Back in July, Google's work on a Web Integrity API emerged and many equated it to DRM. The company announced today it's not proceeding...
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.
K, I'm still not using Google search engine anymore. And once I find a replacement for any other Google services and devices I have, it's out with those as well.
I still worry that leaving Reddit is going to make it tilt to the right. I spent a decade posting there in the hopes that it would nudge people towards sanity.
The hard part is the cost difference (I haven't looked terribly deeply yet) Family Proton (3TB) is 395 AUD (when you sign up for 2 years)
2 TB, 125 AUD per year for google drive, and it's per year.
Pro-rata that's literally twice as expensive, and you have to sign up for 2 years to get that rate, which makes moving my stuff a hard pill to swallow :(
Is there a plug and play service that's as good as proton without the hefty premium?
(The single plans are even more steep, 24 months, 158 AUD per year for only 500 GB...)
This is something I wrote in another thread earlier but it's relevant here too
A security guy popular in the internet, Ollam, recently left Delta's program because they are changing it to be more pay to play vs miles traveled or something. Delta walked it back but he's sticking to his guns. In his rant, he said something poignant. Something to the effect of "if your significant other raises their hand like they're gonna hit you, but they don't? The time to leave is now." (Video)
Honestly. Off the back of this debacle I switched to Firefox and duckduckgo. Previously I used to use the shit out of incognito because I hated that when I searched for something once that I then get that thing popping up everywhere else in ads etc. Since the switch I no longer get the feeling of being stalked.
NoScript helps a lot, too. I suppose other extensions also. It’s horrifying how many sites embed Google and Facebook tracking, including ones that really shouldn’t like medical sites and banks.
My concern is saving my email and photos before my account is randomly banned one day with no customer service and no recourse. God only knows what data they already harvested from when I used to back up my photos with their service.
Just grab a copy using Google Takeout, then after that use Syncrify, FolderSync, Resilio Sync or something else to automatically copy your phone media to your computer.
On the topic of this, what is the best alternative out there? A few years ago I've tried a couple options, out of curiosity, but the search quality was super poor for anything that's not in English, and the accuracy of found content wasn't always there
I'm on Kagi but I did the one time payment and am unsure about whether I'll extend. Results are good but 10 dollars a month isn't insignificant (cheap plan is orders of magnitude less than what I need in searches)
This is literally going to be what they did for FLoC. Basically release it as topics.
Google absolutely cannot stop tracking everyone at this point. I'm pretty sure they've put the entire house on the bet to track people more and do everything to ensure that Google Chrome tracks every aspect of your web browsing experience.
So while WEI is dead, I think Google's boat is so far out to sea now that it's either try this again a bit more gently or watch the ship sink. Everyone said FLoC was dead and they absolutely put it into the web browser with Topics. Nothing convinces me this is any different, they are absolutely going to, and I dare say have an existential need to, put this shit in everyone's browser.
I'd like to believe that enough of us actually stopped using chrome and switched to Firefox the day they made that announcement that swayed them... But in reality I'm sure it was just the bad press and they're going to try to find a different more sneaky way to do the same shit.
Dunno if this is what you mean, but you can definitely set another browser as default. Any context menus will change too: "Open with Firefox", or w/e you're using.
Yeah there is a setting and now when I click links it opens in Firefox. But if you use the Google search widget it still opens in chrome, which is to be expected I guess.
To be fair I still think Google services, Microsoft, etc and all that jazz is great, I'm no corporate shill or some free software nutter, but the issue however is the consistent anticompetitive strategies and vendor lock-in used to compensate for a lack of innovation.
Imagine if you could, for about a month, up to a year long period, where you just use a de-googled phone, a live USB and a portable hard drive, you'll actually have a different perspective and appreciation for what works with computers, printers, etc and our use of technology as a whole
Actually right now Congress is writing new laws for the Internet, and the EU is looking pretty hard as well, so they might be backing off just so they can get the new laws being written minimized.
more like they realised that the Irish data protection officer looked like they were gonna side with privacy advocates over anti-adblock, which is a precursor (and main usecase of) this API
I have no idea why, it feels counter productive to want them to influence you to buy shit you don't need.
I like my ads to be as unrelated to me as possible, because I wouldn't spend money on those things anyways.
I have to admit that it can be funny with personalized ads when you google something extremely expensive and get ads for it for months after.
