A Performance Optimised Multi-Function Browser Extension for Enhanced Web Privacy and Secure Link Shortening

Online privacy is increasingly at risk due to the prevalence of intrusive ads and hidden trackers embedded in web services. While existing browser extensions aim to address these issues, most function in isolation, offering ad-blocking, tracker detection, or URL shortening separately, resulting in fragmented solutions that consume more memory and reduce efficiency. This paper presents SmartBlock, a unified browser extension that combines ad-blocking, tracker identification, and secure URL shortening into a single, lightweight tool. Built on Google Chrome’s Manifest V3 architecture, SmartBlock features an optimised shared codebase and a cohesive interface to reduce resource usage and enhance user privacy. It employs a hybrid filtering strategy using both static and dynamic rules to accurately detect ad domains and real-time tracking attempts with minimal performance overhead. SmartBlock also introduces a privacy-centric URL shortening method by leveraging in-browser SHA-256 hashing and local storage, ensuring links are generated and resolved entirely offline, with no data sent to external servers. Comprehensive evaluations, including benchmark tests and user feedback, demonstrate SmartBlock’s high accuracy, low false positives, and superior privacy performance compared to existing tools.