Google is trying to kill the Open Web
Using the proposed “Web Environment Integrity” means websites can select on which devices (browsers) they wish to be displayed, and can refuse service to other devices. It binds client side software to a website, creating a silo’d app.
Web Environment Integrity on GitHub This penalizes platforms on which the preferred client side software is not available.
This is an issue for accessibility and inclusion, in particular when the reason the software is not available is tied to the needs of marginalized groups, such as when poverty makes it impossible to own sufficiently modern devices, etc.
“Web Environment Integrity” is a deeply #antisocial proposal, and goes counter to the design principles of the web.
In all honesty, this move by Google is hardly surprising. They’ve been trying to capture the web as their own platform for a long time. This is just the latest battle.
But it also marks a particularly perverse point, in how the proposal admits it exists primarily to extract value from people. People mining at its worst.
Remember when their motto was “Don’t be Evil?”
I think its important to keep it in our memory, just so we can clearly see how far they've gone and remind ourselves that this shouldn't be normal.
I think the motto "don't be evil" was always stupid, and google did the same stuff under that motto as they did after the motto. Bringing it up just pretends that Google used to be some moralistic and ethical corporation.
They were never any different than any of the other big tech companies.