Many years ago I searched for a high speed camera (like the one the Slow Mo Guys use) and while I very much want one, I could never afford to spend 0,5 to 1,5 million Euro (or whatever the price was) on one camera. So it was amusing to see all the ads urging me (a then teenager) to buy one.
The most likely option is that they will rebrand and we will have to push back against a "completely new, completely different functionality" in a few months.
I mean, Widevine is present in all browsers and actively used by Netflix for example. YouTube also uses this when you're watching movies on YouTube Movies.
Not running DRM on the majority of YouTube content is also likely due to the added cost of running such encryption (the encryption is usually on a per-customer level, not one key fits all) and the added bandwidth and computer cycles required. Not to mention that this might be a legal struggle with the content creators.
Tbf, I have tried but on Android the performance is dogshit. There is a few seconds difference between Firefox loading pages and Chrome loading unfortunately.
If there was a third option I'd gladly take it, but for now Firefox just doesn't have the functionality and I'm willing to put up with the current state of Google shit. If it gets much worse I may just have to suck it up though.
the real problem will begin when big websites start blocking unverified browsers. it means the end of spam and ad blockers, but it also means the end of privacy.
I use Firefox on Mobile with the bitwarden addon. Works well for me. Plus you export all your saved Google passwords into bitwarden. I need to make the switch on my PC now.
Disgusting piece of craps! All should continue to open eyes, against google. They wont stop!
Spread the word to install firefox based browser, use different frontends to block youtube ads in browser, Invidious and use piped youtube apps on android to block youtbe ads: Newpipe
the web has been getting so shitty lately i've actually gotten into drawing and reading and vinyl and film, which i highly recommend as a backup plan; just the idea of this feels like the atomic bomb for the internet
The back of the house has never been fucking better. Mastodon changed the game. Why hang out at some asshole's website, hating the website, lacking features and full of advertisements to suck you dry, when you can just come down to the flea market of federated social media and shoot the shit with someone real?
That's the problem. They could have made it a requirement for a site to work in Chrome. And since Chrome has such a majority sites would have to comply. Then the other browsers would have to fall in line or just stop working with most websites. Google's monopoly is complete enough that they can dictate how the web works. You need to both care what chrome does and care that other people are still using it or you're just as fucked as they are.
Please, people, stop using Chromium-based browsers and handing Google a near-monopoly. Firefox is awesome and has even more privacy-oriented derivates.
I'm not sure on stats or anything, I know Google has paid a lot of money to get Chrome as a default browser, but I remember a time when it became ubiquitous because the family nerd would tell their parents to use it and so on. It could possibly happen again and have a lot of people switch to firefox because their favourite site stopped working on Chrome. It's the kind of plan that could backfire pretty bad. There's a lot of legal reasons for their hesitance I'm sure, but I think that sort of thing would also play into it. A bunch of parents calling up their children because something stopped working and being told to download firefox isn't outside the scope of reality I don't think.
They already have. I can barely go to a mobile page that isn't broken or doesn't have a pop up I must dismiss telling me it's better in the app when it most certainly is not. Some things I use have let their desktop web pages go into disrepair and when I contact them with my issues logging in they just tell me to use the app and that their site has been down for months. Gotta force that tracking and those arbitration clauses somehow.
I absolutely do not trust Chrome or the google team. It does not make me feel any better the only barrier to them trying to ruin a internet a bit is some backlash.
This is worse. Let's go with an example: on an Android phone, you visit a website. The website asks for an integrity check, the browser works with Google Play Services to complete the check.
What if you have a de-Googled phone without Play Services, or if you made modifications to restrict Google's tracking? Then Google can refuse to verify you. What if you installed an ad blocker in your browser? Google can refuse to verify you.
If you fail verification, the website could ask you to complete a captcha, or just refuse to show you anything.
This would bring DRM to everything on the internet. If you wanted to get grandma's apple brown betty recipe even the text would be unavailable unless your browser and the page agree that it should happen. And the browser wouldn't give the OK unless the page is advertiser friendly, and the page won't give the greenlight if you've blocked any ads recently.
The Media Integrity API is something that streaming video services want and applies only to Android apps that are built on web technologies. This has nothing to do with conventional web experiences or even the Chrome browser on Android: it's effectively a solution for when media is served on webpages that are embedded inside an Android app.
Typically an Android app will use native libraries like ExoPlayer to request and serve DRM content, for instance a video from a paid streaming service to ensure that the viewer is permitted to watch it. Chrome is built on top of open video codecs and doesn't inherently support DRM in this manner (as far as I'm aware), so if an app developer wants to use web technologies by leveraging a WebView, they are restricted to which codecs and DRM is available.
