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Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

arstechnica.com

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Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#11

Post by gary_0 »

JohnFen wrote: post #3

This sounds like the final death blow to the web as a useful platform for anyone who isn't a corporation.

The Web will cease to be an open system, and will become a glorified fax machine and cable TV network. Those few who care will turn to more esoteric, incomplete, user-unfriendly but open systems. Eventually one of those systems will gain popularity with nerds, academics, and weirdos. They'll fill it with information and media they compile and create in their spare time, and it will interoperate in useful ways that for-profit corporate networks can't. Over time it will gain popularity and "normal" people will start using it too. Money will start to pour in, the network will fill up with garbage, and then corporations will come in and take it over and lock it down.

Rinse repeat.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#12

Post by pmontra »

JohnFen wrote: post #3

This sounds like the final death blow to the web as a useful platform for anyone who isn't a corporation.

This is bad but how is it going to affect the usefulness of my personal web site, that will never use that API to check who's reading it, not or human? Same thing for a lot of sites, probably the vast majority of them.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#13

Post by fidotron »

The Chrome team have used "the Open Web" as a euphemism for what is to all intents and purposes Google's great ad supported walled garden. That so few people see this for what it is is amazing, and then they get all surprised when Google act to preserve it and close the capability gap with native platforms.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#14

Post by wiseowise »

> The goal of the project is to learn more about the person on the other side of the web … The intro says this data would be useful to advertisers to better count ad impressions, stop social network bots, enforce intellectual property rights, stop cheating in web games

Go f yourself, Google. Browser’s purpose is to serve me web pages, not to learn about me.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#16

Post by thriftwy »

gary_0 wrote: post #11
JohnFen wrote: post #3

This sounds like the final death blow to the web as a useful platform for anyone who isn't a corporation.

The Web will cease to be an open system, and will become a glorified fax machine and cable TV network. Those few who care will turn to more esoteric, incomplete, user-unfriendly but open systems. Eventually one of those systems will gain popularity with nerds, academics, and weirdos. They'll fill it with information and media they compile and create in their spare time, and it will interoperate in useful ways that fo…

Except in the age of hyperinformation, you will see such fringe systems pump and dump on the time frame of a few months, not decades like it used to. You would pray that it would not happen and the thing that you are using right now will not gain that kind of attention.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#17

Post by afandian »

pmontra wrote: post #12
JohnFen wrote: post #3

This sounds like the final death blow to the web as a useful platform for anyone who isn't a corporation.

This is bad but how is it going to affect the usefulness of my personal web site, that will never use that API to check who's reading it, not or human? Same thing for a lot of sites, probably the vast majority of them.

One day Google may well flag your sure as lower security, refuse to let you show ads, or disappear you from search results.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#18

Post by rolph »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

Sounds crazy. But a possible way to defeat it is what I do now --- keep two devices. One that meets their requirements for cases where it is absolutely needed and another for everything else.

attested proxies, back n forthing between a user, and the chrome zone

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#19

Post by contravariant »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

Sounds crazy. But a possible way to defeat it is what I do now --- keep two devices. One that meets their requirements for cases where it is absolutely needed and another for everything else.

When it comes to a game of chicken it's better to not just seem like you won't move, but to throw out the wheel entirely.

Of course it's dubious if it applies here, especially because the playing field doesn't feel quite equal, but I think the most effective thing we can do is simply refuse to use websites that require a custom built user agent to access.

Heck maybe we've already mostly lost the battle to keep the internet usable with curl, let's at least try to keep some of the other options open.

Re: Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web

#20

Post by JohnFen »

pmontra wrote: post #12
JohnFen wrote: post #3

This sounds like the final death blow to the web as a useful platform for anyone who isn't a corporation.

This is bad but how is it going to affect the usefulness of my personal web site, that will never use that API to check who's reading it, not or human? Same thing for a lot of sites, probably the vast majority of them.

It won't at all, of course, but personal websites are a vanishing breed.
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