I've updated my article on #Google killing the #openWeb

https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/google-killing-open-web/

with some additional moments I had forgotten or didn't know about (thanks to the people who pointed those out to me), and a few additional remarks in an afterword.

I also rediscovered how much of this I had actually predicted in 2013, when classic Opera died.

I'll probably be less active here today because I'm trying to finish a blog post where I pour all my hate for #Google's decade-long history of attacks to the #openWeb and #indieWeb and it's taking way longer than I expected.

EDIT: you can now read it here https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/google-killing-open-web/ and now I'm going to go over a full day of backlog here on‌ Fedi 8-D

And it's done

https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/google-killing-open-web/

If you spot any errors (e.g. in my recall of history) do let me know. If you know of additional additional (direct or by proxy) examples of the war of Google on XML, RSS and/or XSLT do let me know.
If you know of more interesting use cases for XSLT, do let me know.

Also, I'll probably add a post-scriptum in the coming hours or days, but I wanted to get this out now.

#Google #openWeb #indieWeb #XML #XSLT #selfHosting #RSS and many others

If I can already 🚩 smell the red flags as a human, how come #Google…. with all their 💸 billions in ad revenue and 🤖 billions pumped into AI can’t seem to notice them?

Give me a dirt-cheap speaker at Kit and Oliver on some other domain with Lidl logo’s where they sell IKEA cabinets… NOW!!

Me: 😭
Google: 🤑

@sundogplanets
The next Google will be someone who comes up with a search engine that only finds organic result with no AI, advertised content, or sponsored content.

If someone does this, I want ONE share of stock.

#BigIdeas
#google
#enshittification

@Edent Locking the discussions for being "too heated" when they get push back because they're doing a seemingly very unpopular thing is extremely fucking cool.

Fuck #Google and fuck #Chromium. They're both cancers destroying the #OpenWeb.

#NoNAT Saturday

Looking for a new computer on the modern internet?

It is either #Framework , #Apple, #Microsoft or #Google

The usual suspects and mini-pc manufacturers are all not available via #IPv6

What happens when standards and proven technologies doesn't suit big tech interests? 🧵

1.They, and the "foundations" people they pay, get together and create a Working Group (for the public interest, of course).

2.Then they "democratically" create and dismiss standards as they want (because they control the marketplace).

Don't believe it? You can see this machinery in action here (censorship included)
https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11523

#Mozilla #Google #Apple #Microsoft #webdev #devs #bigtech #chrome

@thelinuxEXP

#BigTech really seems to enjoy lighting the fuse to the hypothetical explosive, letting it explode in their face, and then screaming about it happening.

Yet another product is bound for the #GoogleGraveyard as #Google is incapable of not killing their own products, while Microsoft is enshittifying everything they get the damn hands on. Eventually, even companies using ActiveDirectory, Azure (i.e. the entire MS Stack) will dump #Microsoft if they keep this behaviour up, and there will be no coming back from that.

And then, of course, there's the #AI companies which are as awful as usual

Here is this week's #Linux and #OpenSource News show !

In this one, Microsoft discusses the future of Windows, and it sounds so bad that it could yet another chance for #Linux to grow very quickly, we have the release of #LinuxMint 22.2 beta, #Google removing Steam from Chrome OS, and a lot more !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2h2Ly1PcUM

Google has added "eSignatures" to Google Workspace, competing with PDF as a solution.

It seems both parties need a Google account for it to work, while PDFs don't force you have an Adobe account to sign the document.

Imagine you are ready to purchase your dream home, only to find that you are required to have a Google account to sign the paperwork.

#privacy #google

"For most sites, Googlebot shouldn't access your site more than once every few seconds on average." In reality, #Googlebot crawls slightly faster than 1 request per second regardless of what your Crawl-delay is set to. You can give them 429 error codes to notify them to slow down, but they may also drop you from #Google Products (which includes Search). Sysadmins are practically forced to allow this abuse.

