4 ms·

Google One VPN is being shut down. And separate from that, I bet that wide deployment of privacy-preserving anti-abuse mechanisms is dead after the WEI fiasco.

by jsnell 2y ago

Google One VPN is being shut down. And separate from that, I bet that wide deployment of privacy-preserving anti-abuse mechanisms is dead after the WEI fiasco. It's just not possible for Chrome to ship anything even remotely resembling that feature given the PR damage from that proposal. That includes PATs, which are pretty much exactly the same thing as WEI. And as long as PATs remain an Apple-only feature, implementing them as captcha bypasses is not very attractive. (And honestly, giving Safari iPhone users a special fast lane that other users simply can't get strikes me as a really bad idea.)

kccqzy 2y ago
My own opinion on the WEI fiasco is that Google had done a terrible job communicating to the outside world about it. I feel much better if Apple were to be in charge of it as well as anything remotely similar. That is, have Apple completely roll it out, achieve the initial mindshare and acceptance, and then let Google merely copy whatever Apple does with minor changes.
- freedomben 2y ago
  Is the only possibility that Google did a bad job communicating it, or is it possible that it's a terrible idea that will lead us to a dystopian future where anybody using non-closed/locked hardware can't use the web? I strongly suspect it would (over time as every website adopts it) be like VPNs are now, except for every single Linux user. Maybe Google will release an official Linux distro for people like me, but they won't be able to allow us to have root or sudo on our boxes, otherwise they can't vouch for the machine. That pretty much defeats the whole point of running Linux. Though, if you would feel much better if Apple were in charge of it, then I get the feeling you don't have a lot of sympathy for people like me. That's a reasonable and valid position, but it does sadden me greatly.

4 ms·

Google One VPN is being shut down. And separate from that, I bet that wide deployment of privacy-preserving anti-abuse mechanisms is dead after the WEI fiasco.

by jsnell 2y ago

kccqzy 2y ago
My own opinion on the WEI fiasco is that Google had done a terrible job communicating to the outside world about it. I feel much better if Apple were to be in charge of it as well as anything remotely similar. That is, have Apple completely roll it out, achieve the initial mindshare and acceptance, and then let Google merely copy whatever Apple does with minor changes.
- freedomben 2y ago
  Is the only possibility that Google did a bad job communicating it, or is it possible that it's a terrible idea that will lead us to a dystopian future where anybody using non-closed/locked hardware can't use the web? I strongly suspect it would (over time as every website adopts it) be like VPNs are now, except for every single Linux user. Maybe Google will release an official Linux distro for people like me, but they won't be able to allow us to have root or sudo on our boxes, otherwise they can't vouch for the machine. That pretty much defeats the whole point of running Linux. Though, if you would feel much better if Apple were in charge of it, then I get the feeling you don't have a lot of sympathy for people like me. That's a reasonable and valid position, but it does sadden me greatly.