cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/5707453
The Chrome team says they’re not going to pursue Web Integrity but…
it is piloting a new Android WebView Media Integrity API that’s “narrowly scoped, and only targets WebViews embedded in apps.”
They say its because the team “heard your feedback.” I’m sure that’s true, and I can wildly speculate that all the current anti-trust attention was a factor too.
Many said we couldn’t stop it. We, like many, applied pressure, and they backed the fuck off.
We have no room for complacency now though. Google cannot be allowed to dictate web standards. Firefox needs to eat into that Chromium market share. Never forgive. Never forget.
Hmm.
That was too easy.
That’s because this is at least their second attempt.
They are giving up on this because of bad publicity.
They’ll just rename it, rebrand it and try again.
But we’ll be ready for it, and we’ll keep driving against it. Even after this, Chromium is something people just need to move away from. They’ve motivated us, and I believe we can make dints, and will.
What worries me is that usually people tire of the fight and then the corporation wins.
Fighting this fight everywhere is exhausting.
What worries me is that usually people tire of the fight and then the corporation wins.
Exactly. Big Tech grinds everybody down into accepting the new dystopian normal they want.
That’s what happened with encrypted video standards….
Which stopped exactly zero piracy.
Removed by mod
Everything in this world seems to be like that. To make our lives moderately better we have to constantly tell, scream, and fight to get just a sliver. But if we give up at all just for a breather they’ll push all the terrible crap on us
Even ignoring the WEI debacle, Firefox supports nested vertical tabs via Tree Style Tab or Sidebery, and chrome doesn’t.
This is why everyone who cares about freedom should use Firefox or other gecko based browser. They wouldn’t push this if they didn’t have control of the vast malory of the browser market.
They are like Microsoft 20 years ago with Internet Explorer. In fact looks like they are working together this time to kill Firefox.
That was just the first salvo. This proposal was a feeler: now Google has learned what they couldn’t get away with and they need to boil us frogs more slowly.
This will come back on the table. Less aggressive, less visible, but they won’t give up on it.
‘…boil us frogs more slowly.’ love that idiom, never heard it before.
… for now…
Constant vigilance
So if I understand this correctly, it would be a way for websites to opt in to this tool that allows for the website (and google by proxy) to get a lot of information about you and your browser and if you use privacy tools it potentially will prevent you from using their website?
But doesn’t google use bots to crawl the web? I’m sure those get a pass, but they could shut down competitors doing the same thing, seems like an anti-trust suit waiting to happen.
Well. Officially you can opt out from crawlers of any kind. Just need to put the right code in a .htaccess file (if this is still standard. I didn’t code any production ready since 15 years).
But I have my doubts about that…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=neSzpvdKa5k
spoiler
A few months later: Somehow, the Web Integrity API has returned
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/watch?v=neSzpvdKa5k
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
People forget very quickly. And people’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter.
They do and they don’t. We’re all built different.
Oh they’ll be proceeding with it, just quietly at some undisclosed soon date in the future.
