Technology

There's something no one seems to be talking about

this isn't limited to your browser

It runs at the highest ring of security on your processor. It could mean it locks you to OEM Android, iOS, or Windows. It could be extended to look at your app list, dns settings, potentially even tell if the device is using a vpn

it could be paired with kosa to use biometrics to verify identity

And it would be shocking if cloudflare didn't implement this - it would save them a ton of processing. It's likely it would be a default setting - this would apply to large swaths of the Internet, not just Google services

Why is everyone making noise about Google's implementation while barely anyone is making noise about Apple's, which is already in use? https://httptoolkit.com/blog/apple-private-access-tokens-attestation/

My guess is that Apple just rolled it out silently, while Google goes through a standards process with a public RFC. (edit: Also, Safari isn't as commonly used).

So sick of "just use Firefox" as if everyone has forgotten how the last company to bend the web to it's will using a browser didn't kill the very thing Firefox was born out of. Either google doesn't do this or it doesn't matter if you use Firefox, your browser will either comply or die like Netscape Navigator.

I don’t see how this could be prevented.

There are already many "small web" movements. With different proposals. Like gemini, sub-set of currently supported web standards (typically no-js, no-css, no POST, etc…)

But the monetized web is doomed to reach a point were it will be controlled in such a way that you will not be able to block ads, not be able to hide your pseudonymous identity.

I remember reading an article many years ago about the cat and mouse game between ads publishers and ad-blockers. The conclusion were that in the end, ads blocker will lose the final war. And with these kind of system we are closer and closer to reach it.

I think we need to collectively find a way to have sub-nets. For example declare that our website conform to certain sub-net properties.

• no-ads
• privacy (no cookie/no js/no user-agent header/no canvas, no css)
• etc…

The small webs are different for everyone. It would be very nice if we could put an HTML header that would list which small webs pattern this page is compatible with. And have a browser that would adapt to your preferences and also a way to filter your small-web preferences in search engine.

The closest to this we have today is probably gemini. But this a very small but friendly web. I am sure we could find other solutions to create an alternative "respecting his users" web.

" it will be used by Google to deny access to their services unless you are using a browser that gels with their profit margin"

Cool. So people using a different browser will move elsewhere. Maybe they'll even stop youtube addiction. Cant' really see a downside.

"It is not far-fetched to imagine a future in which sites simply refuse to serve pages to users running free browsers or free operating systems."

Same here. Sites doing this wouldn't probably worth to be looked at anyway.

This all seemed to happen so fast. In the last few years we’ve lost net neutrality and now are in danger of having another slice of the internet parcelled off to big tech.

Funny, it seems Google’s motto has slowly become “do nothing but evil at all costs”. What an absolute shit stain of a company they turned out to be.

I would suggest sequestering G! To their own corner of the interwebs but it's Google. They're too big for that.

Remind me: why do we allow behemoths like this to exist?

I support them, but the writing reads like a mad teenager wrote it... I can't believe it's from the FSF.

But Google is freeeee!