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Is WebAssembley going to turn into yet another web technology that can be used by websites in order to track us or to annoy us with advertising? I'm asking bec

Is WebAssembley going to turn into yet another web technology that can be used by websites in order to track us or to annoy us with advertising? I'm asking because every time something new is introduced, it feels like it ends up being used to abuse users (Javascript, XSS, Cookies, HTML5 Video).

AsyncAwait 9y ago
Every piece of technology can be abused, that doesn't mean the technology itself is bad and shouldn't be adopted.
- nol13 9y ago
  Will WASM trackers/ads be harder to block than ECMA Script ones?
  - yorwba 9y ago
    ECMA Script trackers/ads are blobs of code that can sometimes be identified based on the requests they make, WASM trackers/ads are blobs of code that can sometimes be identified based on the requests they make. The only real difference is that the WASM variant will probably run faster than obfuscated ECMA Script.
    - _pmf_ 9y ago
      > The only real difference is that the WASM variant will probably run faster than obfuscated ECMA Script. ... which will lead to more ads being served, evening out any advantage.
marcosdumay 9y ago
It doesn't do anything that Javascript didn't already do. By the way, why do you think HTML5 is a problem?
- duskwuff 9y ago
  The suggestion I got was that "HTML5 Video" was the subject. Which still doesn't make sense; the alternatives which it replaced (Flash, QuickTime, WMV, Java-based video players...) were all radically worse, and much more abuseable.
  - Crontab 9y ago
    HTML5 Video is just an example of shitty browser behavior, as for some reason, every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great. They're not because sites are abusing it. Worst, some sites these days will waiting until you've scrolled down a bit before they start playing a video, leaving the user to locate it and stop it. As for Flash, it was indeed bad, but at least I had the option of not installing it.
    - catshirt 9y ago
      "every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great" eh. if this is your litmus for abuse you may want to reconsider having an email account or a doorbell.
    - duskwuff 9y ago
      > every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great Huh? This has nothing to do with browsers; it's purely a site author decision. Autoplaying videos is a site author decision -- and one that they already frequently made before HTML5 video was widely available.
      - nojvek 9y ago
        Not really. Browsers just need to default stop autoplaying videos out of the screen view. Or better yet what they did to popup blockers. Give one chance to behave well, if the site doesn't then it gets blocked and the user has a notification that autoplay was disabled.
        9y ago
choward 9y ago
I agree. It seems like most of the extra horsepower we have these days is used for tracking on behalf of a company instead of features that are useful for the end user.
- lacampbell 9y ago
  Well, any powers can be used for good or evil. The great thing about shitty websites is that I can opt to not visit them.
  - wott 9y ago
    At best, you can opt to not visit them again. And then you forget, or you really need to access them, etc.

AsyncAwait 9y ago

Every piece of technology can be abused, that doesn't mean the technology itself is bad and shouldn't be adopted.

nol13 9y ago
Will WASM trackers/ads be harder to block than ECMA Script ones?
- yorwba 9y ago
  ECMA Script trackers/ads are blobs of code that can sometimes be identified based on the requests they make, WASM trackers/ads are blobs of code that can sometimes be identified based on the requests they make. The only real difference is that the WASM variant will probably run faster than obfuscated ECMA Script.
  - _pmf_ 9y ago
    > The only real difference is that the WASM variant will probably run faster than obfuscated ECMA Script. ... which will lead to more ads being served, evening out any advantage.

marcosdumay 9y ago

It doesn't do anything that Javascript didn't already do. By the way, why do you think HTML5 is a problem?

duskwuff 9y ago
The suggestion I got was that "HTML5 Video" was the subject. Which still doesn't make sense; the alternatives which it replaced (Flash, QuickTime, WMV, Java-based video players...) were all radically worse, and much more abuseable.
- Crontab 9y ago
  HTML5 Video is just an example of shitty browser behavior, as for some reason, every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great. They're not because sites are abusing it. Worst, some sites these days will waiting until you've scrolled down a bit before they start playing a video, leaving the user to locate it and stop it. As for Flash, it was indeed bad, but at least I had the option of not installing it.
  - catshirt 9y ago
    "every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great" eh. if this is your litmus for abuse you may want to reconsider having an email account or a doorbell.
  - duskwuff 9y ago
    > every web browser maker seems to think that autoplay videos are great Huh? This has nothing to do with browsers; it's purely a site author decision. Autoplaying videos is a site author decision -- and one that they already frequently made before HTML5 video was widely available.
    - nojvek 9y ago
      Not really. Browsers just need to default stop autoplaying videos out of the screen view. Or better yet what they did to popup blockers. Give one chance to behave well, if the site doesn't then it gets blocked and the user has a notification that autoplay was disabled.
      - 9y ago

choward 9y ago

I agree. It seems like most of the extra horsepower we have these days is used for tracking on behalf of a company instead of features that are useful for the end user.

lacampbell 9y ago
Well, any powers can be used for good or evil. The great thing about shitty websites is that I can opt to not visit them.
- wott 9y ago
  At best, you can opt to not visit them again. And then you forget, or you really need to access them, etc.