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Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

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Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#261

Post by tempestn »

ravenstine wrote: post #27

This is a good idea, and is something I've thought of for a while; the user agent header was a mistake from both a privacy and a UX perspective. Ideally, web browsers should attempt to treat the content the same no matter what device you are on. There shouldn't be an iOS-web, and a Chrome-web, and a Firefox-web, and an Edge-web; there should just be the web. In which case, a user-agent string that contains the browse…

One problem with this is that browsers don't behave the same. For example, iOS Safari prevents multiple pop-up windows to be opened by a single user interaction. Each one requires clicking back to the original page and allowing the popup. Now you might say, "Why would you ever want to do that?" But there are always going to be edge cases—in this case it's an integral part of one of the features of autotempest.com. But that's just one example. And the only way we can detect whether that behaviour is going to be blocked is by checking the UA.

I can understand why this is a good thing for privacy. Like many things to do with security on the web though, it's just a shame that bad actors have to ruin so many things for legitimate uses. (The recent story on Safari local storage being another example of that...)

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#262

Post by namibj »

iso1631 wrote: post #167
michaelmrose wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding google properties what do you prefer and why?

Google maps does tend to be better than OSM when it comes to route finding, I use !gm when I want routing. On my phone I use apple maps though. Gmail is painful compared with OWA (work) and zoho (home), I stopped using my gmail account for new stuff about a year ago.

I us brouter for my usecase of foot/bike nav in hilly terrain. Using OSM And for the UI.

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#263

Post by eredengrin »

asveikau wrote: post #136
jorams wrote: post #36

The weird thing about this is that the only company I've seen doing problematic user-agent handling in recent years is Google themselves. They have released several products as Chrome-only, which then turned out to work fine in every other browser if they just pretended to be Chrome through the user agent. Same with their search pages, which on mobile were very bad in every non-Chrome browser purely based on user age…

A fair number of websites will still block perfectly working features based on what OS you use. Some examples I've seen using the latest Firefox on *BSD: Facebook won't let you publish or edit a Note (not a normal post, the builtin Notes app). I think earlier they wouldn't play videos but they might have fixed that. Chase Bank won't let you log in. Gives you a mobile-looking UI which tells you to upgrade to the lates…

In addition to these, I've also noticed outlook365 (use it for accessing work email) gives a very minimal interface to the point of being nearly unusable with a FreeBSD user agent. Switch to a more popular one and I get full functionality.

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#264

Post by cpeterso »

_jal wrote: post #127
llbeansandrice wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god. I knew it was inserting a line break when I hit enter but I didn't realize it was a FF only issue. gdi Google.

Not the first time. For some reason Google really doesn't like people talking about the games they play with browser detection. (That's not snark - I really don't get it. They don't appear to mind people talking negatively about a lot of other stuff they get up to. Maybe lingering antitrust fears from the 90's MS suit?)

I reported this as a Firefox bug [1] in 2015. Google fixed it on their side in 2017, but it’s back. :(

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1205573

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#265

Post by searchableguy »

recursive wrote: post #198
tryptophan wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its absurd that paying customers get a worse experience than just using the piratebay.

Last time I used piratebay, I saw a lot of porn and malware/scam ads. I had to find and install a torrent client. Then I had to make sure I was downloading a movie that had enough seeders. And then I couldn't watch the movie until (and if) the download finished. When I use netflix, I have a much better experience.

You can use webtorrent - https://webtorrent.io/

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#266

Post by searchableguy »

Larrikin wrote: post #148
chipperyman573 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some advice about ReCaptcha, the audio test is way easier and usually only makes you do it once or twice (as opposed to the 5-10 times you usually have to do when you have disabled tracking). Sometimes it will say you aren't eligible or something, just refresh the page and it will let you try again.

The audio test can also be defeated by ML extensions that do it for you automatically

I wonder what will be the point of these captchas if most people started avoiding them by installing extensions. If the end goal is to put significant resource constraint on the scrapper or bots, you can do it quite easily by running something to short the usage up for a few seconds if you think someone is suspicious.

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#267

Post by ygra »

currysausage wrote: post #71
jorams wrote: post #36

The weird thing about this is that the only company I've seen doing problematic user-agent handling in recent years is Google themselves. They have released several products as Chrome-only, which then turned out to work fine in every other browser if they just pretended to be Chrome through the user agent. Same with their search pages, which on mobile were very bad in every non-Chrome browser purely based on user age…

If you have the new Chromium-based Edge ("Edgium") installed: the compatibility list at edge://compat/useragent is really interesting. Edgium pretends to be Chrome towards Gmail, Google Play, YouTube, and lots of non-Google services; on the other hand, it pretends to be Classic Edge towards many streaming services (HBO Now, DAZN, etc.) because it supports PlayReady DRM, which Chrome doesn't. [Edit] Here is the full l…

For me that list is empty. Edge-dev 82. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#269

Post by leadingthenet »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #251
tryptophan wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its absurd that paying customers get a worse experience than just using the piratebay.

Wait til you see how amazing the experience can be with Usenets...

How do I get into using Usenet?

Re: Chrome phasing out support for User-Agent

#270

Post by mixmastamyk »

recursive wrote: post #198
tryptophan wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its absurd that paying customers get a worse experience than just using the piratebay.

Last time I used piratebay, I saw a lot of porn and malware/scam ads. I had to find and install a torrent client. Then I had to make sure I was downloading a movie that had enough seeders. And then I couldn't watch the movie until (and if) the download finished. When I use netflix, I have a much better experience.

Netflix doesn’t have most stuff.
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