Is NoAds safe?

Question

Is NoAds safe?

Accepted Answer

NoAds is high risk. Every time you finish loading a page, this extension sends the full URL and a permanent identifier tied to your install to smartadblocker.com — without telling you. The tracking runs whether or not the ad-blocking feature is switched on, because the URL is collected before the on/off check. Dynamic analysis confirmed 4 POST requests to smartadblocker.com/extension/rules/api during a short browsing session, each containing the visited URL and a stable UUID unique to your browser. We observed this extension (version 1.9.5) sending the full URL of every page you load, along with a permanent ID tied to your install, to smartadblocker.com. Our dynamic analysis captured 4 POST requests during a short browsing session: each request contained one of our planted URL canaries (BIRD_12345, PARROT_67890) and the same UUID `ac8f32d7-6ff1-45af-89c1-faa1ce9dd00b`. The request fires from the background service worker on every tab navigation, before any check of the extension's on/off switch, so toggling the ad-blocker off does not stop the URL transmission. The data is sent in plaintext JSON over HTTPS.

Is Ad block & Adblocker - No Ads extension safe?

Findings