Save The Web

Chrome has recently published a proposal for a mechanism called “Web Environment Integrity” (WEI). WEI is a way to force browsers to prove that they have not been modified, and that the users are visiting the website with an “approved” browser.

Why is this a problem?

Chrome, along with browsers built on it, like Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and Android browsers, holds a market share of 72%. This significant control raises concerns since website operators depend on Google for a big share of their traffic.

This combination is very bad.

The combination of Chrome's dominance and website operators' reliance on Google poses a problem. Imagine a scenario where Google dictates that only websites using Comic Sans font will rank high in search results. This would force website operators to conform to Google's arbitrary rules, no matter how silly they might seem, simply because they depend on Google for a significant portion of their traffic.

Google has a history of leveraging its influence for its benefit.

In 2015, Chrome introduced AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), which promised faster websites and higher rankings on Google searches. Publishers rushed to implement AMP, since they didn't want to lose their ranking. However, this move made it nearly impossible for operators to display ads that didn't come from Google, allowing Google to capitalize on every ad click.

In 2021, Google launched FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), a way to profile internet users. Since other browsers increasingly blocked Googles way to profile users and serve ads, Google was looking for a new way to detect interests. After much pushback from operators, regulators and privacy groups, Google abandoned FLoC and recently rebranded it as “Topics”.

WEI seems to be the next step in this direction, raising concerns about potential abuses of power. What if Google decided to use users' webcams to detect whether they are looking at ads and only hide them after they have been viewed? What if visitors had to prove their understanding of an ad by repeating its slogan?

What can we do?

Use a non-Chrome browser and help lower Chrome's market share.

Mozilla's Firefox fosters healthy competition in the browser market, providing users with a genuine choice. If you have tried Firefox in the past, you might want to try it again. It got much faster in recent years, and has no trouble handling a few hundred open tabs. Also, it lets you customize your entire web experience:

If you have different accounts for the same website at work, at home or for different projects? There's an addon that lets you stay logged in with multiple accounts at the same time and switch with one click. Overwhelmed by the animated ads on every web page? You can hide them. Prefer to see your open tabs in a tree structure on the side instead of on top? There's an addon for that as well.

Remember, your browser should serve you, not the other way around. Let's work together to save the web.