the moment.
Under New Management
Under New Management adds checks and notifications to Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers.
The developer describes how the extension works on its GitHub repository site:
Intermittenty checks your installed extensions to see if the developer information listed on the Chrome Web Store has changed. If anything is different, the extension icon will display a red badge, alerting you to the change.
The extension checks the Chrome Web Store for changes and warns users if it detects any.
It checks the following parameters:
- Developer name
- Developer website
- Extension name
- Offered by name
- Developer email
- Extension ID
If any of these change, it will notify you about it. All it takes is to install the extension in a Chromium-based browser.
Note: there is a chance that an extension may get sold but that the information is not changed.
Blocking automatic extension updates in Google Chrome
Another option that you have is to block automatic extension updates. Google Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers do not offer any Setting in this regard, however.
The idea here is to verify extension updates before allowing them.
As a side note, Mozilla Firefox does. Load about:addons in the browser’s address bar, activate the settings icon on the page and uncheck “pdate Add-ons Automatically” with a click on the entry.
Extensions won’t auto-update from that moment up, but you may still update them.
The only option for Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers is a bit complicated. It requires that you enable Developer Mode in the browser and load the extension in its unpacked state. Note that I have not tried this extensively.
Unpacked extensions do not get updated automatically, as they are loaded from the local system. It gives you control, but it means that you have to update these extensions manually each time.
Now You: how many and which extensions do you use?
This sounds like a good idea, but having to add another add-on to keep an eye on existing add-ons is a bit meta… what’s your guarantee that this add-on itself won’t get sold? It would be better if this feature was a baked-in option in the browser.
@torque > “what’s your guarantee that this add-on itself won’t get sold?”
The extension is FOSS (free open source software) and so cannot be sold.
https://github.com/classvsoftware/under-new-management
> “It would be better if this feature was a baked-in option in the browser.”
I completely agree, but until you can persuade Google to implement this on Chrome, we have no choice but to stick with an extension.
I’ve just discovered a Firefox extension dedicated to a similar feature :
‘Under New Management’ [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/under-new-management/]
“Detect when your installed browser extensions have changed owners.
A somewhat modified version of Matt Frisbie’s extension of the same name for Chrome. Only queries AMO for extension data.”
I haven’t tested this Firefox extension so advice is neutral.