looks like rendering adblockers extensions obsolete with manifest-v3 was not enough so now they try to implement DRM into the browser giving the ability to any website to refuse traffic to you if you don’t run a complaint browser ( cough…firefox )
here is an article in hacker news since i’m sure they can explain this to you better than i.
and also some github docs
Ad Blocking is cyber security
We need more browser options, not just Firefox and 20 versions of chrome.
Google Chrome (v42.12.0183, MULTi5) [FitGirl Repack]
It’s going to be very annoying to find new cracks every week
Just google it.
Excuse me but would you happen to have the link to the 100% real ONE LINK no-fake MegaUpload version?
No! LOL! Who still uses direct links? Get with the times man. The kids these days are torrenting. (they’re not zooming around in Elden Ring, it’s just a piracy term)
–>since everyone is confused about this i’m gonna try to explain as best as i could and also clearing some misconceptions:
1# why this is such a big deal ?
if this gets implemented AND it gets widely adopted websites now can refuse to give you content if you are running a non complied browser, remember those website that say “oh you are using an ad blocker so disable it to access our site” they can detect this by various methods but ultimately all of them rely on running a JavaScript into your browser. which you guessed it, its easy to modify and tamper with manually or using extensions
now what WEI-API does is that it can verify the integrity of the web page ( JavaScript/HTML/CSS has not been modified ) and even tell the website what extensions - ad blocker detected no content for you - you are using and what browser you are using - firefox or brave detected no content for you - and do not be fooled into thinking that this can be spoofed. and website owners who think that they are running a business not a charity will implement this.
2#will using firefox save me?
if this gets widely adopted and you inevitably encounter a website that require this ( for your job ,school or your bank ) you have no choice but to use chrome just like when your banking apps refuse to work because your phone is rooted which means that SAFETY-NET is broken
3#why this is a threat to begin with?
this is only viable if the web adopt it so why bother?, well guess what google is famous for making its services very easy to integrate and well documented just look on how easy it is to integrate google analytics and google adsense* into websites and how many of them use it in the internet.
4#what can we do to prevent this?
this is my personal opinion but i think we simply can’t, this not like the reddit incident were very large portion of the user base was upset most people don’t know/care/give-a-fuck about web technologies and how they work.
#and Finally “but google said they don’t plan to use this to fingerprint you (Device ID) or track your browser history or interfere with the work of extensions”
do you really believe that a company like google whose bread and butter is advertising would not make it easier for themselves, a company who has been exposed time and time again for lying and having ulterior motives ( you don’t need to look far just look into what manifest-v3 did )
remember those website that say “oh you are using an ad blocker so disable it to access our site”
I can easily imagine this not being a necessary, anymore. Just let the website using this WEI API automatically disable all browser extensions on a WEI-enabled site. Why not, after all? Why should you dictate the traffic you receive on your computer? Why should you own anything?
I will happily stop visiting any website that demands I use an approved browser.
Well, those of us who care all say that but I for one have to access government and banking websites in several countries, if they implement this I have no choice. This abomination must be prevented in the first place.
You won’t have a choice if it’s a bank or your job. This is the truly insidious thing, if enough important websites start demanding the standard, you might just end up forcing yourself off of the internet with that attitude
There would have to be very significant reasons for a bank to do that.
Like what? The only reason I’ve seen is laziness. Several banks in my area still require IE for some of their more elaborate online services. It’s typically limited to business users, but they’re still requiring it; to the point where they have a team of support agents that remote connect and reconfigure edge to run an IE-mode tab to the site, and install all their malware on your PC to make the service work. With the proper effort the whole thing could be reduced to little more than a chrome/firefox/opera/edge/safari/whatever extension…
But they don’t. because they’re lazy.
You won’t have a choice if it’s a bank
Time to find a new bank.
your job
I’m self employed so I aint worried about that.
I’m already locked in, I have to use google products daily for work as my work email and drive is all done through google. There’s no moving off that unless I leave my job and even then there’s no guarantee.
Fuck man, this blows.
… Until all the sites you absolutely need to use in order to *function in society *require approved devices with proper tracking.
I will as well, unless it’s necessary for work/school, or to participate with the government, or not using it will isolate me from friends and family.
Google has close to absolute control of the internet, which is now an essential tool to participate in society. The amount of power they have is insane, it rivals governments.
Stop using Google products I don’t know how else to fucking say it.
