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As usual, a thousand word essay on Google's WEI without ever mentioning that Apple sailed that ship silently a while ago, therefore not attracting any attention

As usual, a thousand word essay on Google's WEI without ever mentioning that Apple sailed that ship silently a while ago, therefore not attracting any attention or backlash. https://httptoolkit.com/blog/apple-private-access-tokens-attestation/ https://httptoolkit.com/blog/apple-private-access-tokens-att... https://toot.cafe/@pimterry/110775130465014555 https://toot.cafe/@pimterry/110775130465014555 The sorry state of tech news / blogs. Regurgitating the same drama without ever looking at the greater picture.

hooverd 3y ago
Clearly it should have gotten more attention.
ur-whale 3y ago
> As usual, a thousand word essay on Google's WEI without ever mentioning that Apple sailed that ship silently The "look! there's a bigger asshole over there" defense. Never a winning strategy.
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago
  isn't it - you forgot to mention the smaller asshole who has less power to abuse?
  - Spivak 3y ago
    Or realistically, this has already shipped and the world didn't end.
    - Klonoar 3y ago
      The reach of Apple doing it isn’t the same as what Google will do with Chrome.
      - fecs 3y ago
        https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045192/share-of-mobile-operating-systems-in-north-america-by-month/#:~:text=Google's%20Android%20and%20Apple's%20iOS,accounted%20for%20around%2054%20percent https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045192/share-of-mobile-.... iOS is the dominant mobile platform in the US. Yet, the sky did not fall when thiw was introduced. Why not?
    - EdwardDiego 3y ago
      What's the market share of Safari?
wmf 3y ago
Personally I don't think PATs are nearly as bad as WEI. PATs just bypass CAPTCHAs while WEI will presumably lock people out of sites completely.
- freedomben 3y ago
  WEI can't lock people out of sites either. It's all on the website owner. A site owner could easily lock Apple users who aren't authed via PAT today if they wanted to. The only thing that's stopped them from doing so already is that most users are non-Apple browsers so it wouldn't make sense.
bezout 3y ago
The post states it. This is not a problem because Safari is not the leading web browser. Apple has very limited power over what they can do with it.
- kevincox 3y ago
  Exactly. Websites will not require this version because they know that Safari is a minority market share and they can't force users to buy an Apple product. However if this is supported by Chrome and Safari all of a sudden the equation flips and many sites will feel that they can reject service to other users.
- YetAnotherNick 3y ago
  Safari is not only leading browser in mobile, it is the only choice any iphone users have unlike chrome where user has choice to not use it. I would be more wary of safari changes than chrome changes.
  - calgarymicro 3y ago
    > Safari is not only leading browser in mobile No it's not? Android has upwards of 70% of the mobile market[0], and Chrome has nearly 65% of the mobile browser market, compared to Safari with under 25%.[1] > the only choice any iphone users have Sort of. WebKit is the only choice iOS users have, but there are plenty of browsers available on iOS (including Chrome and Firefox) that use WebKit, not just Safari. [0]https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide [1]https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/world...
probably_wrong 3y ago
I didn't notice it because I, just like a majority of internet users worldwide, do not own any Apple products and therefore I was never affected and probably never will be. I do, however, routinely interact with websites that implement Google Analytics and/or Google ads. If those sites start rejecting my browser of choice I will most certainly be locked out of a significant portion of the internet. And the remaining 60% of all internet users would be essentially forced to accept this technology or else. That's an order of magnitude or two more users, and seems to me like a good reason to raise the alarm.

hooverd 3y ago

Clearly it should have gotten more attention.

ur-whale 3y ago

> As usual, a thousand word essay on Google's WEI without ever mentioning that Apple sailed that ship silently The "look! there's a bigger asshole over there" defense. Never a winning strategy.

bryanrasmussen 3y ago
isn't it - you forgot to mention the smaller asshole who has less power to abuse?
- Spivak 3y ago
  Or realistically, this has already shipped and the world didn't end.
  - Klonoar 3y ago
    The reach of Apple doing it isn’t the same as what Google will do with Chrome.
    - fecs 3y ago
      https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045192/share-of-mobile-operating-systems-in-north-america-by-month/#:~:text=Google's%20Android%20and%20Apple's%20iOS,accounted%20for%20around%2054%20percent https://www.statista.com/statistics/1045192/share-of-mobile-.... iOS is the dominant mobile platform in the US. Yet, the sky did not fall when thiw was introduced. Why not?
  - EdwardDiego 3y ago
    What's the market share of Safari?

wmf 3y ago

Personally I don't think PATs are nearly as bad as WEI. PATs just bypass CAPTCHAs while WEI will presumably lock people out of sites completely.

freedomben 3y ago
WEI can't lock people out of sites either. It's all on the website owner. A site owner could easily lock Apple users who aren't authed via PAT today if they wanted to. The only thing that's stopped them from doing so already is that most users are non-Apple browsers so it wouldn't make sense.

bezout 3y ago

The post states it. This is not a problem because Safari is not the leading web browser. Apple has very limited power over what they can do with it.

kevincox 3y ago
Exactly. Websites will not require this version because they know that Safari is a minority market share and they can't force users to buy an Apple product. However if this is supported by Chrome and Safari all of a sudden the equation flips and many sites will feel that they can reject service to other users.
YetAnotherNick 3y ago
Safari is not only leading browser in mobile, it is the only choice any iphone users have unlike chrome where user has choice to not use it. I would be more wary of safari changes than chrome changes.
- calgarymicro 3y ago
  > Safari is not only leading browser in mobile No it's not? Android has upwards of 70% of the mobile market[0], and Chrome has nearly 65% of the mobile browser market, compared to Safari with under 25%.[1] > the only choice any iphone users have Sort of. WebKit is the only choice iOS users have, but there are plenty of browsers available on iOS (including Chrome and Firefox) that use WebKit, not just Safari. [0]https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide [1]https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/world...

probably_wrong 3y ago

I didn't notice it because I, just like a majority of internet users worldwide, do not own any Apple products and therefore I was never affected and probably never will be. I do, however, routinely interact with websites that implement Google Analytics and/or Google ads. If those sites start rejecting my browser of choice I will most certainly be locked out of a significant portion of the internet. And the remaining 60% of all internet users would be essentially forced to accept this technology or else. That's an order of magnitude or two more users, and seems to me like a good reason to raise the alarm.