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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by 1984@lemmy.today to c/technology@lemmy.world

I'm happy to see this being noticed more and more. Google wants to destroy the open web, so it's a lot at stake.

Google basically says "Trust us". What a joke.

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[-] antony@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago

While you are at it, convince Apple to allow Firefox on iOS, and decline to use WEI in Safari. Otherwise there's no way to avoid WEI on iPhone, and only one mainstream rendering engine free of this insidious malware. Many companies will shy away from it if it breaks mobile apps on the Apple platform.

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[-] FunderPants@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago

Would WEI stop Adblock by DNS? Like pihole or similar ?

[-] Z3k3@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

From my very basic understanding of it yes. It in effect checks what's loaded against what was served and if there's a discrepancy it does its thing.

Note. If I have misunderstood please someone correct me.

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[-] TheEntity@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

Yes and no. They can freely enforce a specific DNS server and reject any browser with a custom one as "tampered with". Just like they can freely enforce any part of your system being like they want it to be "or else".

[-] takeda@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

All of that can be easily checked via JavaScript, but now if you world use extensions to disable those checks you would not pass the attestation.

So yeah, essentially you no longer have control over your computer, and need to bend over and accept everything the site owner wishes to do.

[-] snooggums@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

bend over and accept everything the site owner wishes to do.

Including a malicious site owner's wishes.

[-] darth_helmet@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

No, but that only works if the ads are being served by known ad hosts, so you should expect that adtech will get hip to that and proxy their traffic through the same hosts as the content.

That being said, it’s pretty easy to check if a user has network blackholing going on in clientside JavaScript, you just do a test request to a popular ad network and see if it resolves, no special browser support needed.

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[-] under2x@lemdit.com 18 points 1 year ago

Well passed time to do some monopoly busting.

[-] hawkwind@lemmy.management 21 points 1 year ago

Monopoly busting. Ecosystem lock-in. Right to repair. Software patent reform. Privacy and AI regulation.

What do lawmakers even do these days anyway?

[-] charliespider@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

What do lawmakers even do these days anyway?

Accept bribes. Insider trading. Forment outrage.

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[-] MrDrProfJimmy@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

There's no way there's a legitimate argument why this is good for us/the internet

[-] moog@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

it says something about "spoofing identity" which raises a good question. If this does happen, how difficult would it be to just lie about your client environment with a spoofer of some sort?

[-] takeda@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's exactly what it is trying to prevent. Basically you, as an user is not to be trusted, so the website and your own computer work together to prevent you from doing anything the site deems inappropriate, like spoofing things, blocking ads etc.

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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
1252 points (98.2% liked)

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