Google vs. the Open Web (interpeer.io)

Article summary

The article discusses Google's proposed Web Environment Integrity (WEI) feature, which would allow websites to request an attestation from the browser about its integrity, potentially excluding certain browsers or devices from accessing the website. This proposal has raised concerns about accessibility, inclusion, and the open web. The author argues that WEI is a deeply antisocial proposal that goes counter to the design principles of the web. The proposal is seen as a way for Google to extract value from people and potentially exclude marginalized groups.

Main themes

• Web Environment Integrity
• Open Web
• Accessibility
• Inclusion
• Google's role in the web
• Technological discrimination
• Web scraping
• Ad blockers
• Browser integrity
• Web standards

What commenters say

• The WEI proposal is a threat to the open web and could lead to a fragmented internet.
• The proposal is primarily intended to prevent bots and ad blockers, rather than to improve user experience.
• Getting involved in web platform discussions is essential to ensure that the web is built for and by everyone.
• The WEI proposal is a form of technological discrimination that could exclude marginalized groups.
• The proposal is a solution to a problem that can be solved in other ways, such as using existing methods to exclude bots.
• The focus should be on creating alternatives to Google's proposed solution rather than trying to influence the company's decisions.
• The proposal has implications for web scraping and could potentially monopolize the practice.
• The use of attestation tokens could lead to a premium web run by Google, analogous to gated communities.