ome.tv temporarily disabled (v2.2.6)

On December 3, 2024, we received multiple complaints from users who reported being instantly banned on ome.tv-like sites.

While the number of reports—~30 from a user base of ~200,000—is "not great, not terrible", the unusual nature of this situation required our attention.

Although our team has been unable to reproduce the issue and it appears to affect only a minority of people, we still needed to do something.

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UPD 2024-12-13:

v3.0.0 - introducing Universal Mode, support for most Omegle-like and WebRTC-based sites

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UPD 2024-12-07:

So far, it appears that the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of those affected HAVE ADMITTED to bypassing bans in the past.

Whether from the beginning or after a brief conversation, the percentage of people claiming innocence is so low that they could simply be lying.

So far it looks like auto-moderation system has become much more paranoid about any users who has modified webpage object used for webrtc geolocation (does not matter which script or plugin does it), and if any previously bypassed bans are detected after extensive checks -> user gets rightfully banned.

We have disabled the website-level until (if) it is proven by ome.tv that utilizing the extension is safe for legitimate users.

We are developing alternative universal website-agnostic features for our extension to reduce dependence on ome.tv-like platforms and add support for more omegle alternatives, read further if you want to know about it.

What is the problem?

~30 people from a user base of ~200,000 reported similar issue - getting automatically banned when opening the chat page.

This is the first time in over three years of the project's existence that we’ve heard about people getting instantly banned on ome.tv with such reason. We’ve had no complaints from ome.tv about our project, so this is a bit of a mystery.

Most of the people who said they got banned seemed to know a lot about how to avoid bans. They talked about it like, "Oh no, I lost another account," instead of asking for help with the extension. This makes us think that maybe ome.tv's anti-abuse system has got more paranoid with users who have our extension installed.

The idea is probably like with online competitive games: not all linux gamers are cheaters, but most cheaters...

tl;dr:

We are addressing this issue by disabling support for the platform until ome.tv reaches out to us (which is unlikely) and confirms that it is safe to use the extension for legitimate users.

We have rapidly developed a prototype of universal mode—a radically new approach that enables WebRTC geolocation and analytics at the browser level.

This means that we will now support all possible Omegle alternatives and webrtc sites (if they are they are P2P).

The alpha version of universal mode will be available exclusively for patrons during the alpha phase, but later we will make basic features of this mode free for everyone.

We expect to deliver the alpha version in the coming days.

Why even let them do that in a first place?

Videochat Extension heavily relied on co-existence with web pages by design. It was started in 2021 as a free and open-source project with no malicious intent.

We began as an extension for one of the ome.tv mirrors, but most of the time and code was contributed with the intention of shifting to Omegle in mind, as there was much more room for growth and commercial potential compared to ome.tv.

It just so happens that ome.tv (and its mirrors like Chatruletka) are the last websites compatible with that absurdly extensive codebase that has already been rebuilt for the dead Omegle. However, most of our features are easily detectable by design, as Omegle would not take issue with them.

Why need to disable?

A minority of users is complaining, and the people behind ome.tv are extremely difficult to reach, so we can't simply ask them about the nature of these issues.

Still, the potential targeting of our users does not look good, so we had to temporarily disable native support for their platform in case the situation worsens.

It's not as if anything can prevent ome.tv from banning their own users for fun and profit, but if there are rogue automatic triggers involved, disabling support can help significantly.

Universal mode

One of the future versions will include the much-anticipated universal geolocator, a comprehensive solution for simple WebRTC geolocation and analytics at the browser level.

Universal mode is platform-agnostic and avoids any direct interactions with websites.

It will be available to patrons only while in alpha, but we expect to release it for everyone soon with a basic set of free features.

We plan to iterate on this approach for a long time, as it supports all sites simultaneously and requires minimal changes over time.

How to resolve the situation

If someone who identifies themselves as part of the ome.tv team reads this, you can reach us at videochat-extension@proton.me to establish an informal channel of communication.

If this was a mistake and affected users can be unbanned while preventing future incidents like this, we would be more than happy to reinstate native support and continue maintaining it.

If you truly want us to remove support for your platform from the extension, we will be happy to part ways—just let us know.

What will happen next?

The primary plan is to establish contact with ome.tv and simply re-enable support for their platform, provided there is no danger to our users. Most of the work has already been done for the now-dead site, and the cost to maintain the existing codebase is low if we can establish direct contact with the platform to avoid any uncertainties.

The alternative plan is to remove native support for ome.tv altogether, as no one wants to maintain over 10,000 lines of code as free labor. Most users will be disappointed, but if the site does not want to be extended, there is not much we can do.

The contingency plan, which we are currently working on, involves rebuilding the extension from scratch to support all WebRTC-based sites at the browser level - universal mode. We have some other ideas as well.

The extreme plan is to fork Brave with privacy improvements, but it is currently too challenging for us to be feasible. However, as an alternative to the contingency plan, it could be a viable option.

Overall, the death of Omegle and the subsequent instability of Ome.tv are forcing us to make some changes, as we have depended on both platforms for too much.

What is changing with v2.2.6+?

We are beginning the process of rethinking the project to make it more independent, sustainable, and platform-agnostic, in order to shield our project from the risks associated with websites shutting down or attacking our users for fun.

First and foremost, we will build a universal geolocator.

The goal is to implement a set of future-proof core features at the browser level, allowing us to invest time in developing something that won’t vanish overnight. The universal geolocator should support ALL P2P WebRTC sites.

Secondly, we plan to reevaluate our open-source commitment. Despite receiving some useful donations, we have not gained much in return and have instead faced absurdly difficult challenges due to being open source. If the issues stem from people abusing our open codebase, there is little reason to continue support a model that works against us.

Lastly, we aim to make the project sustainable.

What will happen with ban lists?

Ban lists are stored in chrome.storage.local and will probably be imported into the universal geolocator in the future, but they will likely only produce sound notifications.