This year we made good progress. You know, Linux gaming becoming better, Reddit fucking up, Metaverse failing etc. But on the other hand Big Tech has or are planning to make some moves. Such as, Google’s Web Enviroment Integrity API (EDIT: they backed off), UK’s encryption bill, etc.
So what do you think of the future? I’m currently optimistic. I think the best recent event was Reddit fucking up. Obviously one of the biggest information sources going down that path isn’t something to celebrate. But it was bound to happen. I believe decentralized social networks becoming more popular is what Aaron Swartz would have wanted if he saw how Reddit was being managed.
WEI is only as dead as public perception lets it be. They already replaced it with a “more palatable” version of the same thing.
They will save the idea and repackage it and release it later to much less fanfare. It was only because people were paying attention that it got caught this time. WEI didn’t have a ton of Google backing media. It was mostly commits to chromium development with people taking note of them.
They said they’ll release it as a limited feature to the webview used by apps.
Don’t be deceived by the ‘limit’ on it. Now they can develop it away from public scrutiny and then expand it easily, gradually and silently in scope. The only safe version of WEI is a dead version.