Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
In recent news, Google has put forth a proposal known as the "Web Environment Integrity Explainer", authored by four of its engineers. On the surface, it
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Life finds a way
Yarr
I hope **chrome **fails terribly. Just like Internet Explorer(IE). Firefox all the way
Anyone still using Google products is a fuckin idiot, IMO
I'm sorry but this sentiment is so utterly detached from the technical capabilities and general engagement of the average layman that it bears a response.
Tech savvy people have this awful habit of calling anyone not in our specific field an idiot when they don't do things our preferred way, and it's not a good look. Those people aren't the weird ones, we are. And if you're the sort of person who thinks you've elevated yourself above the commoners because you don't use Google's stuff ... yeah, that and 5 bucks will get you a latte. There are oceans of professional expertise you're not privvy to, and unless you really think you're doing better than everyone at everything, a little humility, temperance, and grace for others is warranted.
I have to agree with this.
I’m basically “the idiot”. Decently tech savvy, but non-IT. Very capable of learning what I need to know, but I haven’t really had the time or mental capacity to learn how to do a lot of the things I need to to get away from corporate overlords.
I’m working on it, and have been for a while, but in the meantime I do use several google services, because that’s what I’ve been using for many many years and change is really hard. Especially when you have to initiate the change yourself, and especially when you know if you switch to a stop-gap solution you’ll loose all impetus to actually keep making the change (which I will).
The biggest challenge is learning what is worth it to self-host, what hard/software to use for the configuration I want, what’s compatible with devices I own (windows, Linux, iOS and android), etc. I’ve been running Plex for like 10 years now (windows then Linux), but it’s a very basic setup on a host pc I don’t use for much else. Beyond that, I need to learn almost everything from the bottom up, and that’s a lot to learn -just- to avoid an existing company and their existing products that I’ve been using for years. Unlike my Plex content, I would actually care if I lost my other self-host data, so not something to fuck around half-ass with.
I can’t blame people for not wanting to/knowing how to do it. I like learning this shit (because of the end result, not because I have interest in it, sorry not sorry) and I still don’t actually want to do it.
OK, then let's check my idiocy.
I think that's all.
Can't fix everything, but Google drive is easily replaced by proton drive. Google notes/keep or any kind of note taking is easily replaced (and improved) by Obsidian, and on android you can install f-droid as an alternative store.
Downside is that these thinks cost money. But everything has a cost, and at least here the cost is clear, and upfront.
I agree, as I reply on my pixel6 pro
So you don't have an android phone I suppose?
Pixel phones.
So basically every software/front-end web dev? Lol ok.
I just wish Firefox would improve their UI and add a few features without needing to rely on extensions (tab groups, vertical tabs, sharing tabs from mobile to desktop, etc.).
Are we seriously sitting here, in the shadow of the open internet's apocalypse, complaining yet again about Firefox's UI?
It's like Superman trying to rescue you from a fire and you complaining about his breath.
There's no UI in the world that will make the internet bareable without functional ad blockers.
Hey, I switched to Firefox because I liked its UI better (after Quantum though)
I switched back from years with Chrome then new Chromium Edge, haven't noticed an issue. But everything I do is Ctrl+W, middle-click, and typing into search fields. If I'm using a browser's UI, it's for the menu or a bookmark folder.
I can't really fathom what a browser UI is used for beside this and the less there is of one on-screen, the better.
I left it because their "new" UI, but that was just thelast straw (after 20 years) Won't go back.
Well, super bad breath is not your ordinary bad breath. It would possibly melt your lungs faster than the fire. Bacteria that can thrive in superman's body is not to be messed with.
I'm glad to see that even when we're about to get robbed, there'll still be humor about it. Grim, but I like it.
Or Mr. Incredible being sued for saving a guy commuting suicide..
I literally swore off Firefox for half a decade because they removed and broke Panorama with their engine rewrite, so yes.
