little-rat VS example-chrome-extension

Great idea! We need a lot more visibility into what extensions are doing. I made little-rat [1] last year, to detect network calls coming from other extensions. Love to see more tools like yours!

[1] https://github.com/dnakov/little-rat

It says 1.0 in the extensions manager, but it was downloaded fresh this evening by clicking on the 'ZIP' link in your readme.md on here:

https://github.com/dnakov/little-rat/tree/main

2: https://github.com/dnakov/little-rat

I recently installed the Little Rat chrome extension, which I found here on HackerNews.

https://github.com/dnakov/little-rat

And what I found is that the Midnight Lizard chrome extension is monitoring my browsing-- sending home screenshots.

You can see examples here: https://ibb.co/JQvgt3p

Apparently my browsing data is being ingested by a company called "Mark Monitor Inc." (based on WhoIs search for the domain the data is sent to -- https://www.whois.com/whois/ytimg.com )

Nifty - but please do this more carefully:

https://github.com/dnakov/little-rat/blob/main/popup.js#L36

I do not want to have to worry about whether another extension can inject xss into yours with a crafted request/id/name.

Shameless plug: I was totally dissatisfied with the state of extension documentation and tutorials, so I wrote a book on building Chrome extensions: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

I was enthusiastic enough about extensions that I decided to publish a book about building them: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

Browser extensions are severely underrated as a platform because they aren't sexy. For all that mobile devices have given us, so much of our work continues to be done using a desktop browser. Enhancements such as augmenting websites with widgets, supplying contextual information, and automating repetitive tasks using the authenticated session - when applied appropriately - can save someone hours every day.

Browser extensions. Not quite a website, not quite a mobile app, and surprisingly pervasive. Most people don't realize how incredibly powerful they are, even with manifest v3.

I almost fell out of my chair when I found out there were no books on how to build them, so I wrote one: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ It was incredibly enjoyable to go through the APIs and write about all the different crazy things they can do.

I was frustrated with the lack of resources, so I'm publishing a book on it: "Building Browser Extensions". Available later this year. https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/

And check out the companion extension: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/b2x