"Block The Rich" is like an ad-blocker, but for obscenely wealthy people with overinflated egos.

About 8 months ago I got pretty tired of seeing billionaire spam online. I could not bear to read about yet another rich guy who launched themselves (or their $200,000 car) into outer space 🚀 . I did not care about their expert opinion on the latest meme coin back then. I do not care about their expert opinion on the dangers of AI today.

So… I developed a tiny, free, and open source Firefox browser add-on called “Block the Rich”. It is completely local and private. No data is tracked. No data is phoned home.

The concept is pretty simple: whenever I load a web page, the extension quickly analyzes the content and intelligently blurs out any references to the Forbes Top 10 Billionaires. Some former and wannabe billionaires are blurred out of courtesy as well (I’m looking at you Trump and Kanye 🙄).

This project is a very early prototype that I built in the span of a few days. I have so many awesome ideas for enhancements but the truth is that the wind got completely knocked out of my sails when I put myself out there on Reddit many moons ago. There was absolutely zero public interest. To this day my wife and I are the only ones using the original prototype.

People of Lemmy, do you think there is a place on the internet for such a project, or is it time that I let it go?

Edit: I am blown away by the support from you all. Thank you! I am so excited to start polishing this baby up!

JuliusSeizure,

Amusing addon but I find not visiting corpo media at all solves the issue handily.

Scew,
@Scew@lemmy.world avatar

Yep, it’s an easy fix. There’s better ways to get information about events that matter to you than corporate sponsored fear-mongering… I mean “the news.”

aCosmicWave,

I try to avoid corpo media as well! But still… if you sort this community by the Top posts in last 24 hours there are a handful of posts about Elon Musk and friends. At least those of us who browse the desktop version of Lemmy can ignore such posts.

RocksForBrains,

You brilliant, brilliant person.

astral_avocado,
@astral_avocado@programming.dev avatar

This is a great idea, I love it. Keep going!

bonobo,

I can see where you’re coming from, but at the same time; did you get this idea from “Brave New World”?

DucktorZee,

Love it. Keep going.

Black_Gulaman,
@Black_Gulaman@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

not seeing does not equate to not existing.

let us not blind ourselves to their antics. awareness is key to prevent ourselves from being exploited.

bonobo,

Exactly, you have to see what they’re doing to know how to counter it (or even know that it exists). Living in a bubble isn’t going to help us. Maybe you should install this on your kid’s computer?

DeanFogg,

I get the sentiment but I more attribute it to giving a child too much attention. People keep clicking and talking about them so they stay relevant. Not only does this feed their ego it drives the hype machines ad revenue

bonobo,

But surely people who would consider installing this extension are not the same people clicking and talking about “them”? Or are people really addicted to reading and reposting Musk etc… and need an intervention?

yoz,

Sad that Google is implementing Manifest V3.

over_clox,

Then step away from Google. They might be a big player, but they don’t own the internet…

yoz,

I think they do own it. Dont underestimate google , they are bigger and powerful than some governments.

over_clox,

I have a handful of devices here. Some Googled, some not. Believe me, you can definitely use the internet without Google if you want to.

yoz,

I am using Firefox but after installing Arrow OS without Gapps my banking apps won’t work, work related apps like Teams, Authy didn’t work and had issues with IM apps. So if I have to be completely isolated then sure I’ll go your route but I have to use my phone for work and other stuff hence I NEED google.

over_clox,

I don’t even have a bank account. Have you ever read the terms of service on paper bills?

“This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”

FunnyUsername,
@FunnyUsername@lemmy.world avatar

Tell that to the food truck that only has a card reader plugged into their phone and no change for a 50$ anyways

over_clox,

Read the terms of service on the bill, then demand they honor the terms literally printed by the government and the US Treasury.

Grant_M,
@Grant_M@lemmy.ca avatar

This is AMAZING! Thank you. Running it now :)

const_void,

This is awesome. I made a block list for all the Trump domains for similar reasons.

mikegioia,
@mikegioia@lemmy.ml avatar

This is from 2020 so there could be more but i cannot fathom owning close to 3500 domain names. that’s gotta be close to 100k per year just for the registration fees.

80085,

Isn’t it important to keep tabs on what the obscenely powerful are up to? I.e. to try to hold them accountable, to be informed on what you’re protesting and criticizing, to prepare for what they’re going to do next that may affect you?

Prethoryn,
@Prethoryn@lemmy.world avatar

While I agree it, does get tiring to see it in my feed 24/7. I can see this being useful for people who need a break.

bonobo,

Soma

Lenins2ndCat,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve always believed it would be useful to have a thing like this but for brand logos.

But instead of blurring or blocking the brand logo like an adblocker what it does instead is show you the face of the top shareholder in that brand. Remove the brands and show the assholes that own them. Where it’s not a single person you replace that brand with the name of the hedgefund or bank that owns the investment.

It would bring people’s attention away from brand consumerism and to a constant consciousness of the ruling class looming over them in everything.

Screwthehole,

But then everything everywhere would look the same - whatever random picture it uses for Blackrock

Gamey,

Probably the ugly face of Larry Fink! 😬

Lenins2ndCat,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

That’s kinda the point. Being able to see just how few people own literally everything and thus are influencing opinion through means that people currently completely overlook is powerful. Advertising is literally propaganda. Consumer culture is propaganda. When you cut through that and make people conscious of it on a constant minute to minute basis you will see rapid radicalisation occur. Our society relies on a system of carefully designed barriers that create separation between the people and the ruling class in a way that is unnoticeable to the average person without prompting.

Think of it like pulling back the curtain in the wizard of oz for people.

stealth_cookies,

The way I would like to see it done is that any company name can be hovered over and the top 5 shareholders pop up and if applicable it tells you who the parent company is.

Lenins2ndCat,
@Lenins2ndCat@lemmy.world avatar

This would be a useful additional feature, I think the shock value of the method I’m suggesting would have potential to interest at least some press outlets (probably not the major ones who would recognise it as damaging to the people they represent though). You need some novelty in this kind of thing to get it to spread.

itsnotlupus,

Instead of simply blurring them, it’d be technically possible to feed their images through a stable diffusion prompt, like “humanoid lizards” or “frantic lemmings”…
Also, I understand that a large language model could be made to rewrite articles about them with a matching prompt.

That would be very silly, of course.

aCosmicWave,

Amazing. Love it!

Gorgonzola_Gams,

Count me in

db2,

Is there a Chrom[e/ium] version by chance?

WarmSoda,

Why not use Firefox?

db2,

Why not use [browser you don’t use]?

Valk,

Is this a good enough reason for you to swap? eff.org/…/googles-manifest-v3-still-hurts-privacy…

WarmSoda,

Correct, that was my question. Why would you use a chromium browser instead of Firefox?
It’s not like firefox is expensive or difficult to get/install.

db2,

Because I don’t want to. I was somewhat involved in Gecko development, used Phoenix before it became Firefox, even compiled it on BeOS once or twice, I didn’t like the direction it took when it broke compatibility with SeaMonkey and it hasn’t gotten better from what I’ve seen. Is that enough answer?

WarmSoda,

I honestly don’t know if that was enough answer. You’re extremely defensive over a simple question.

db2,

If you say so.

finkrat,

Because they don’t? There’s FOSS Chromium-based browsers that respect privacy that would benefit from this.

WarmSoda,

I’m sorry I didn’t realize you spoke for db2

EnderWi99in,

I have been looking for this but for a customized list of celebrities and politicians whose opinions carry little weight in the real world.

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