Chrome -> Firefox Drive -> sync or Dropbox or any number of options Sheets and productivity tools > libre office or Apache open office YouTube -> Invidious or even better, odysse Google search -> duck duck go, SearXNG, StartPage, etc Gmail -> not a ton of great options. I’d probably recommend proton mail but the FOSS email world is definitely lacking, or gets blocked or goes down, harder to self host etc.
helped with formatting:
Chrome -> Firefox
Drive -> sync or Dropbox or any number of options
Sheets and productivity tools > libre office or Apache open office
YouTube -> Invidious or even better, odysse
Google search -> duck duck go, SearXNG, StartPage, etc
Gmail -> not a ton of great options. I’d probably recommend proton mail but the FOSS email world is definitely lacking, or gets blocked or goes down, harder to self host etc.
And I agree for sure. In order I use firefox (and brave sometimes), Proton Drive, Apple Productivity suite (pages, numbers etc), and either startpage or qwant, and proton mail. I do still use use YouTube Premium, but the point is Google doesn’t need to have its fingers in every aspect of my digital life.
While I get your spirit… Dropbox belongs to google too 😂 they are everywhere! Worse than the plague.
For many people, Google controls the entire network stack from their ISP, router, OS, DNS, their browser, all the way down to the platform hosting the content they watch.
Google has captured such a wide part of the Internet that any changes they make will have at least a moderate effect on our lives. Even if we don’t use any Google services.
The only thing that can stop them is probably the EU at this point. And I’m sure Google has a plan for that.
They can’t have a plan for that. They have two options: conform or leave EU.
lol, just
become the governmentpay the EU.EU is widely adopting the policy of fining by a percentage of global revenue which is what hurts even the largest companies, precisely to avoid “just pay the EU”.
And what glorious percentage is that? 25% 30%? 35% And on what schedule? Weekly? Daily?
i didn’t write the quoted list, just helped the OP with his formatting. I use proton drive, not dropbox.
I had no idea Proton Drive was a thing. I’ll switch to it, Dropbox is becoming incredibly obnoxious with the advertising popups and notifications.
I’m not sure LibreOffice is a drop-in replacement for Google Docs if you need sharing, collaboration and built-in version control.
Yes, something like collabora would be a better fit, although I never managed to get an actual instance of the thing running.
Works quite well through nextcloud IME :)
Well I tried this and… I just can’t get to run properly. Tried docker, AIO, separate installs :(
I found that quite easy, for once: I have a bare NC instance and I installed 2 add-ons (the integration bits and the CODE server that IIRC drops an appimage of the actual collabora server). Unless you have hundreds of users, that’s about as much admin as you need :)
I’ll give it another try then, thanks !
deleted by creator
Nextcloud technically does much of what Drive does, but my instance is buggy lol
Still, costing me nothing to run for now, AWS 12 month free tier. Will move to a VPS somewhere not-aws before that’s over.
YouTube -> Invidious or even better, odysse
Or, even better, PeerTube, the federated alternative.
If anything came anywhere close to Google Photos, I’d stop using it. But trust me, there aren’t any viable alternatives.
Immich is getting pretty darn close, close enough that you could genuinely have a think about what features really matter to you, vs the cost of privacy lost continuing to use Google Photos.
ty for this rec! i have been searching for something like this passively for a while.
Yeah, me too. I’ve been on Photoprism for a while, and that got me out of Google Photos, but not my wife.
What annoys me about Photoprism is the long-promised multi-user feature was put behind a paid subscription. I was a paid Github supporter, and would’ve been happy to continue with my annual donation (like I do for other tech projects), but then they went the greedy ongoing sub route.
FYI, you need two new lines (hit Enter twice) to actually get a new line in Lemmy.
Two new lines One new line.
Can also add two spaces at the end of line to force line break
Is there a reason behind this?
It’s standard markdown afaik. Two new lines creates a new paragraphs, two spaces and one new line creates just a new line.
Markdown treats single newline breaks as being a line wrap in a long text flow
Because Reddit does it? 🤷♀️
Nah its part of the markdown specification
That’s actually a bit of a relief to learn. I didn’t want to believe it was simply because Lemmy was trying to copy Reddit, but I just didn’t know enough to see any other reason.
Proton mail for sure!! Great great great! Cant stop recomending
Yea i love Protonmail. I haven’t had one issue with it.
What’s the replacement for Android?
Linux, but that’s not a viable option. I would use degoogled Android OSs. GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, e/os, and LineageOS are some of the popular ones.
I use SailfishOS and while it’s more work, it’s viable.
Also correct here.
The 3 main have varying degrees of function vs security/privacy and should be researched.
Android, but the real one (AOSP, etc) that you can get with custom ROMs, not Google® Android©.
AOSP is a Google product.
That¿s why I said “the one you get from the custom ROMs”. Well, the ones that fork and maintain on their own anyway.
The other alternative honestly is Linux mobile, once it more properly launches.
