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"Web Environment Integrity" is an all-out attack on the free Internet
(www.defectivebydesign.org)
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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Technology
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Uninstall all google apps and CHROME... get Firefox...done. How many times will i have to say it before people start to understand.
That will work for now. But the open web is under attack.
More and more content is being locked inside of apps, pay walls, etc. Google search sucks because they only show you paid promoted content. Thus WEI bullshit is just another step in the direction of taking away free and open access. If this shit is left unchecked, mainstream websites will stop working with open web browsers like Firefox.
Their goal is to charge fees and subscriptions for everything. And to take away freedom of choice and open access. They don't want to compete with value or quality content. They want to remove our ability to even use the competition.
The reason they can get away with it is because too many people use Chrome / Edge / Brave (Chromium based browsers). The free web will survive if companies lose half their customers by not supporting it. It won't survive if they would only lose 0.1% of their customers.
So the key will be to push non-Chromium browsers - get that installed base up. Encourage everyone you know to use a non-Chromium browser. Install a decent browser for your elderly relatives, and spread the word.
It's not like we're far away from that now. While most sites work with Firefox, I still have to use Edge on a regular basis because some sites just don't work on Firefox, and somehow we've reached a point where Edge is the lesser evil because the other choice is Chrome. And I recently discovered a website that won't work on Firefox or Edge, and as it wasn't a website that I had a choice about using (needed to use it to respond to a letter from a government body), there was no choice but to install Chrome.
Sounds like it's a good time to set up a Jellyfin server with your music and movies, and a Kavita server with comics and books! Yo ho ho!... I wonder how many of my friends I can get back onto IRC? :D
I would assume saying words only gets you so far. One side has money, power and people's attention, the other the good arguments.
I have the feeling situations like these are common and go a certain way.
There's power in organizing and voting with your wallet collectively. Reject companies that trample your customer needs and convince others to do the same.