this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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[–] StewartGilligan@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (4 children)

As long as this doesn't impact Firefox, I don't care...

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The problem is they have the lion’s share of users, so they can force websites to adhere to their policies and those sites will stop working in FF.

[–] baked_tea@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Google is the source of most of the funding to Firefox. Can go 100 to 0 anytime basically

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago

You're assuming that this will kill FF instantly instead of them finding new ways to fund themselves. Not saying the situation is good, but it's not that bad.

[–] nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Don't they pay for firefox just so they don't get hit with antitrusts?

[–] yukichigai@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

I feel like that might trigger an anti-trust lawsuit somewhere.

[–] Mikina@programming.dev 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

We know how it will impact Firefox. They will be deeply concerned with WEI and extremely opposing it, but will implement it anyway because they are forced to do it.

It's going to go exactly like this. Again.

With most competing browsers and the content industry embracing the W3C ~~EME~~ WEI specification, Mozilla has little choice but to implement ~~EME~~ WEI as well so our users can continue to access all content they want to enjoy.

And that is almost a direct quote.

[–] StewartGilligan@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Someone will most likely create a fork to remove this or an option to disable it will probably be baked into about:config. I don't visit many sites that use DRM. When I do visit sites that require it, I'll usually shift to Ungoogled Chromium or Brave.

Another one of my major fears with this change is whether Google will decide to make Chromium closed source and the implications it can have for other chromium based browsers.

[–] Mikina@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Someone will most likely create a fork to remove this or an option to disable it will probably be baked into about:config.

But that's the issue - if WEI passes, EVERY webpage will be able to use DRM. So, just like you have to switch to Chromium for DRMed media content, you will now have to switch for every website that has decided to implement it. So, your bank (because google is pushing it as a security feature), Youtube, Gmail... Just like you are not able to play DRM media, you won't be able to visit DRMed websites without WEI API supported. It's not something you turn off.

[–] nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I'd be fine ditching youtube and gmail instead of having to use their shitty services with ads that lead to fake software that compromise your computers. Also my bank could try this, I would quickly turn into their most annoying customer also it could get to the point that unless you run a specific OS these pages won't work and it would start being problematic legally for them. But until then I will pray everyday that the EU will take a hammer to WEI and break it's legs.

[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago

It will impact Firefox.

[–] HellAwaits@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Well, they're trying to make it impact FF.......