Your Computer Should Say What You Tell It To Say
www.eff.org
WEI? I’m a frayed knotTwo pieces of string walk into a bar.The first piece of string asks for a drink.The bartender says, “Get lost. We don’t serve pieces of string.”The second string ties a knot in his middle and messes up his ends. Then he orders a drink. The bartender says, “Hey, you aren’t a...

Summary

  • Google’s proposal, Web Environment Integrity (WEI), aims to send tamper-proof information about a user’s operating system and software to websites.
  • The information sent would help reduce ad fraud and enhance security, but it also raises concerns about user autonomy and control over devices.
  • The authors argue that implementing WEI could lead to websites blocking access for users not on approved systems and browsers.
  • They express worries about companies gaining more control over users’ devices and the potential for abuse.
  • The authors emphasize that users should have the final say over what information their devices share.
  • Remote attestation tools, like WEI, might have their place in specific contexts but should not be implemented on the open web due to potential negative consequences.
  • The authors advocate for preserving user autonomy and the openness of the web, emphasizing that users should be the ultimate decision-makers about their devices.

Joke:

Two pieces of string walk into a bar. The first piece of string asks for a drink. The bartender says, “Get lost. We don’t serve pieces of string.”

The second string ties a knot in his middle and messes up his ends. Then he orders a drink.

The bartender says, “Hey, you aren’t a piece of string, are you?” The piece of string says, “Not me! I’m a frayed knot.”

      • Thorned_Rose@kbin.social
        111·
        1 year ago

        And uBlock Origin. There’s some other decent privacy addons too like Privacy Badger, Decentraleyes and Chameleon.

        • thehatfox@kbin.social
          5·
          1 year ago

          With Google search results increasingly swamped with SEO-laden drivel, I’ve found the gap between Google and alternatives like Qwant and DDG has shrunk a lot recently. The little guys have improved a bit, but Google has also got worse.

          • beta_tester@lemmy.mlEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            Google became shit. I haven’t used it much in years. Sometimes it’s more useful though. Brave search is my go to. Simply because it has a brighter future than ddg and qwant. Qwant is mismanaged imo. Marketing is crap, products not working correctly, target group is wrong etc… brave serves nice summaries for stuff you look up.

        • PelicanenEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Most other search engines use Bing or Google, Qwant is one of the few that implement their own entirely. While I agree that it’s not as good as the other two, it also has a minuscule amount of market share and in turn fewer resources.

    • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬@lemmy.mlEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      I’m a happy Vivaldi user (features and configurability to me are more important!) but I’m sure this will be implemented in the Chromium open source platform and not exclusively in Chrome (like some other features).