If we had a functioning government, there would be a "Department of Technical Security" who would have broken up "Google" the first time they moved in on "Web-Standards Bodies". Their behavior has been obvious to all since the beginning: Remove the possibility of avoiding:
Of course, since it's in the government's interests to have 'pRiVaTe CoMpAnIeS' perform these tasks, nothing will change.
Myocarditis-Man |4 pointswritten 9 months ago ago
"Big tech" is in the process of constructing, locking and loading a super mega anti-competitive BFG, and they will use it to lock out client computers from browsing the majority of the web if we happen to be running any unapproved (from their perspective) software or hardware. You know, the kind that can block ads, allow us to save content from webpages to local disk, and that doesn't quietly do stuff like this behind our backs. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/microsoft-resolves-edge-setting-that-was-leaking-websites-you-visit/
This is of particular concern for Linux users, because we are especially vulnerable to malware such as this, being a minority online. Actually this system will be so fine-grained that websites can choose to deny you service just because you're running, for example, an older video driver or you do not have secure boot switched on.
The mere fact that websites can even tell what OS or browser I'm running in the first place, is a bug. It's like if I got to know what kind of phone my friend is using when I dial their number. No reasonable person would think this information was any of my business, unless they (as in the human on the other side of the connection) willingly choose to tell me.
Also of note is that Google claims this is being implemented to stop bots, but that is ba-ba-bullshit, because all a bad actor has to do is connect their evil machine to their approved machine on the other side of the room by way of keyboard emulation. It's a power grab, a malicious and hostile one; If Google wanted to make the web a safer place for everyone, they could start by patching all the landfill Android phones they sell.