this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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Privacy

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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

This year we made good progress. You know, Linux gaming becoming better, Reddit fucking up, Metaverse failing etc. But on the other hand Big Tech has or are planning to make some moves. Such as, Google's Web Enviroment Integrity API (EDIT: they backed off), UK's encryption bill, etc.

So what do you think of the future? I'm currently optimistic. I think the best recent event was Reddit fucking up. Obviously one of the biggest information sources going down that path isn't something to celebrate. But it was bound to happen. I believe decentralized social networks becoming more popular is what Aaron Swartz would have wanted if he saw how Reddit was being managed.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Google’s Web Enviroment Integrity API > this is dead now.

I believe decentralized social networks becoming more popular is what Aaron Swartz would have wanted if he saw how Reddit was being managed.

This wont amount to anything. Social media in general will die out, if you look at things people are going back to chats (Whatsapp and others) and Forums (reddit, lemmy etc) because those platforms are what actually deliver the core value. The chat problem was already solved in 1999 with the introduction of XMPP* and the forum problem, well we've had niche forums since ever and eventually got Lemmy.

* too bad big social media companies decided to fuck up and roll their own vendor locking garbage instead of just using XMPP in a open way like Cisco and others did back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (1 children)

WEI is only as dead as public perception lets it be. They already replaced it with a "more palatable" version of the same thing.

They will save the idea and repackage it and release it later to much less fanfare. It was only because people were paying attention that it got caught this time. WEI didn't have a ton of Google backing media. It was mostly commits to chromium development with people taking note of them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They will save the idea and repackage it and release it later to much less fanfare.

They said they'll release it as a limited feature to the webview used by apps.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Don't be deceived by the 'limit' on it. Now they can develop it away from public scrutiny and then expand it easily, gradually and silently in scope. The only safe version of WEI is a dead version.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Google’s Web Enviroment Integrity API > this is dead now.

Google will just wait it out, like they did with FLoC which was rebranded under the Browsing Topics API name.