While WEI is thankfully cancelled, it’s not entirely cancelled… They’re planning on making it available still in WebViews with the intention that websites can check if a malicious Android app is trying to do a phishing scheme.
Seems like such a niche “security” feature… what are they really trying to accomplish here? Something seems fishy to me
this is not cancellation. This is Google taking a step back, and regroup to attack back.
Its a common practice to do exactly that. Just demand something very absurd and let people rage about it, then “step back” to “please the masses” while in reality your “step back” idea is the thing you actually wanted to do from the beginning on. But now people are happy about it.
I learned that as a negotiation tactic. Pick the number you want to get, then ask for more. The counter will likely be around what you wanted!
Ah yes, the old Unity Trick™.
They care about one thing only: Money.
Obviously this is more of a strategic retreat and nothing else. It’s also a very common tactic to push for something crass, pull back, wait a bit and repeat. Most commonly resistance gets weaker each time, because people are people.
Now if anyone thinks they made money with a retreat and won’t try again, because it’s obviously much more lucrative, which stone exactly are you living under?
You are 100% correct. Nothing is won till you make it impossible for Google to push forward or destroy their motivation for trying again later.
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It’s a good thing that people are calling out their deception.
Ha, I didn’t know there’s a name for that, but it’s definitely what I assume they’re going to do. My initial reaction was to wonder what they’ll now present as the “reasonable” option to WEI.
Considering they’re rolling it out in Android, maybe they’ll just wait a moment and then integrate it into desktop Chrome as well, just without any of the fanfare?
I would never agree with what Google proposes, though
Sure it isn’t. * Wink wink nudge nudge*
It’ll be back. With a different name and modified messaging.
That probably would’ve been true even if they did follow through.
@dean @lisamelton One of the reasons I don’t use Chrome. Here, they’ve revealed what they are working towards. They’ll try again.
People here really can’t just accept a win
A win is when we have forced them to abandon the wretched plan. Them taking it elsewhere with a different name, only to be brought back in the future isn’t a win - it’s more or less the folly the Trojans committed with the Greek wooden horse.
It’s a much less broad, though. That’s a win right?
I don’t trust Google’s word that they will keep it that way. Besides, would you have accepted this proposal if WEI wasn’t proposed first? It’s a form of manipulation.
Sites inside webviews can already communicate with the app running them, I don’t see how this proposal in this form causes any additional problems
The same can be said about WEI on browsers. Just wait till it becomes a problem - only problem is that you won’t be able to escape it at that point.
Except websites can’t just communicate directly with the OS like they can in webviews
I’m convinced people on Lemmy just want to be miserable all the time.
We have won the battle, but the war is not over. If one is tired, he or she could employ escapism. But don’t blame or poke those, who don’t do that.
They grew thanks to the open internet where everyone let them scrape their website’s content. They can’t let anyone do that again.
@macleod @dean @rysiek they already started, they want to put it in android now: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2023/11/increasing-trust-for-embedded-media.html?m=1
We did it!
That’s what Google want you to believe, forget about and step back. It’s not over yet. We just stopped the first wave and it will get harder with each wave.
Specifically, everyone who’s not using Chrome and its derivates did it. Use Firefox, people.
If it’s still available I some capacity, we didn’t do much. We gotta remain vigilant.
If you are aware of this issue, it is your obligation to tell all of your friends, family, associates and coworkers to stop using Chrome immediately, and try out a new search engine.
It’s the least you can do.
This behaviour by Google is not going to stop. The mask has slipped too many times. They have become the very thing they swore to destroy.
Not many people will be ready to de Google their phones and stop buying their products. It’s the little things that will hurt them the most and show they’ve stepped over a line this last year or so.
We gotta remain vigilant.
Agreed, but I disagree about the first part. It being only available in webviews can’t really be abused and makes all the difference. Sure they could try to reintroduce all the bad stuff, even if the had cancelled it altogether, but for now this is a success.
Had to go brush up on what webviews was. you’re right, that really isn’t a big deal For WEI to be implemented on it
Big edit: nope! My original statement was correct, this is going to screw over people who use things like NewPipe, reVanced or Spotube on Android! F*** Google and WEI for Android!
Damn? Really?
Nope. It’s getting integrated into Android WebView.
Daaamn poor GrapheneOS devs…
I don’t know about graphene, but doesn’t some android roms allow to use custom ( more private Webview implementations) instead of default ?
Even on “stock” android (at least the Pixel version) the option is there in the developer settings.
Like, you can switch some, but idk how you install a second one
Chromium comes with a webview APK, but I couldn’t find one for Firefox / gecko
Firefox doesnt provide a webview for some reason.
Its really shitty, because it could be a better standard for webapps on Linux too. But now we have electron, which is basically compatible with firefox as its web technology
if you root, you can install open webview module.
currently using mulch webview and updating it in f-droid
Yeah I did that too. Mulch or Vanadium, I would recommend Vanadium. Bromite is dead. Cromite maybe, but really just use Vanadium its the most degoogled and secure one.
But apart from that, the developer options make no sense if there is no way to actually install one without root.
Also, openwebview replaces the installed one, doesnt it?
