They used to be “Don’t be evil” now they’re the most evil company, absolutely crazy.
Advertisement is a fucking syphilis, a cancer and a gangrene combined. Don’t tell me what to watch what to visit
Fortunately, there are other good browsers that don’t follow this bullshit. I’m lucky that I haven’t seen ads in ages (and I absolutely don’t miss them). Websites/Services should just find different ways to monetize their work, ads are the worst way IMHO (collecting data, promoting often useless consumption in a world where we need to reduce consumption, annoying etc.).
Are there other browsers? Most of them use Google’s engine so presumably they’ll have to bow down to this decision. Firefox and Safari are the only independent engines but Safari can’t be used on non-Apple devices and Mozilla is funded by Google.
Now, granted, the whole reason Google funds Mozilla is to be able to show they have competition, so forcing WebDRM on Firefox would play against that. But it’s their move to make if they feel like weathering an EU investigation is worth it.
Yeah the whole situation is a little bit fucked, Google has too much power (over Mozilla) and browser engines in general. But I’m optimistic about the open source community, e.g. brave integrates their own ublock compatible rewrite (in Rust ^^) into chromium. So I think sooner or later there are patched/forked chromiums and if Mozilla indeed makes the move towards WebDRM then also Firefox forks.
I really hope servo under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation proves to be a viable alternative in the future, that’s a little bit more independent than Firefox.
A part of me is kind of looking forward to it. It may be the breaking point to finally reduce my internet usage and get to implementing the Digital Minimalism, because I feel so strongly against this kind of bullshit that I refuse to use any website that keeps telling me what I can and can’t do. Once I don’t have control over what sites I want to support with ads, or what sites can track me and collect data about me - I will simply stop using it.
I’ve been slowly getting used to the reduced user experience caused by privacy-focused approach. Reddit and Youtube has taught me to just look elsewhere instead of logging in when prompted, LibreFox has got me used to having to relog-in every time i switch tabs due to containers and cookie autodelete, and the subscription bullshit for every smart product has taught me to reflash and self-host devices I can, so I already have a NAS and pretty comfy infrastructure ready.
But I still get drawn to some social networks, or end up mindlessly procrastrinating by browsing the web. This will finally be something not under my control (I tried Cold Turkey - it never lasted long) that will keep me out of the internet for good. It doesn’t really add much value to my life, blog posts and youtube tutorials have been reduced to absolute basics without any value, most of them now even AI generated. If I want to learn something about a topic, it’s hard to find actually interresting content that isn’t the same basics tutorial for dummies made for people without attention span who don’t want details, but just to feel like they are doing something smart with their time.
Now that I think about, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually found something of value on the internet, the discussions here on Lemmy are one of the last few things that I find interesting to engage with. But I’m too used to it to be able to quit on my own accord, and this may just be the push I need, to finally go all-in into the Digital Minimalism.
I’ve had in my mind a political cartoon; two panels:
The first panel is The Free Market Ideal. Dozens of carts and woodend stands selling fresh fruit, food, hand made goods, etc. There’s lots of energetic people moving about and talking and haggling with merchants over prices and comparing prices and looking at all their choices.
The second panel is The Free Market Reality. A bunch of tired people standing in line for one of two computer terminals.
The truths portrayed is that there is no bargaining with the monopolies that dominate our markets, their processes are automated. This is not a market of equals, the people are tired and manipulated. As for choice, sometimes you can choose between 2 or 3 companies, sometimes there’s only 1 option.
The things that happen in a healthy free market are not happening.
