Bonum Certa Men Certa

The World Wide Web Has Become Proprietary and the Last Remaining 'Major' Browser That Was (Pre-EME) Free Software Is Rapidly Becoming Useless and User-Hostile (It's Monopoly- and Surveillance-Sponsored)

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Summary: The World Wide Web seems like a lost cause because Web browsers, which nowadays determine what the de facto standards are (same problem as 20 years ago), are monopolistic when it comes fundamentals like rendering engines (and privacy isn't even an option, users aren't the priority but the product etc.)

THIS video is based on hours of research of Web browsers, notably the latest version of Mozilla Firefox. One can only conclude that erosion of freedom on the Web is unstoppable; it'll get worse over time. Never mind aspects such as censorship and surveillance; the underlying software freedom is lessened and the user is losing control of the Web browser; the browser makers are trying to use the user, in effect turning people on the Web into mere consumers with DRM and babysitting ('telemetry'). Google is meanwhile trying to increase its dominance and it already dominates Mozilla, which merely mimics some of the very worse proposals from Google (making Firefox more like Chrome, not unlike Chrome).

"Mozilla won't protect our privacy because it is sponsored by 'surveillance capitalism'."The sad realisation that the Web is becoming ever more JavaScript-stuffed and user-hostile isn't an unusual realisation. People who have been on the Internet since the early days (even before the World Wide Web existed) can attest to it. Decentralised things like NNTP mostly went away (it got worse when Google bought DejaNews and ruined USENET with "Google Groups"), E-mail is becoming increasingly monopolised (whitelisting and presumption of guilt/spam for small/independent relay operators) or even 'extended' (to break or deviate from standards), and the product is not information but manipulation, e.g. by surveillance, censorship and paid-for propaganda (precluding so-called 'advertising').

World Wide Web analogicWe need to do what is possible to at least slow down the monopolisation of the Web; failing that, we need to pursue and cultivate alternatives, such as Gemini.

Mozilla won't save us from injustice, as Mozilla itself perpetuates some injustices. Mozilla won't protect our privacy because it is sponsored by 'surveillance capitalism'. The latter is also why Mozilla won't save us from monopolies; instead, Mozilla actively tries to obstruct antitrust action against Google (which is the Sugar Daddy of Mozilla).

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