Look, it’s an unpopular opinion and many will disagree with me, but while Apple does certain things to restrict you from customizing your experience, they’re doing far less to destroy the open Internet than Google. So if you need a fully featured OS (which degoogled custom Android ROMs might not be, if you need banking for an example), it’s still an alternative for now, until Linux mobile experience gets better.
On iOS, there’s no browser extensions (for e.g. ad blocking), no alternative browsers, and no FOSS apps of any kind. That platform is extremely hostile to the ideals of computing freedom.
Like I said, it’s a better (for privacy) alternative to stock Android when you need a fully functional operating system. If you can stand to lose the oppressive Google functionality, you can go degoogled Android or preferably Linux (if you don’t care about battery life or app availability).
Wait. Sync offers file storage? I thought it was just to sync up your Firefox sessions across multiple devices.
Or am I confusing services with similar names?
I think they’re referring to the storage service at sync.com, not Firefox Sync.
Correct
How do you like it? Would you prefer it over dropbox, or not really?
I’ve been migrating to sync from Dropbox after hearing too many reports of Dropbox scanning user content for things they deem objectionable. I like the end to end encryption, but I have found the mobile experience on iOS to be lacking. It seems to have trouble integrating with Files and uploading files directly via the iOS share menu. Annoying but not a dealbreaker.
I prefer it to drop box, it’s a better service and I believe not owned by Google like drop box it
Gawd damn, I didn’t know Google acquired Dropbox in 2010. Ok. Time to move.
But what makes Sync a better service? A better UI?
Question, I use Google docs a lot cause I like the sync and it’s convenient when I write something like a book on my computer and then can add more on my phone and it syncs. Does Apache open office do that? I would like to switch if all this chrome stuff is bad but I use all of it all the time
https://cryptpad.fr is a potential option. You can also host it yourself if you don’t want to pay them for extra storage space.
Oh that looks neat! I’ll have to look into it, thanks!
look into syncthing paired with local-first notes application (obsidian or similar), or simple text editor. work like a charm in my case.
Alright, thanks, I’ll try those out!
Ok I really like Obsidian! The interface is really clean! I might still need to look for a proper word processor (I guess I could use libreoffice) but I also use geany as a notepad++ substitute and it’s really nice too. I still gotta look into setting up syncthing though
I generally would recommend Libreoffice over AOO but not sure about cloud sync options
Interesting. Well, I did find Gnumeric in my search for a simple spreadsheet app for making flashcards with, so TIL something new I guess my “cloudsync” can be using syncthing or just backing up to a flash drive lol
I really really want to move from google workspace, google photos and google drive. I used it all to backup a 16TB archive, sharing photos with family and friends and keeping my personal files in the cloud and synched across computers. I used a Synology to backup the archive from the computer locally to the Synology and offsite to google drive. But here’s the thing, I’m a somewhat PC and Mac-savvy technical guy, but purely GUI. Is moving to Nextcloud on my synology going to be as easy as moving to google drive? I’m a little scared TBH. There are so many ways of installing next cloud and doing 3-2-1 backups and I don’t have time to handle a little error on a Synology destroying my whole workflow for days… Someone give me hope.
I like brave search because it uses its own index
Brave has done too many shady bullshit things and has thus completely lost my support and interest. I do not recommend them.
How is the worlds biggest ad distributor also the worlds biggest browser maker without it being an anti-trust violation?
Because it is legal in the US to bribe politicians and this company has a lot of money
Also doesn’t help that half the people supposedly in charge of cracking down on this kind of thing in the US belong in an old folks home. Most of them don’t even comprehend the issue.
I’m surprised I haven’t heard any pushback on it from the EU though.
Because the majority of legislatures think Chrome is the Internet
I’ve met plenty of people who can’t differentiate between facebook and the internet, or the term “wifi” and the internet - literally calling ethernet a “wifi cable”.
The people in charge barely understand enough to put on their own pants sometimes, yet they’re pushing legislation like they’re fully informed, and most don’t even read the brief about a new law before voting on it; literally voting along party lines because that’s what’s expected of them. They’re mostly braindead as-is; and you expect them to differentiate between the internet, a website, and a browser?
They should, but I really don’t expect that much from anyone who is elected.
Don’t forget that one dude who said 72 hours wasn’t enough time to read a 99 page bill
Hilarious.
Well anti-trust would get in the way of profits, you see
To all the people who didn’t see the point in moving away from Chromium browsers, THIS IS THE POINT!
Yeah, sure, it’s always the same story:
- Chrome adds a shitty anti-user “feature”
- Firefox users say “no come to firefox we don’t have that!”