Yes. Because the UI and UX of a tool that you use everyday matters. The average user will hold ease of use over privacy 9 times out of 10. In my case though I wasn’t able to use FF for a while due to the lack of debugger support for a project I was working on. Now it comes down to me having to work on multiple projects at once so tab groups and organization are key. Now don’t get me wrong, once Chrome totally kills adblockers I’ll drop Chromium browsers like a bad habit, but the point still stand though, FF could use some UI improvements.
I can send a tab from my mobile Firefox to my desktop Firefox by default, so that's at least one of those that doesn't need an extension.
Yeah I thought it had that feature already but I wasn’t seeing it. I’ll have to look again.
On mobile: Hit the three line menu button -> "Send link to device"
On desktop: Right click on a tab -> "Send tab to device"
Kind of odd that they're not the same language, actually. For what it's worth I'm on iOS so it might be different for FF on Android.
You can also send either direction via the share menu, so long as you have your Firefox account signed in to them.
Is it possible to use it without syncing all browser tabs? I tried to read about it on their website since I want to know exactly what they collect and how they store it but couldn't find anuthing other than instructions on how to set it up.
Firefox already natively supports most of the features you listed.
Which ones? Besides sending a tab from mobile to desktop it doesn’t have tab groups or vertical tabs. Those features rely on extensions and/or custom css.
They do have the send tab to device feature. I send tabs to my son, who lives with his mom all the time.
As long as the devices are connected to the overall Mozilla account. Same between my phone Firefox and PC.
I don't have too many tabs that I would group together, but I can see how nice of a feature that would be.
I've used Firefox from the beginning and never trusted Google and Chrome. It has gotten better, but at a slower route.
Hey you have genuine wants and needs from a web browser and I respect that.
I'll say though that this sort of attitude (well Chrome has this little thing I like so I allow them to take control of what was once the independent internet) is what is going to screw us.
I use FF. But I also use Chromium based browsers out of necessity. I understand where you’re coming from but what’s also going to screw us is Mozilla not keeping up with the latest features which is something they’ve struggled with. At the end of the day they have to give people a reason to switch and use FF as their main browser. Simply saying “better privacy features” isn’t enough for the average user.
Any tab group extension recommendations? Having issues finding good ones
IMO there are none. They are all janky. Your best bet, (and what I may start doing), is to make separate folders in your bookmarks bar and add any tabs you want in there as a group. Not ideal but it works.
Mozilla I think gets millions from google. At least they did at one point in a deal to set google as a default engine.
They do. The majority of Mozilla's funding is from Google. That said, they're still our best hope. I'm sure Firefox has constant internal conversations about how to handle their relationship with Google, and they probably have standing offers from many others to switch to a different search engine.
Except when it doesn't. That saying never made sense (far more species have gone extinct than exist today) and it doesn't apply here.
Piracy will continue, obviously, but what we're seeing here is the creation of an internet we can't even fathom yet. This is just where it starts.
Also consider how much more difficult it will be for the average person to participate in piracy. Remember a few months back when Microsoft floated they were basically looking to lock down windows? No unsigned apps, no win32, etc. People will get around that, of course, but fewer people will. Especially if they continue with this trend towards stripping options and de-admin-ing all users unless they pay for an enterprise license.
Then there's the dangerous trend toward encryption being broken by regulation and possibly even VPNs being rendered useless for anyone but businesses. There goes secure torrenting.
The trends don't look good, across the board. We can't just sit here and hope it all works out and the loopholes are found, like it always has before.
I am by no means saying we should passively hope that things will work out. What I am saying is that we have no reason to be defeatist. In the same time that we've seen aggressive pushes for a more locked down internet, we've seen dozens of open source projects to fight back.
It's my right to have my personal computer display what I want it to display. It's my right set my device to reject internet traffic I don't want to receive. It's my right to instruct my machine to download the data I want, and refuse to download the data I don't want. If you make something publicly available online, then the public can consume that or refuse that, in part or in whole, as and when they wish. If a company or a browser wants to try and interfere with that, then they've chosen their fate.
Monzo? Hmm