@robin@mastodon.social
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

robin

@robin@mastodon.social

Governance & Standards at @protocollabs — Former NYT, W3C TAG, science.ai — Privacy, Web, Science, Politics, Philosophy. (he/him/Ishmael)

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robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

If you're still using Chrome in 2024, the only question is why?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/technology/google-chrome-browser-data.html

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

Chrome is like other Google properties: it talks a big game about privacy as something that other companies should do.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

For the next five years, thanks to a lawsuit, you will get a privacy protection in Chrome Incognito that you get by default in modern browsers.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@megamatt @jensimmons A multiengine browser would be cool.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@robinwhittleton Interesting! Do you know if numbers are falling there? Or is it just because they are pushing for iPhone users to switch?

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@Xucaen There are dozens of other browsers?

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@robinwhittleton That doesn't sound very inspired!

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@megamatt It's probably insane :) Tauri uses a different engine depending on the platform, so that's one step in that direction. Of course, 1) that doesn't mean that switching engine on a single platform would be easy and 2) there's a lot of work separating a browser-engine-based app framework from, well, an actual browser. Still, it's a headstart! :)

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@grin But 1) it doesn't include Chromium since that's not where those decisions are made and 2) that hasn't been true in a while.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@megamatt Yup! It's an interesting alternative, different trade-offs. I quite like it.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@grin Perf difference.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@darnell @jeff You can use a Chromium-based browser, it won't track your every breath the way that Chrome does. There are issues of browser engine diversity for sure, but at least as a user you're better off with anything not Chrome.

(I used Firefox, heavily, and no problems to report here, even on mobile.)

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@darnell @jeff It's not paranoid… Chromium is nowhere near like Chrome, but it also isn't aggressively designed to support privacy. The folks at Brave, who build on it, have to make a lot of changes to integrate it and guarantee stronger privacy. But it can be done!

I'm sorry to have to tell you that every browser (except Edge & Brave, and a few tiny upstarts) is bankrolled on Google money. That's how they buy the search market.

ntnsndr, to random
@ntnsndr@social.coop avatar

I'm really appreciating this idea on FOSS from my colleague Bo Waggoner—not just "free as in speech" or "free as in beer" but "free as in way." Increasingly, that is, FOSS acts like a freeway.

https://bowaggoner.com/blahg/2024/03-13-free-as-in-way/

It is infrastructure for business—free for all, but a means of profit for some. And that affects how we should build economies around it.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@ntnsndr Loving "free as in way", stealing it straight into my mental infrastructure.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@ntnsndr Thanks for sharing this. FWIW this is still very much a draft but I hope to start convening people around this and related ideas so that we can develop and push for it.

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

For the avoidance of doubt: at no point have I or will I ever give an interview in my capacity as vice-chair of the W3C's Board of directors. Any indication to the contrary is disingenuous.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@koalie I had heard that they had changed. Apparently, that's not quite true.

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

Are you using IPLD in a cool way? Or do you know a project that is? If so, please tell me about it! It doesn't have to be fancy computer science magic — I'm interested in "plumbing that gets the job done."

For those who don't know IPLD: https://ipld.io/.

bkardell, to random
@bkardell@toot.cafe avatar

I need a good new podcast. Preferably one that is web related, but really pretty open. I had a nice, maybe overly full one developing during football season, but now I am feeling the emptiness... Suggestions?

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@bkardell Have you listened to https://the-santiago-boys.com/? Otherwise, https://theblockchainsocialist.com/category/podcast/!

boris, to random

Today is my birthday.

This picture is from 49 years ago. 1975, summer, Eagle Cliff Beach on Bowen Island. That’s me being held by my mom.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@boris Happy birthday! Whoa, that's just purely adorbs.

gordon, to random

bridges two permissionless protocols

“noooooo nobody asked my permission!! nooooooo!!!”

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@dsalo @boris Everything that people accuse Bluesky of doing (all of which is, as far as I can tell, imaginary) is something that any federated server can do. If people have a mental model whereby just by being here they are protected from those things, then they have the wrong mental model for fedi. The only reason the fedi isn't being stripmined for data or captured by corporate interests is because it's too small (and clunky) to matter. But someone could do that almost overnight.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@dsalo @boris Pretty much all the existing bridges to non-Bluesky things have happened without anyone complaining. Someone mentions Bluesky and all of a sudden it's open season to harass someone. This isn't new, it's a pattern. This place is in-groupy beyond what I think is healthy. Happy people don't get aggressive at the simple mention of elsewhere. More than anything else, it feels like imagining an evil out-group to justify putting up with the experience.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@0x1C3B00DA @dsalo @boris You might be right and I think you could be on to something with "ignoring federation". I've had a few cursed discussions over the past months about the level of control that people want to have when they post on social — they basically want DRM over all their posts.

More than once I tried to point out "what you want is basically a server to talk with your friends" but no, they insist it's still social.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@dsalo @boris I've seen other things screamed at but nothing at this level of visceral hatred. (Perhaps for Threads, but, like, they do actual genocides.) Maybe I just missed some of the other stuff.

Dorsey certainly seems to be an idiot. At least he shut down his Bluesky account so there's that.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@dsalo @boris I don't have a dog in this fight other than that I want a substrate for social that is usable by billions of people and that is architecturally better suited to capture-resistance, collective CoMo, and some forms of extensibility I think are valuable. At this stage, Bluesky is better on all counts. It doesn't mean it'll stay that way. What I don't get is people claiming to care strongly about these things - enough to yell at strangers - but operating on hearsay.

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