Comment by JeremyNT
10 days ago
This is the pr on it [0]. It was linked on hn at the time too [1]
For all the shit Google deservedly gets they seem to be genuinely trying to implement good and privacy preserving solutions to a lot of these problems.
The issue of course is that there's essentially no way to do all this stuff with software and hardware the user actually controls themselves, so you end up with hard requirements that you use big tech as gatekeepers.
This is the slippery slope that IMO eventually ends the open web.
If you take that outcome as inevitable, which at this point I basically do given all the forces lined up to restrict access to information, I suppose Google is about the best steward you could hope for.
> If you take that outcome as inevitable,
I don't and I wish Google et al would take a god damned stand against it. All it takes is 2 or 3 big companies to just not play along with the destruction of the open internet (the very same responsible for their genesis and incredible success), and the bureaucrats will eventually relent. Unfortunately they've chosen the path of least resistance, which also is the path of regulatory capture to their sole benefit. Sad to see that win over the ideals of the early net.
I agree in principle but as time goes on I have found that the free and open internet as we know it already no longer exists in practise. Theres like 5 places to go on the internet these days - your social media platform of choice, your short form content platform of choice, youtube, perhaps an AI platform, and 1 misc place of your preference. And this loop of crap seems to demand more and more of your life.
I went on youtube in bed last night to watch a 10 minute video (that I knew I had to search for to find - it was a specific one), but the app opens to shorts and they're so damn stimulating that it was 30 minutes before I finally got to the vid I wanted. I started with pure agency and was immediately thrown off course. Say what you will about my discipline or habits, but imagine the affect this has on less... aware individuals such as children.
Walking around the world you see everyone buried in their phones.
There are aspects of this initiative that I totally welcome, if it has the result of some level of de-interneting. The argument is always "they do it to protect children first, then it comes for everyone". I hope they increase resistance for the end user. I agree its sad, but what we have currently is truly awful, and less of it is a good thing.
I understand that it may not have that effect and end up in the "worst of both worlds" situation. But I don't wan't google fighting any battles for me anymore. They might try on occasion to be respectful but their bottom line is to own my attention.