Francisco TolmaskyJul 26, 2023

Mozilla should call for a vote on the removal of Google from the W3C over the implementation of Web Environment Integrity. "But Chrome has 65% market share, what good is the W3C without them?” If Google can take unilateral action to fundamentally change the basic principles of the web, then the W3C is *already* useless. This will give Google a clear choice: if they want to maintain the idea that the W3C matters, they should withdraw this implementation.

https://github.com/chromium/chromium/commit/6f47a22906b2899412e79a2727355efa9cc8f5bd

/cc @[email protected]

[wei] Ensure Origin Trial enables full feature · chromium/chromium@6f47a22

This CL moves the base::Feature from content_features.h to a generated feature from runtime_enabled_features.json5. This means that the base::Feature can be default-enabled while the web API is co...

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Show threadFrancisco TolmaskyJul 26, 2023
If someone drafted a proposal to the W3C that only a pre-approved set of existing browsers should be allowed to render web pages, the correct response would not be to "take the stance that you oppose that proposal," it would be to seriously question whether the party should even participate in the group. Make no mistake, that is what is happening now.
Show threadKushal DaveJul 27, 2023
@tolmasky As I understand it, one of the participants in web standards makes a physical phone used by more than half of Americans, and on that phone nobody is allowed to use a web engine from anyone other than the participant, an even broader restriction for more nebulous gain. What am I missing?
Show threadjonny (good kind)Jul 28, 2023
@krave
@tolmasky
is this a "whatabout" or "both are fucked up"
Show threadKushal Dave
@jonny @tolmasky Honestly my understanding of the Google issue that started this thread is that it's more nuanced than the strawman version here. Overall everyone in web standards has complicated incentives, and I wish we'd either look at that for all parties or ignore them for all parties, rather than assuming malice for the company with the worse PR team
Jul 28, 2023 at 2:04pmWeb
Show threadFrancisco TolmaskyJul 28, 2023
@krave I’ve addressed this elsewhere, but I am way harder on Apple. I have been harping on the anti-competitiveness of their rules literally not allowing other engines. Their particular version of WEI happens to be restrictive than Google’s, but again, it doesn’t matter because they don’t even allow you to ship anything else anyways. We’re long past “assuming” malice, the intentions of all these actions are clear: to consolidate and wall the gardens.