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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

#21

Post by JohnFen »

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…

> Those few who care will turn to more esoteric, incomplete, user-unfriendly but open systems.

A lot of that has been happening for a long time now.

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

#22

Post by thesuperbigfrog »

anderspitman wrote: post #7

Seems like this is going to get a lot of pushback. It might not go through. But remember whether it goes through or not isn't the important thing. The fact that Google wants it to is what matters.

>> Seems like this is going to get a lot of pushback.

It is:

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/...

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

#23

Post by treyd »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #6

Google seems to be escalating the speed of its efforts to restrict its user base to the completely non-technical, but Apple and Facebook already own that market. It also sounds like they're promoting yet another way to make "the internet" slower, more bloated, and have greater impediments to usage.

This proposal only impacts "the web", which has already been going downhill for years now due to unsustainable ad-reliant business models. The internet is fine.

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

#24

Post by rpdillon »

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.

Personal sites likely wouldn't be affected directly. What this will affect is the ecosystem of browsers that people are willing to use. My prediction is that it will slowly strangle independent browser development, which will turn the web into something akin to the Android/iPhone duopoly. This is kind of already the case with browser engines, but because this is DRM, it would extend that same effect to the actual distributed binary (e.g. you can't visit your bank with Chromium on a Debian box, since that wasn't compiled and signed by Google).

> Same thing for a lot of sites, probably the vast majority of them.

Once Google gets this in place, it can then perform these checks through their ads SDK and demonetize traffic from visitors that don't pass the check. This will create an incentive for any site owner that wants to make money through ads to enforce that visitors must use an approved browser. Basically the DRM equivalent of 'Please disable your ad blocker'.

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

#25

Post by CamperBob2 »

afandian wrote: post #17
pmontra wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You already get flagged as hazardous and uncool for not using https, even on a perfectly-static site.

Some of us called that out as a slippery slope leading to ubiquitous gatekeeping, but we were shouted down in the name of (as usual) "security."

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

#26

Post by rolph »

JohnFen wrote: post #20
pmontra wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

HTTPS has a lot to do with that. let's encrypt is free, but requires things common users dont have, such as control of a domain, as it is if google can see your stored certificates it could exclude you from a site based on "sites you hang around with"

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

#28

Post by rvnx »

thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #22
anderspitman wrote: post #7

Seems like this is going to get a lot of pushback. It might not go through. But remember whether it goes through or not isn't the important thing. The fact that Google wants it to is what matters.

>> Seems like this is going to get a lot of pushback. It is: https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/...

The same was with Privacy Sandbox; Result: billions of device now happily adopted it (by force).

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

#30

Post by gattilorenz »

JohnFen wrote: post #21
gary_0 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Those few who care will turn to more esoteric, incomplete, user-unfriendly but open systems. A lot of that has been happening for a long time now.

Care to share some examples?
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