Mastodawn

Steve Rudolfi Mar 23

Welllllll this isn't great.

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

"...a system that evaluates your company’s landing page in real time and, if it decides the page won’t perform well enough for a specific user, replaces it with an AI-generated version assembled on the fly. The user never sees what your team built, they see what Google's machine learning model thinks they should see instead."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joetoscano1/2026/03/06/google-just-patented-the-end-of-your-website

#SEO #Google #AI #enshittification

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

A newly granted Google patent could let the search giant replace your brand's landing page with an AI-generated version you have no control over and only your buyers see.

Forbes

Steve Rudolfi Mar 23

More. But definitely go read the full article.

f*cking b*tch club

@SteveRudolfi I read it and I’m not sure I understand: can they do this to ANY website? like a .gov website as well as Aunt May’s “mycutegrandkids.com” website?

imagine the Mayo Clinic’s site being taken over and re-assembled with whatever google thinks you wanted to find for medical advice…..

Erik van Straten Mar 23

@grammasaurus : if I understand the patent correctly, the content seen by a user in their browser will not for 100% originate from your website given its domain name.

However, Google may let their Chrome browser show your domain name in the address bar and even suggest that a server-authenticated and encrypted valid https connection is being used (proving the authenticity of your website, which is then fully broken).

Google may even force other browser makers (such as Mozilla, sponsored by Google) to do the same.

#Authenticity #Authentic #MitM #AitM #GoogleIsEvil #BigTechIsEvil #TLSisBroken #httpsIsBroken #httpsIsNoLongerE2EE #E2EE

f*cking b*tch club Mar 23

@ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi This sounds absolutely awful.

@grammasaurus @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Damage to a company's reputation, and revenue, via misrepresentation and interference.

ShadSterling Mar 24

@dijumx @grammasaurus @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi on its face it sounds like an unauthorized derivative work, which might have been actionable before the courts ruled that using LLMs for copyright laundering is legal. I hope the other actions are still viable

Steffen Voß Mar 25

@ShadSterling @dijumx @grammasaurus @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi Google is sure, that users move from classic search (and ads) to Gemini. When people ask for great sneakers, Google doesn't want to send people to random shops, that don't deliver the best experience.
Google introduced WebMCP as an API that shops can implement so that AI-systems can use it for the user.
This patent compares the performance of the shop to what Gemini can offer and uses, whats better: If the shop is better, the user is send away. It their own version based on MCP is better, Google will be the shop.
So if you don't offer MCP your shop won't be shown by Gemini at all. And if you do, Google will prefer shops that give them affiliate money.

Violet Madder Mar 25

@kaffeeringe @ShadSterling @dijumx @grammasaurus @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi

"the best experience"

Whatever the hell the megacorps decide THAT is... fuck, they're hijacking absolutely everything aren't they? We won't even be able to browse the internet in general without it being mulched and fed to us through funhouse halls of mirrors.

Travis F W Mar 25

@violetmadder @kaffeeringe @ShadSterling @dijumx @grammasaurus @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi definitely the depths of enshittification are being mined

f*cking b*tch club Mar 25

@dijumx @ErikvanStraten @SteveRudolfi “damage to a company’s reputation, and revenue, via misrepresentation and interference”

That already happened a few years back, the company was Eli Lilly

https://www.pharmafocus.com/articles/eli-lilly-loses-billions-on-stock-valuation-after-fake-account-verified-by-twitter

Eli Lilly Loses Billions On Stock Valuation After Fake Account Verified By Twitter

eli lilly billions stock twitter parody

Eli Lilly Loses Billions On Stock Valuation After Fake Account Verified By Twitter

Bauke Kramer Mar 24

@ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi
It is to be feared that Google will eventually force companies to pay for this AI junk under threat of invisibility in search results.

McHollander | Celtic Folk Bard Mar 24

@bmk @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

What do you mean: eventually? XD

Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫Mar 24

@ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

How does this work with https? To show different content claiming to be the web site you searched for, they need to persuade your browser that the proxy they redirected it to is the real thing, which is a man-in-the-middle attack, presumably exactly the kind of thing https is designed to prevent.

Robin Adams Mar 24

@petealexharris @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi The idea is not that they redirect requests to your URL. They want to show a link in their search results to a page dynamically generated by AI, above (or maybe: instead of) the link to your URL.

Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫Mar 24

@robinadams @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

Which coopts whatever fraction of searches are directed only to finding some information, but not interacting with it or using an online service.

Websites that earn revenue by selling ads alongside content will suffer, but Google devoured that business model years ago. Sites for getting the info out about an actual thing you can buy from them, less so, if that info is still in Google's fake page.

It's scummy, but in a petty way.

Erik van Straten Mar 24

@robinadams : I hope that it's limited to that (your browser's address bar reads https:⧸⧸google.com).

But space for search results is limited. So my speculation is that if you click the search result in order to open the actual website, you _still_ get to see AI-manipulated content.

Once Chrome reads https:⧸⧸example.com in its address bar while the page shows altered content of said website, this means that Google FULLY destroyed TLS.

Note: "Google Trust Services" (and others) already partially breaks TLS by handing out DV certificates to Cloudflare proxy servers. You DO NOT have an E2EE connection to the actual website, proven by https://todon.nl/@ErikvanStraten/116263229585961944 (Dutch text, tap translate for English).

Summarizing: your browser has an E2EE connection with a Cloudflare server. Cloudflare can always see and manipulate anything you think you exchange with the actual website. They can read your passwords and hijack any of your accounts even if WebAuthn (FIDO2 hardware key or passkey) is used to log in.

Google already broke https years ago - to prevent ISP's from altering ads or inserting fake clicks on ads. Let's Encrypt was never meant to protect YOU. #DVsucks

@petealexharris @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

#TLSisBroken #httpsIsBroken #Authenticity #GoogleIsEvil #CloudflareIsEvil #BigTechIsEvil

Erik van Straten Mar 24

@robinadams : OTOH, if you click on a search result, Google could also send your browser to a runtime generated webpage, like Google Transate does.

For example, if I enter (I've replaced // by Unicode ⧸⧸ to prevent Mastodon from shortening the URLs and hiding "https://"):

🔗 https:⧸⧸www.security.nl/posting/929685/FCC+verbiedt+verkoop+van+nieuwe+routers+van+buitenlandse+fabrikanten+in+VS

into

🔗 https:⧸⧸translate.google.com/?sl=nl&tl=en&op=websites

the eventual URL turns into:

🔗 https:⧸⧸www-security-nl.translate.goog/posting/929685/FCC+verbiedt+verkoop+van+nieuwe+routers+van+buitenlandse+fabrikanten+in+VS?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=nl&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

In case of AI manipulation, such a link could read, for example,

🔗 https:⧸⧸www-security-nl.ai.goog/posting/929685/FCC+verbiedt+verkoop+van+nieuwe+routers+van+buitenlandse+fabrikanten+in+VS

Nomalizing this will result in even more people to fall for #phishing (replacing dots by dashes). The only thing reasonably trustworthy, the domain name of a website, becomes even more messy.

Apart from the fact that Google may charge websites for this "service" and/or insert their own ads.

@petealexharris @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

#DVsucks #GoogleIsEvil #LetsEncryptIsEvil #TLSisBroken #httpsIsBroken #E2EE #E2EEisBroken #DomainNamesSuck

🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Mar 24

@petealexharris @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi
Google has control of the browser, for a huge percentage of users. Why did you think they got into browsers? Might not have been with this specifically in mind, but certainly it was to get them more control over what users see, and this is definitely doing it.

Merospit Mar 25

@petealexharris @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi They have been working for years to destroy URLs as a basis of trust.

Even when you think a domain is real on a Google search result it can be someone else's site that they told Googlebot went through to your real site after a redirect.

In that context HTTPS could be used but just send you to their new AMP site (or whatever they are calling this feature once it actually comes out).

Morgan ⚧️4d ago

@petealexharris @ErikvanStraten @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi that's the fun part: for most people, Google *is* the browser and they don't have to convince it of shit.

Drew Crecente (they)Mar 24

@grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi

No, a patent holder must still follow the law.

🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Mar 24

@crecente @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi
Only if they can't buy off the law, which routinely happens in many places, USA among them.

Petra van Cronenburg Mar 24

@grammasaurus At least in the EU much of this could be against the law. (The question is whether anyone would report it.)

@NatureMC @grammasaurus @SteveRudolfi I *would* report it if Google spoofed either of my church websites, or my music website, or my personal blog. None of which are "business" but that probably doesn't mean they're safe.