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

  • ferralcat@monyet.cc
    22·
    3 years ago

    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.”

  • Sky Cato@beehaw.orgBanned
    221·
    3 years ago

    “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.

  • mishimaenjoyer@kbin.social
    14·
    3 years ago

    @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.

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
    152·
    3 years ago

    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)🤬.

    • Zerush@lemmy.ml
      9·
      3 years ago

      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.

  • Midas@ymmel.nl
    12·
    3 years ago

    Yeah I’m completely over to firefox now. I can’t help but notice firefox mobile is still a bit sluggish though but eh

  • Mr. w00t@lemy.lol
    7·
    3 years ago

    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!

  • Notsunya@sakurajima.moe
    6·
    3 years ago

    @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.

    • raptir@lemm.eeEnglish
      81·
      3 years ago

      I remember WaterFox but this is getting ridiculous.

  • gram@fosstodon.org
    83·
    3 years ago

    @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:

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

  • drifty@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    4·
    3 years ago

    I use Floorp, works pretty well and has the option to look like Edge which I really like