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Google plans to integrate an extension activity log in the company's Google Chrome web browser; the activity log logs what extensions do when they are installed and active in the Chrome browser.
Extensions are quite useful as they extend certain functionality. Extensions may change content on websites or in the browser UI, improve privacy, add extra features such as a website monitor or improve downloading functionality.
Tip: check out our list of the best Chrome extensions.
In short: extensions can be quite useful but they may also be misused. Browser display some of the permissions that extensions may require during installation but what extensions actually do is not revealed anywhere.
Developers and users with the right skills may analyze extension behavior in detail; regular users cannot and that is quite the problem.
Google implemented a new feature in Chrome Canary, the cutting edge development version of the browser, recently that integrates an extension log in the browser.
The log highlights API calls, local storage access, script injections, and other interactions.
Setup
It is necessary to run Google Chrome with a startup parameter to enable the Activity Log for extensions. Run Chrome with --enable-extension-activity-logging to enable the logging functionality.
Windows users may do so in the following way:
Chrome runs with the parameter after the operation. An experimental flag is not available yet.
The functionality is added to the extension's page in the Chrome extension manager.
Chrome displays the activity history by default. Each entry is listed with its type, e.g. content_script, api_call, or dom_access, the name of the function or file, the number of events of that type, and a trashcan icon.
You may switch to Real-time to display the activity as it happens. Another core difference between history and real-time is that history displays merged records while the real-time listing individual records.
History displays each api call, dom access or injection once; a click on the number if recorded events displays the domains the activity happened on.
The Activity Log features a search at the top. You may use it to filter by URLs or API calls.
The integration of an extension Activity Log in Google Chrome is a welcome addition. While it is too early to tell if it will remain available, it is very useful for extension developers and users who want to know what extensions do in detail.
It is easy enough to spot script injections this way, access to local files, or other activity. You may verify what an extension does in detail using the activity log.
I'd like to see a merged view of all installed extensions and not just a view that focuses on individual extensions.
Now You: What is your take on the extension Activity log? (via Techdows)
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
Extensions’ Activity log? Great idea. Would perfectly fit in the “Firefox running after Chrome saga”, meaning Firefox would be, IMO, well inspired to follow that very idea, illustrating the nuance between copy (plagiarism) and influence (don’t make square wheels because your competitor made them round).
More information is potentially useful information, but alone can not provide the average person like me the ability to trust or not trust an extension. If this process were easy, there would be no bad extensions available for very long from official Google or Microsoft sources as examples.
there is a new beta site to check extension’s permissions:
https://crxcavator.io/