Your choice of browser matters — Google’s Web DRM and the open internet
https://grafcube.codeberg.page/blog/2023/08/06/web-drm-api.html
I wrote this blog post to inform the people I know who aren’t as tech savvy or otherwise don’t put any thought into their choice of browser. Another goal is to help get enough awareness on the topic and make sure it fails.
@opensource @privacy #webintegrityapi #WEI #google #mozilla #chrome #firefox #chromium #foss #opensource #OpenWeb #privacy #drm #nodrm #drmfree #freesoftware #browser
“Sure, Chromiums code is available and you can modify and redistribute it. But if you want to send your changes to the main project so that more people may benefit from it, it is ultimately Google’s decision. This is the problem with projects that are not community-run.”
Google is asshole. This shows than NOT all open source codes are free as in freedom. Stallman is right.
If WEI proceeds, I won’t have a choice of browser. Or operating system.
@grafcube @opensource @privacy
Yaaay, time to really push that SearX/alternative-search-engine crusade, because there is more reason for a user to say “fuck you” to the hungry machine.
I was in dehi recently. Poverty is kinda nuts there, but I noticed everyone had phones, even people who obviously had no home. I assume kinda shitty phones, but it makes you realize a bit how important access is. If someone releases an iOS only app with no web version, they’re basically saying fuck you to all those people.
Same same for this though. Googles saying “as long as you use our stuff you’ll be fine, and why wouldn’t you use our stuff because it’s free! (Sometimes kinda sorta). And if you’re stuck with something else for some reason, fuck you.”
There is no internet without Firefox. There is an internet without Google.
Seamonkey (Mozilla browser/email/news suite) still exists! https://www.seamonkey-project.org/dev/
And there’s even still a build of uBlock Origin for it! https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/
There is still hope, if we keep the open tools alive…
Posted from freshly-installed Seamonkey browser with uBlock Origin :)
Good article actually! I think non-tech-savvy people will also appreciate some kind of TL;DR
Edit: didn’t know Codeberg can host static sites, definitely migrating mine there from Guthib!
@grafcube it’s very important to push back against google’s browser hegenomy just like we did back in the day with microsoft because now it’s not just about one company controllin the software to access the majority of the web but the privacy of it.
@grafcube @opensource @privacy
> But why do you use Chrome?
I can tell why I do. I used to use Firefox but had to move to Chromium long time ago for several reasons:
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It was nicer on RAM on a very small machine I had at the time. I think Firefox got better in that sense since then.
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Many web apps don’t work quite well (or don’t work at all) on anything but Chrome. That’s a sin many lazy web developers make, and it forces their choice on the users.
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@grafcube @opensource @privacy Very good blog post. I use a fork of LibreWolf called FireDragon with all the settings I used to use on LibreWolf select including blocking fingerprint tracking, total cookie protection, and also multiple containers for sites. Cookies are only saved for sites I specify and the rest are deleted on closure.
I remember WaterFox but this is getting ridiculous.
Don’t forget GNU IceCat
This new invention from Google has nothing to do with the browser you use. It is an API incorporated into, with Google affiliates and its own, web pages, which allows these pages to block any browser “for security reasons”, when it does not have a Google Token incorporated, that accredits it as secure. That is, it is then Google itself who decides which browser is worthy to access the web. It doesn’t matter which browser you use, or incorporate this Token in it, or forget about a large part of the internet and anyway about any Google page or service (Gmail, YouTube, GDrive, GoogleMaps, …). This is the danger that the free internet faces, that Google decides which browser is worth using and which is not, being able to allow only Chrome itself as the only valid browser to access half of the pages on the network, and Game over for everyone else, Chromium, Gecko, WebKit or any other, without Google Token in it no internet, except if some geek comes up with some Fake Token which can be used (complicated)🤬.
For the downvoters, also Firefox and forks need to insert this Google Token in the Browser or die. Because of this Mozilla, Vivaldi and several others have started a protest before the legislator to prevent this crap. In the EU there is already a debate whether or not this is compatible with GDPR and user rights. We’ll see what comes of this. It is legitimate that Google provides tools to web pages to protect against entries from bots and insecure browsers, but it is not legitimate that the decision which browser is secure and which is not, depends on this company, only a certificate from an independent technical institution can be valid on technical grounds and not by Google itself for possible commercial reasons.
Yeah I’m completely over to firefox now. I can’t help but notice firefox mobile is still a bit sluggish though but eh
Really, Firefox on Android feels much better then Chrome for me. But maybe thats because of ublock.
@grafcube @opensource @privacy I will make some comments to it, when I finished reading. I just want to say u already got some points wrong, Brave plans to continue supporting MV2 too, same for Vivaldi as far ik. Also DuckDuckGo’s Browser are not chromium based too, they use the Systems Webview.
Edit: removed the info that Brave will not support WEI, since it got later mentioned in the blog post
The WebView on Android at least is Chromium based though, but I agree its probably best to make that distinction.
Also its breaking sites left , right and center ! Things load on ff much better
What is the Systems Webview?
@hevov It’s basically a system component which display web content. Android, Windows and other OS has this.
So you mean DuckDuckGo is just using the default browser engine?
Windows is probably using Edge/Chromium Mac OS is using WebKit.
That what you mean? I only found an Android app of a browser engine called System Engine.
@hevov No, It’s using the Webview Implemantion of the OS, which is different than a OS based on chromium. Since it’s function differently, probaly is based on Chromium, but is more like a fork of it. Windows has Edge Webview2 (Which isn’t that much related to it), Android has Android Webview or Chrome if Webview isn’t installed, you can also install alternative Webviews on Android. About iOS and MacOS, I don’t rly know. They have probaly smth with webkit.
I am fairly tech savvy and I willingly avoid using Firefox because I despise Mozilla. Thank you for your concerns.
You could at least explain why you avoid firefox, so the comment at least is more informative.
What do you use? And why do you despise mozilla?
Don’t even ask, not worth it with this guy.