Request for Position: Web Environment Integrity API · Issue #852 · mozilla/standards-positions
github.com
Request for Mozilla Position on an Emerging Web Specification Specification Title: Web Environment Integrity API Specification or proposal URL (if available): https://rupertbenwiser.github.io/Web-E...

Mozilla’s position on WEI is pretty solid.

  • ilickfrogs@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s funny, I always kept Firefox and Brave (yes I’m aware its chromium and full of fuckery) installed. But as soon as this news broke, before it was even confirmed, I swapped back from Brave to Firefox as my primary. Fuck Google for this. They’re just truly not the company they once were.

    • RagingNerdoholic@lemmy.ca
      1·
      1 year ago

      Web dev here. It enforces the original markup and code from a server to be the markup and code that the browser interprets and executes, preventing any post-loading modifications.

      That sounds a bit dry, but the implications are huge. It means:

      • ad blockers won’t work (the main reason for Google’s ploy)
      • many, if not most, other browser extensions won’t work (eg.: accessibility, theming, anti-malware)
      • people are going to start running into a lot of scam ads that ad blockers would otherwise prevent
      • malicious websites will be able to operate with impunity since you cannot run security extensions to prevent them
      • web developers are going to be crippled for lack of debugging ability

      These are just a few things off the top of my head. There are endless and very dangerous implications to WEI. This is very, very bad for the web and antithesis of how it’s supposed to be.

      TBL is probably experiencing a sudden disturbance in the force.

      • CrypticCoffee@lemmy.mlOPM
        1·
        1 year ago

        I think you’re missing the fact that if google doesn’t attest for your software choice, the website could prevent access. It is google trying to take ownership of what is and isn’t supported software when accessing the internet. This is far more serious that a few adverts, this could be the removal of liberty on the open web.

      • eth0p@iusearchlinux.fyi
        0·
        1 year ago

        I’m not saying you’re wrong or that Web Environment Integrity is a good thing, but a primary source and citation is needed for this statement:

        It enforces the original markup and code from a server to be the markup and code that the browser interprets and executes, preventing any post-loading modifications.

        • RagingNerdoholic@lemmy.ca
          1·
          1 year ago

          Read between the lines, dude. Ad blockers work by observing and analyzing the DOM for elements presenting or containing ads and subsequently removing or obscuring those elements by manipulating the DOM. There’s no way for WEI to carry out its purported goals without forcibly preventing DOM manipulation.

          There are absolutely no conceivable benefits for users. None.