>It's also inferior because the filter lists for requests must be hardcoded and can only be changed through extension updates, which Google (or whoever owns the browser's extension store) can delay or block at their discretion.

This thread is about safari, and its declarative ad blocking API doesn't have this issue.

And I also don't want to be too dependent on the browser vendor to sign a plugin.

There is a lot of talk about security but strategic security would mean to put flashing red warning signs on the manifest updates.

To neglect that is basically lying to users in my opinion.