Sources:

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/robots_txt

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/reduce-crawl-rate

@ross Oh no, $platform should never have become a single point of failure, but despite alternatives, we let peer pressure dictate the architecture of the FLOSS ecosystem.

$platform =~ #GitHub|#AWS|#Google|#Cloudflare and many more

Will we learn from this?

Oh, before I forget, Happy International Take A Friend Or Family Members Phone And Install An Adblocker And Change Their Default Web Browser and Search Engine Away From Google Day 🎉

(you can also do this any day of the year)

#Google #DeGoogle #Privacy #SearchEngines #WebBrowsers

"we found very meaningful differences between measures of bias in different models,” he said. “Google’s model, in particular, downplays women’s physical and mental health needs in comparison to men’s"

Good Lord! Who could possibly have guessed that #Google was systematically sexist?

#GenAI

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/11/ai-tools-used-by-english-councils-downplay-womens-health-issues-study-finds

#YouTube begins their AI-based "guess your age" verification system on August 13. Please DM me here if you are mis-aged by #Google's super brain as underage. Thanks.

I got so disappointed by Action Retro’s video on Google Search Applicance.

Thank God this person made a fantastic video on the whole thing in action!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjrmH7hVBOo

#google #retro #retrotech

Amid rising #electric #bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household & business ratepayers from the costs of feeding #BigTech’s #energy hungry #DataCenters.

It’s not clear that any state has a solution & the actual effect of data centers on #electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against #tech behemoths like #Microsoft, #Google, #Amazon & #Meta.

https://apnews.com/article/electricity-prices-data-centers-artificial-intelligence-fbf213a915fb574a4f3e5baaa7041c3a?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-08-09-Tech%27s+price+tag

📣 Attention all custom ROM users and advocates for digital rights! 📣

Google's Play Integrity is limiting access to certain functionalities and applications for those using custom operating systems. This is a direct attack on the open-source community and a step towards further consolidating Google's monopoly in the mobile ecosystem.

The European Commission is aware of the situation, but has deemed it a low priority: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PETI-CM-757267_EN.pdf

It's time for us to take action and show Google and the EU how much we care about this issue! 💥

Sign the petition now to stop Google from limiting access to custom ROMs: https://www.change.org/p/stop-google-from-limiting-custom-roms

#StopGoogleMonopoly #CustomROMs #DigitalRights #OpenSource #PlayIntegrity #Google #deGoogle #privacy #right2repair #rightorepair #r2r #EU

Let's unite and fight for our right to use and develop custom operating systems! 💪

Alt...

Stop Google from Limiting Custom ROMs! The Issue: Google systematically blocks access to apps and functionalities for users running custom Android operating systems, affecting millions of tech-savvy users who modify their devices. Why Users Choose Custom ROMs: • Overcome programmed obsolescence when manufacturers stop updating • Fix bugs in stock operating systems • Personalize and customize their device's software • Improve performance and privacy Google's False Justification: Google claims Play Integrity ensures "app security" by verifying unmodified app binaries on "genuine" Android devices. In reality, this is a tactic to: • Maintain its mobile operating system monopoly • Restrict user choice • Convince developers to stay dependent on Play Store Our Demand: We call on European Union to consider investigating the monopolistic tactics, and ask Google to allow custom ROM users to: • Access all applications • Use device capabilities fully • Exercise their right to modify owned technology This is about digital freedom, user rights, and challenging corporate control over personal technology. Sign now to support technological freedom!

Those who advocate for google as a platform, fail to mention how the dependence on google-auth effectively breaks integrations, plugins, etc for most common developer tools and platforms.

Ex: If you set up a container/artifact registry anywhere else, you can connect to it normally using URL+credentials, but with Google? Nah. Here's a JSON file buddy. Whaaaat that's not supported? Better use another google product instead then Oh wait, that's not supported by your IDE? or your docker tools? weeeeelll, uh, guess that sucks then!

#gcp #google

I used to pay £23 for #Google and #Microsoft accounts per month, just to have cloud storage and #Office.