It's my understanding that this new library offers a solution to such developers. As a reminder, this doesn't apply to the web at large.
From my perspective, this is no different than DRM offerings that are supported natively in all operating systems, including Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.
The difficulty as I've understood it, is that this isn't sustainable for streaming services: if a bad actor knows how to serve the media request, there are no guarantees if they are actually licenced to watch it. I'm not especially knowledgeable in this field though, so perhaps there are other solutions that would mitigate concerns around the use of DRM.
Yeah, but they were testing the waters with this one. The hydra's going to grow another head eventually. It'll be interesting to see how/if the media integrity API gets leveraged in the Android Chrome browser. They're eventually going to attack this problem from a slightly different angle.
Good summary. I used to think that apps were soooo much better than web apps, but I've come to realize that frequently the web UI is made intentionally janky to nudge users onto the apps where ads can't be blocked.
This is essentially an attempt to further embed Google's existing dominance. What we need is a serious competitor in the Android space, that can involve a webstore, an api, etc that can provide an alternative force catering to both OEM and consumers alike that stands to challenge Google's dominance to the OHA alliance.
I am not asking for much. Just break up Google and throw both the big shareholders as well as the executives in jail for the rest of their lifes. If you go as far and decide to take all their money and spend it on social services, healthcare and education for the general public, I wouldn't be mad.
"All I'm asking for, is giving some people life imprisonment for an action that currently is completely legal."
Listen, I'm completely for seizing the means of production and stuff. Google is evil. They can go fuck themselves. However, saying something so incredibly stupid (like you suggested above) voids any credibility that you have.
You are getting mad at an internet post by a random person who has exactly zero credibility to begin with. I sourced nothing, I claimed nothing, I didn't even pretend that any opinion I hold is of value.
As much as I am for calling out shit and as much as I applaud you doing that if for no other reason than out of principle, why? Why don't you use your brain against someone actually doing harm and argue with a shitpost done by a shitposter on a platform that is mostly about shitposting instead?
All of that pointless stuff aside: Legal ≠ Right
I hope you will agree with me on that.
We'd like to pretend the rules we make up are just. We'd especially like to believe that if they are democratically legitimated someway or another, they must be morally okay.
That is not the case. It never was and never will be.
If you base your whole stance on something being legal, then that's a huge issue in and of itself.
At this point in history money is power is law. If you are rich enough, you have to be the utmost incompetent idiot around to do something blatantly illegal and get in trouble for it. I for one don't think this is the way. So maybe a bit more anarchy from time to time would serve us all well to balance out rich people's crap.
Also: It's a shitpost. A freaking shitpost. Vote it down and move on. I'd do the same if I didn't think it would be worth engaging with you.
YouTube isn't suffering. Lemmy has an active userbase of just over 30K. Given the fact a lot of people have multiple accounts (I do), that's less than 30K active users.
On top of that, probably less than half of Lemmy users actually cry about YouTube.
Even if we are generous, and say the entirety of Lemmy, and each user is unique, 30K is nothing lol.
Unpopular opinion here: I kind of hoped they'd go through with it, as that would completely kill Chrome and Chromium and would lead to a repeat of IE vs Firefox, except Chrome would be the new IE. The fact that they backtracked means that they too saw that people would be massively flocking to Firefox.
I think it's less, "We're worried people will flock to Firefox," and more, "We could get in a lot of legal trouble for trying to force everyone onto Chrome".
It wouldn't. If Google only owned Chrome, then maybe. But combined with services like AdSense, Google can easily leverage people and site operators to keep using Chrome.
One set of standards for the internet systems, and multiple measurements and methods I say, hardly makes sense to split the whole web to pieces over advertising money, especially when access to knowledge, strength, capability to invent and discover of all sorts is now at such an all time high.
We've yet to build anything on the moon or create livable spaces in outer space
Problem is big sites you're forced to use (banking sites, work HR systems, etc) would've made shitty decisions and required it to use their site. It would be like the old "you have to use IE 6" era
Various state and federal accessibility laws would've made that a very questionable decision for a lot of industries. Given that it would cost money simply to get programmers to implement and might lead to more costs from legal challenges I suspect a lot of sites like banks and the like would've avoided it.
Now when it comes to basically any news site, entertainment service, social media, online store, or anything else that makes extra money on ads and harvesting user data? Oh yeah, they'd implement it in a heartbeat.