- 3 months pass
- Firefox adds the same “feature” because it’s the standard now!!
I’m a Firefox user myself but I really hope something new comes along that actually cares about its users
You’re saying this like Firefox is adding the shitty standard because they want to, and not because Google used their monopoly to force adoption of the shitty standard forcing Firefox to follow suit if they don’t want their users to have a broken experience.
If Google introduces a shitty standard to YouTube and Firefox doesn’t adopt it, do you honestly think users are going to care or understand and blame Google? No, they’ll get pissed because they think Firefox broke YouTube and they’ll move to Chrome.
This exact situation played out with shadow DOM, Google implemented it into YouTube while it was still a draft standard, so all non-Chrome browsers ran worse because they had to use a polyfill.
That is why we’re telling people to stop using Chromium. If they didn’t have this monopoly none of this would be possible. Mozilla has some issues as an organization, but do honestly you think the better choice is letting an advertising company decide how the web works?
Mozilla has some issues as an organization
What is that actually?
What are the issues I have with Mozilla? They’re floundering with little direction and seemingly incompetent management.
They laid off a bunch of their key engineers while they continue to increase the CEO’s compensation. They keep making half baked decisions with regards to features and marketing that don’t seem conducive to their core offering, like the Pocket integration. They completely killed PWA integration, that only works now with an extension and third party software. They retired BrowserID. They orphaned Thunderbird. There’s probably more I’m forgetting.
Thanks for explaining. I wasn’t updated with all of these. I just use their browser. And thought they are some nice company.
No for-profit is nice, but they are the lesser shit of the two choices we have. Remember that the Mozilla Corporation is a for-profit, the Mozilla Organization is a non-profit. There is a clear conflict of interest between those two entities.
I do and will continue to use their browser because it’s the only choice I have if I want to stand by my principle of supporting a free and open web.
Remember when browsers just browsed…I really want to push the What’s Cool! button
Holy cow im getting nostalgia and I wasn’t even alive when Netscape was a thing, I think…
Fuck I’m old.
Sorry.
This is exactly why everyone should use fully idenpendted browser like Firefox
This is exactly why everyone should donate to Mozilla so they can stop being reliant on the Google search deal in Firefox.
The sad part is Mozilla is more of a political organization than just the developers of Firefox now. So you’re donating for their lobbying, not just browser development.
Firefox needs new ownership. But it’s kinda hard considering how big of a project a browser is nowadays.
not just browser development
Not even a single dime can go towards FF development, as it is done by a Corporation (Mozilla Corp.) which can’t legally take donations.
You can’t legally donate to Firefox, as it is developed by a Corp (Mozilla Corp.).
Donations go to Mozilla Foundation, which does… other things with you money (advocacy and, frankly speaking, a lot of unrelated crap) In other words, your money don’t go towards FF development, so you may want to think twice before donating.
“Do no evil.” …unless it’s projected as profitable, in which case, evil that shit up!
I see so many comments from people saying they’ll jump ship if Google adds this to Chrome. They’ll move over to Firefox right away. But the thing most people don’t know is one reason Google has such a broad reach is they make it so crazy easy to integrate their services for developers.
So, yes, users who dislike what they’re doing should stop using Google products if possible. But, more importantly, developers or project managers, etc. should all resist the urge to utilize this kind of feature even if it’s easy.
What do you mean? Gcloud is definitely not “easy” when compared to others like AWS. Also I think it’s common sense to avoid google products because they tend to abandon ship in a few years.
I completely agree.
Would you like to follow me on G+ ?
Google & Microsoft are famous for copying what all the other companies are doing and then letting it all die.
Hello from Zune land.I mean Google has very convenient libraries that developers can add to their apps/websites like libraries for ads, A/B testing, crash reporting, push notifications, etc. Even using one’s Google account for SSO in an app just leaks a tiny bit of data for Google to suck up. I think the average phone user is unaware of how even non-Google apps can have Google code, even for iOS. Obviously, this is worse for Android since Google Play Services is installed on almost all Android devices.
This kind of feature is likely to be cloud agnostic, so Gcloud vs AWS isn’t really what’s up for debate.
They’re likely referencing the ease of adding something like google analytics to a website, where you include a url in the code for a page and you’re done.
Users like visiting websites that are expensive to create and maintain, but they often want or need to do it without paying directly. These websites fund themselves with ads, but the advertisers can only afford to pay for humans to see the ads, rather than robots.
Won’t you think of the poor poor ad companies?
Time for me to start donating to Firefox. Need to do my part to make sure Chrome doesn’t complete its monopoly
Yet another vitally important front in the war on general purpose computing (it’s a short and important read imo)
Fuck Google, and fuck DRM.