I've since moved to #Proton for storage, VPN and email (about £10). The money saved has gone towards monthly donations to #LibreOffice (365 replacement) and #Signal (#Meta #WhatsApp replacement) - both #FOSS.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that if you #LeaveBigTech - and can afford it - donations to the organisations that try to keep the internet free and private would be excellent.

> We found that 74% of Europe’s publicly listed companies rely on US-based tech like #Google and #Microsoft."

I know this is meant to show how concentrated EU companies are on the big cloud providers, but 74% is lower than I expected.

This is what complicity in genocide looks like.

The only valid reason for working at Microsoft right now is if you’re actively engaged in sabotage.

Same goes for Google, and any other corporation working with Israel to help commit genocide in Palestine.

History is watching (and taking notes).

#israel #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #BigTech #Microsoft #Google #EU #europe #complicity #Palestine #Gaza #WestBank #StopIsrael #StopArmingIsrael #StopTheGenocide #BDS https://mastodon.online/@clarinette/114986749708174246

Hackers Hijacked #Google’s Gemini #AI With a Poisoned Calendar Invite to Take Over a #SmartHome - https://www.wired.com/story/google-gemini-calendar-invite-hijack-smart-home/ and so it begins. also, this shows why you should never thank a #chatbot... #promptinjection

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @_9CL7T9k8cjnD_ @Lightfighter @pluralistic

#MoGawat is one of the most erudite and humane #AI antagonists.

I have no time for the ignorant luddites, but he smelt the hopium from the inside, he was #Google head of special projects.

Both Antagonists and Protagonists of AI need to listen when No speaks.

Dear Fedi,

May I please have your recommendation for an alternative to Gmail? Thank you.

Love,
Athena

#Google

What the fuck is wrong with #GoogleChrome / #Blink developers and their obsession with making the #web worse for *everybody*?

https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/11523

We need to break #Google's dominance on the #web yesterday, and make it painful for them.

Chrome's Ozone backend will auto-detect Wayland on Linux from v140 to run natively. This should fix issues with blurry text and UI elements when fractional scaling is active.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/08/chrome-140-wayland-auto-detection-linux?v1

#chrome #google #linux

Google Pass Keys - Suck.

They're tied to your device and if your device changes or is broke or lost, you're logged out with no hope of recovery.

Google did what I could not. Convince my mother to stop using Google.

She had 2-step verification enabled. Associated with that account were 3 different phone numbers, 1 recovery e-mail, and 10 recovery codes. Google would not accept anything and had all options grayed out, expecting only the passkey.

Luckily, I found a device where I could go into her account settings and remove the passkey option.

My mother is now moving to Tutanota.

#Google #Tutanota #Security

#ipv6

#google #statistics

49.76 % 🫣

Journalist Discovers #Google Vulnerability That Allowed People to Disappear Specific Pages From Search

https://www.404media.co/journalist-discovers-google-vulnerability-that-allowed-people-to-disappear-specific-pages-from-search/

#privacy

So…who hates those Google log-in pop-ups that are seemingly everywhere now? Wanna make them go away?

1. Get uBlock Origin (which you should have already been using):
https://ublockorigin.com/

2. Open the plugin and click the settings button.

3. Click on the “my filters” tab and paste this into the input:
||accounts.google.com/gsi/*$xhr,script,3p

That’s it! Worked flawlessly for me.

#Google #Privacy #Security #PopUps #InfoSec #BadGoogle

Alt...

Screenshot of a pop-up window with the title “sign in with google” followed by other information and a button with the label “continue.”

Alt...

Two screenshots of the ublock origin interface. The first one shows where the settings button is. The second shows where the filters input is on the view behind the tab with the label “my filters.”

They didn’t not tell us to break encryption 🤐

First Apple, now the UK government has seemingly ordered a backdoor into Google’s encrypted services.

