Web Environment Integrity: What's Going On?

alvanrahimli@lemmy.ml to Programming@programming.dev – 124 points –
openwebdefenders.org

We (me with a friend) created this page https://openwebdefenders.org and planning to create banners for websites that may want to inform their users on what's going on.

If anyone wants to contribute somehow or have other ideas I would be happy to discuss on https://github.com/openwebdefenders/web/issues

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Do you use browsers other than the mainstream ones like Chrome or Firefox? Third-party browsers, especially those that prioritize privacy or offer unique features, might be labeled “untrusted,” limiting your browsing experience.

This suggests that firefox will be trusted, because it's mainstream, which is not true, because Mozilla won't implement WEI, and therefore malicious websites won't be able to verify "environment integrity"

Besides that, nice website and thanks for your efforts on fighting with WEI.

Mozilla won’t implement WEI

They are going to fight against WEI. Tooth and nails, for our sakes!

Just like they did with EME, the closed source video DRM in 2014. By being deeply concerned with the direction the web is going, and definitely against it, but...

We face a choice between a feature our users want and the degree to which that feature can be built to embody user control and privacy.

With most competing browsers and the content industry embracing the W3C EME specification, Mozilla has little choice but to implement EME as well so our users can continue to access all content they want to enjoy.

Despite our dislike of DRM, we have come to believe Firefox needs to provide a mechanism for people to watch DRM-controlled content.

DRM requires closed systems to operate as currently required and is designed to remove user control, so Mozilla is taking steps to find alternative solutions to DRM. But Mozilla also believes that until an alternative system is in place, Firefox users should be able to choose whether to interact with DRM in order to watch streaming videos in the browser.

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-mission-and-w3c-eme/

I'd also argue Firefox is hardly mainstream at ~3% usage. Edge would be a better replacement given it comes with every Windows install (and many corporate environments don't allow using an alternative).

It is only used by 3%!? Wasn't it at around 30% some years ago (not counting netscape)? This comes really as a surprise to me because in my circles even around half of non-tech inclined windows users use firefox.

Why did it lose so many users?

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I am not convinced Mozilla will refuse to implement WEI when push comes to shove. Mozilla already supports Netflix playback with drm, right?

But isn’t it quite the jump from mozilla accepting drm from a service in an indistry that has invented drm to them accepting a blanket drm for the web? I think it’s kind of not guilty until proven for mozilla. They have so far (to my knowledge) not done anything very anti consumer.

I'm just saying we can't just trust Mozilla leadership will do the right thing...

Nah, I say we don’t run around villainizing everyone and stay with thos who fucked us over in the past. Otherwise we can trust exactly no one.

That's exactly right. Don't blindly trust anyone. Hold them accountable.

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