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Google vs. the Open Web

submitted by ColinW+(OP) on 2023-07-26 09:52:53 | 544 points 197 comments
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11. Alifat+Bx[view] [source] 2023-07-26 13:22:38
>>ColinW+(OP)
So, how can this be bypassed in theory? Any ideas? Brainstorming is allowed.

EDIT: Saw a few mention two solutions to disable the automatic verification on iOS & macOS.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-to-enable-private-access-tok...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213449

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24. EGreg+ZB[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 13:40:12
>>dschue+Wx
We have been doing it! Join us!

It isn’t perfect but we are ahead of most others (Mastodon, Matrix). We have spent TWELVE YEARS building the free, permissionless open source platform for anyone to assemble and host their own community software with all the features of Facebook/Twitter/TikTok for their own community:

https://github.com/Qbix/Platform

We are about to roll out version 2.0 — I have never done this before but I would like to invite whoever wants to learn about it or build on it, to a Zoom webinar where I will demo anything and answer any questions. Starting in Q3 this year all the webinars will take place on our own platform — no Calendly, no Zoom, no Google, just the free open Web.

Anyway, sign up here if you want. Will do it every Sunday throughout August:

https://calendly.com/qbix/qbix-2-0-platform-demo

Whether you’re a developer, a businessperson, or just want to learn about the latest technologies moving the Free Open Source Web forward, this platform can help empower you to build and engage a community around yourself and your projects.

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38. maxsil+NI[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 14:05:33
>>rapsey+AE
It's literally the FTC's job to block most mergers (they are required by law to block bad mergers, see https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui... for details)

Their leadership isn't "awful", their leaders are finally doing their job, for the first time in decades.

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82. teddyh+N01[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 15:13:27
>>dschue+sv
Called it:

<>>31835121 >

<>>33210846 >

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85. nobody+B11[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 15:15:44
>>theK+tQ
>Oh right! I said crypto on hacker news! what was I thinking?! :-D

Post that comment again when crypto accounts are FDIC[0] (or whatever scheme, if any, is used where you live) insured. I'm sure you'll get a different response.

[0] https://www.fdic.gov/

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91. smolde+i31[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 15:20:25
>>lances+tA
It's not stealing if the content is lawfully acquired: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild%2C_Inc._v._Googl....
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101. pmlnr+n61[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 15:30:21
>>tlogan+k21
Try using https://microg.org/ to replace Google Play Services - it's not your average tech-savvy level.
107. Dah00n+981[view] [source] 2023-07-26 15:36:58
>>ColinW+(OP)
Smells of vendor lock-in. Someone in the EU should report this. It is quite easy:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in-eu/competit...

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115. kmeist+Fd1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 15:55:41
>>Commun+RH
The sort of Shadowrun/Snow Crash/ancap future you're talking about is what Cory Doctorow is calling technofeudalism[0]: one in which the primary driver of economic activity reverts to passive income scams[1] instead of active economic activity.

[0] https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/

[1] Economists call these "rents", even though they're more general than just rent paid to borrow some real property

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123. 4oo4+Cj1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 16:18:17
>>supriy+Cy
My thoughts exactly. These GitHub protests, while emotionally satisfying, do not work. Google does not care and they are already drunk on monopolist power.

Contact info for antitrust authorities:

US:

- https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/report-antitrust-violation

- antitrust@ftc.gov

EU:

- https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust/contact_en

- comp-greffe-antitrust@ec.europa.eu

UK:

- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tell-the-cma-about-a-competition...

- general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk

India:

- https://www.cci.gov.in/antitrust/

I could not find an easy contact method for filing a complaint for the CCI, but it looks like this is the process?

- https://www.cci.gov.in/filing/atd

Canada:

- https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/frm-e...

I'm happy to share what I've sent to the FTC if others want to use it as a template.

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125. EGreg+pk1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 16:21:26
>>dschue+C01
Why are we using Hacker News? Go post on https://community.qbix.com/ that is powered by Discourse, a fellow open source company doing good work, and that we are integrated with

Why using calendly, zoom, and google? Well, as I said, we haven't launched Qbix Platform 2.0 to everyone worldwide yet. This is if you want to get involved pre-launch.

We dogfood our own stuff, but we also interoperate with everything else out there, such as Discourse (https://qbix.com/ecosystem for example incorporates it), Zoom, Google, Facebook, etc.

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126. EGreg+Fk1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 16:22:37
>>Dah00n+wX
Unless banning Russian patches is somehow required by US law, why would we ban Russian patches?

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/5/22215588/github-iran-sanct...

As a side note, many people on our development team that has worked with us since 2013 have spoken Russian, coming from Ukraine, Armenia, Russia, etc. Many of them continue to work together despite the war their governments are conducting.

We are for empowering people uniting communities around the world, and are pretty critical of government overreach:

>>35656705

https://community.qbix.com/t/transparency-in-government/234

https://qbix.com/blog/2021/01/15/open-source-communities/

If that appeals to you, the lowest hanging fruit is just joining the community and introducing yourself:

https://community.qbix.com/

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146. idreyn+qy1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 17:10:26
>>supriy+Cy
I wrote to the FTC: https://gist.github.com/idreyn/a37e4249b326243e1714b14780717...
155. keybit+DD1[view] [source] 2023-07-26 17:29:07
>>ColinW+(OP)
Related to WEI, Apple already has something similar live for Safari users, see: "Apple already shipped attestation on the web, and we barely noticed" - https://httptoolkit.com/blog/apple-private-access-tokens-att...
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161. GeekyB+dV1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-26 18:28:27
>>supriy+Cy
> has anyone written to the respective competition authorities

Just a reminder that several states have already filed an antitrust suit (in part) over a previous Google plan to turn the web into their own walled garden.

> Project NERA was Google’s original plan to create a closed ecosystem out of the open internet. Google documents reveal that Google’s motive was to “successfully mimic a walled garden across the open web [so] we can protect our margins.”

According to Google’s internal documents, the strategy would allow Google to extract even higher intermediation fees. A Google employee aptly described Google’s ambition for Project NERA to “capture the benefits of tightly ‘operating’ a property … without ‘owning’ the property and facing the challenges of building new consumer products.”

Google main strategy to do this was to leverage its popular browser, Chrome, to track users, by forcing them to stay logged into the browser. Google did this by logging users into the browser when they logged into any Google property such as Gmail or YouTube, and logging them out of services when they logged out of the browser.

https://mspoweruser.com/project-nera-state-attorneys-general...

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.56...

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180. Dah00n+b94[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-27 09:37:48
>>EGreg+Fk1
Well, I can't give you a rational answer since it is irrational in my opinion, but denying patches from Russians and Russian companies happen, including on the Linux Kernel mailing list:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/21/russian_foss_contribu...

But thank you for your reply.

188. Young-+p67[view] [source] 2023-07-28 02:13:41
>>ColinW+(OP)
Let's take action now. https://github.com/Young-Lord/fight-for-the-open-web
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189. Young-+y67[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-28 02:15:34
>>supriy+Cy
For developers, insert this JavaScript file to block all WEI-enabled browsers from accessing your website. https://github.com/Young-Lord/fight-for-the-open-web
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195. icecre+WUa[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-07-29 05:06:45
>>lances+BB1
I shared the content of an email I sent out to a few different groups the other day here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36888156&p=2#36889971

There were some reasonable criticism that it was too long/wordy hopefully you can adapt and reformat to your liking.

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