To access anyone’s data, files and photos, they’re happy to break everyone’s security 😵‍💫

Read more ⬇️

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/google-refuses-to-deny-uk-encryption-demands/

#e2ee #encryption #privacy #security #google #apple #ukpolitics #ukpol #surveillance #cybersecurity #android

Senator #RonWyden gets a refusal to deny that there are #encryption #backdoors at #Google from the UK government under the #IPAct

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/29/uk-encryption-backdoor-wyden-letter-gabbard/

There is 1 pic on #Google #Maps that has #Washy in it twice 😆

He's everywhere! George however is sleeping behind the window

Alt...

Washy getting behind a car - Google Maps

Alt...

George sleeping behind window - Google Maps

Alt...

Washy photo bombing maps twice in 1 pic! - Google Maps

Alt...

Washy crossing the road behind the maps car - Google Maps

@rl_dane

From my perspective it is also a kind of enshittification

The streaming services waited a couple of years before they started to kick you off

They have hoped you would capitulate and pay them your hard earned currency.

An example of that is a YouTube official client I was setting it up for a schatje {NL} of mine and what I saw literally made me LOL

If my schatje would be so stupid to pay Alphabet for YouTube premium, which doesn't even run, in our part of the planet, the client would do something it was already doing before; playing video in background

WTF

I have open source tools which do that

#Enshittification #Alphabet #Google #YouTube

Google Spoofed Via DKIM Replay Attack: A Technical Breakdown

https://easydmarc.com/blog/google-spoofed-via-dkim-replay-attack-a-technical-breakdown/

#security #infosec #email #google

#Google’s #AI Is Destroying Search, the Internet

“Pew Research Center released a report on the browsing activity of 900 U.S. adults which found that Google users who encounter an AI summary are less likely to click on links to other websites than users who don’t encounter an AI summary.

To be precise, only 1 percent of users who encountered an AI summary clicked the link to the page Google is summarizing.”

https://www.404media.co/googles-ai-is-destroying-search-the-internet-and-your-brain/

“Google agreed to destroy billions of records to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the #internet use of people who thought they were browsing privately in its Chrome browser’s #incognito mode.

Users alleged that #Google’s analytics, cookies and apps let the #Alphabet unit improperly #track people who set Google’s Chrome browser to “incognito” mode and other browsers to “#private” #browsing mode.”

Dirtbags

<https://theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/01/google-destroying-browsing-data-privacy-lawsuit>

When Google’s slop meets webslop, search stops: https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/15/inhuman-gigapede/#coprophagic-ai

A very good article on awful Google AI search results and how Google have ruined their own reputation by wrecking their workforce, by @pluralistic. A quote:

'Publishers and advertisers have more concentrated money than readers, but the dominant theory of antitrust since the Reagan administration is something called "consumer welfare," which holds that monopolistic conduct is only to be condemned if it makes consumers worse off. If a company screws its workers or suppliers in order to deliver better products and/or better prices, then "consumer welfare" holds that the government should celebrate and protect the monopolist for improving "efficiency."

But all that is true only if Google AI Overviews are good. And they are very, very bad.'

Don't use Google for search.

#google #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AISlop #CoryDoctorow #search #slop

@pluralistic This part of the article is very enlightening from a worker perspective, especially when Google upper management have relatively recently fired around 10,000 workers:

'Once Google stops growing, it becomes a "mature" company and its PE ratio will fall from 20:1 to something more like 4:1, meaning an 80% collapse in the company's share price. This would be very bad news for Googlers (whose personal wealth is disproportionately tied up in Google stock) and for Google itself (because many of its key personnel will depart when the shares they've banked for retirement collapse, and new hires will expect to be paid in scarce dollars, not abundant stock). For a company like Google, "maturity" is unlikely to be a steady state – rather, it's likely to be a prelude to collapse.

Which is why Google is so desperately sweaty to maintain the narrative about its growth.'

#google #layoffs

ICMYI: Google has said it is 'combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform'.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/07/is-chrome-os-merging-with-android?v1

#ChromeOS #google #tech