CHROME (google) is planing to implement DRM (kinda) into their browser
looks like rendering adblockers extensions obsolete with manifest-v3 was not enough so now they try to implement DRM into the browser giving the ability to any website to refuse traffic to you if you don't run a complaint browser ( cough...firefox )
here is an article in hacker news since i'm sure they can explain this to you better than i.
Not to the whole internet, but to important websites. I have no doubt you wouldn't use those websites, but a person who is in the fediverse is already not the average user
If it became a thing, I'd keep an older machine around just for accessing stuff like that. How much is a second hand craptop these days, like $400, not nothing, but not a huge amount.
I've never been unable to access a site on Firefox due to DRM. There is a prompt asking to run DRM-enabled media, but that's it.
Edit: or is there something about Manifest v3 that will get Firefox blocked somehow? IDK how as I would think it would be easy to pretend to be compliant.
Click the Github link in the original post. Google has an RFC open right now about "web integrity" about ensuring users don't modify the content they see. They claim it's not to block plugins but... It's hard to think what else they could possibly be thinking of.
I'd like to believe this, and I use Librewolf as my daily driver, so yeah, Firefox woo and all that. But Google is one of Mozilla's primary funders...how long before y'know, they tell Mozilla to cut that whole Manifest v2 shit out...?
The US should break apart huge companies like google. Google in particular has WAY more power to shape the internet than any one company should have. Death to google!
I agree on the first part, disagree on the second. I don't want google to die, they have created some amazing products. I do want Google to be broken up though and for the various entities created from that to rethink about how to monetize the web. It simply can't only be advertisements and harvesting user data.
And I'll admit that does provide some level of reassurance. I do worry about Google pulling strings though. I suspect they keep funding Firefox not to promote their search engine as default, but rather to ensure they're not called out as being a blatant monopoly in the Web Browser ecosystem.
But that's just that — speak. Not any sort of contractual committment.
And honestly, I get it. Why would the CEO be interested in keeping the company open if they stop receiving their Google raises? Just torch the franchise and run, like others even pre-Elon have done before.
I think the point is if website operators start supporting this you might not have a choice but to use Chrome, if you want to browse any reasonably popular web site.
Then I will stop browsing them? I stopped using Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit quite easily. I can do it with others if they're going to go down this route.
In a world that now has stronger cryptography, attestation and surveillance capabilities? I can assure you Round 2 would go vastly different. There would also not be a Round 3.
Bank sites don't necessarily need to want to block ads to implement something like this. They will just see the headlines that say "this is more secure" and that will be enough for them to buy in to it.
If we break their fingers in all EU countrys, yours won't even have to act... Like we could technically ban all website and browsers doing that from the entire market for this practice...
Exactly. If this comes to pass, you're still free to run an "unattested" browser if you want, but web sites are going to require it "for security" to make sure you are using an "untampered" with browser (I.e. no blocking ads)
Yeah, their marketing and outward appearance is a little strange. I think it's something they need to work on.
It just has a lot of productivity features, like having a fleshed-out vertical tab system, built-in split screening for tabs and being able to separate all my stuff into separate "spaces" that I can assign to different profiles and switch between with a swipe.
Everything in the browser can be accessed from a "command bar" (similar to Spotlight) meaning I can navigate the UI a lot faster. Every keybind (as far as I know) can be changed to whatever you want.
The boosts are pretty cool too. Basically lets you quickly change the colours, fonts, etc as well as "zap" elements (similar to uBlock Origin) and inject css and js. The changes persist and are toggleable through the UI.
Also, I just really like how it looks. It fits really well with the aesthetic of my Mac setup.
It's got its downsides; being based on Chromium makes it less battery efficient than Orion, which is based on WebKit. Plus it isn't open source, and vertical tabs aren't for everyone, but it works great for me (until Google kills Manifest V2...)
So here's the thing. This web integrity nonsense isn't about locking people into Chrome, it's about locking people into seeing what they'd see if they were using Chrome. The result might be more people using chrome if a website decides to DRM their content and their ads, but if you switch from one Chromium-based browser that forces you to see the ads like Chrome does to another Chromium-based browser that forces you to see the content that the website originator wants you to, like Opera, that's still a win for Google who are more interested in forcing you to see ads for this cause than for you to use Chrome.
The solution is voice objections to Google implementing this, to not use websites that implement DRM, and to not use web browsers that let Google dictate what the future of the web through their control of the Chromium engine