Reminder to switch browsers if you haven’t already!


  • Google Chrome is starting to phase out older, more capable ad blocking extensions in favor of the more limited Manifest V3 system.
  • The Manifest V3 system has been criticized by groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation for restricting the capabilities of web extensions.
  • Google has made concessions to Manifest V3, but limitations on content filtering remain a source of skepticism and concern.
    • graymess@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      How long until the majority of the Internet is inaccessible to non-Chromium browsers because the pages “don’t support them”?

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        I don’t think that’s going to be the case. People will find workarounds. The whole point of these alternative browsers is to use the web in whatever way the developers think their user base wants to use it. If the web is inaccessible to non-chromium browsers then people will spoof their browser to the site to look like a chromium browser.

        • bc93@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          6 months ago

          That isn’t necessarily going to be possible. There are many diverse fingerprinting techniques, I really don’t think it would be trivial to spoof them all. User agent is easy but stuff like TLS fingerprinting is much harder to spoof.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            If we get to the point where the corporatocracy can force us into a limited set of compliant browsers then the web as we know it has ended. I don’t think they’ll go that far unless they decide to go whole hog. That level of control will likely look to wipe out any useful plugins like ad-blockers or other privacy features. I didn’t want to go down the slippery slope argument, but that’s pretty much what will happen if they go that direction.

            • bc93@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              6 months ago

              We’re kind of already there - there’s Chromium, Webkit and Gecko and that’s about it, two of which are controlled by the biggest ad companies in the world, and the third is heavily subsidised by the first. Mozilla was effectively forced into implementing DRM into the browser already, and there’s plenty of other “””standards””” published and approved by Google that Mozilla is pressured into implementing but doesn’t want to for security and privacy reasons.

              I definitely expect it’ll get worse.

          • bc93@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            6 months ago

            I remember back in the day, doing all of my browsing in Firefox, and having IE6 on my desktop for the random few websites/tools that only worked in IE for one reason or another. That is becoming a reality already with Chrome, I need to occasionally use WebUSB, which only really Chrome supports, because Mozilla quite rightly refuses to implement the spec.

            • Kiernian@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              6 months ago

              “WebUSB is a JavaScript application programming interface specification for securely providing access to USB devices from web applications”

              Holy Hannah, NO!!!

              Might as well allow a website to direct write to your hard drive unprompted again.

              Does noone see how BAD this stuff is?

              Stop creating attack vectors with glowing neon signs on them.

              • Goodtoknow@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                6 months ago

                Except it’s a very good thing for 2FA USB keys which prevent people from gaining access unless they have physical access to the key. Also useful for USB gamepads etc

              • antler@feddit.rocks
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                6 months ago

                Web engines are nearly OSs at this point. It’s aready possible to flash a phone ROM in two clicks with a webpage. Most apps are also already rendered in browser engines anyway, that includes things like steam. The APIs might sound evil until your favorite FOSS project uses them to make your life better.

                Unfortunately, if Mozilla refuses to implement stuff like PWAs or advanced APIs it’s locked out of that side of innovation both good and bad.

                • Kiernian@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  It’s aready possible to flash a phone ROM in two clicks

                  That’s precisely the kind of access that a web browser should NEVER, EVER have.

                  If you think 2 stage download keylogger apps getting into app stores is bad, wait until it can be done with a banner ad. Or by viewing a comment on a post.

                  • antler@feddit.rocks
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    0
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    5 months ago

                    You have to specifically permit it on a per site basis, it’s not like a website has those permissions by default. If a banner ad or forum post could enable that permission then they’d be able to access your camera as well as a plethora of other permissions?

                    I don’t see any difference between downloading code to run in a web browser vs downloading and running ADB. In fact, running software in a web browser is more sandboxed and with more fine tuned permissions.

          • iopq@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            I would close my bank account and such to a different bank. It takes literally 5 minutes to open one online.

            And yes, I would not work for a company that doesn’t support Firefox

            I would also keep pestering support of the government website, that one I will have to give to you

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Honestly the way the internet is going do you need access to the majority of the internet? I feel like its pretty dead as it is now already.

        Lemmy will still work because we mostly use Firefox, and i bet the same will hold true for many others.

        Basically the moment mainstream internet becomes google only you will see nerds build new websites specifiably to cater to the non google crowd and i trust random internet nerds a hack of a lot more than a monopoly corporation.

        BRING IT ON GOOGLE!, YOU CAN INITIATE THE PUSH TO CREATE A NEW BETTER INTERNET. ^Create demand for freedom trough your suppressive enforments^

        • prole@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          Oh yeah nothing bad could ever happen from effectively removing an entire section of the population from certain parts of the Internet completely.

          I can’t imagine that ever going badly.