this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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While WEI is thankfully cancelled, it's not entirely cancelled... They're planning on making it available still in WebViews with the intention that websites can check if a malicious Android app is trying to do a phishing scheme.

Seems like such a niche "security" feature... what are they really trying to accomplish here? Something seems fishy to me

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[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 88 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] interolivary@beehaw.org 32 points 1 year ago

Ha, I didn't know there's a name for that, but it's definitely what I assume they're going to do. My initial reaction was to wonder what they'll now present as the "reasonable" option to WEI.

Considering they're rolling it out in Android, maybe they'll just wait a moment and then integrate it into desktop Chrome as well, just without any of the fanfare?

[–] Tau@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would never agree with what Google proposes, though

[–] DrownedAxolotl@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

You may not, but you'd be surprised with how many people didn't even care about WEI, let alone whatever the reasonable option will be

[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago

It's a good thing that people are calling out their deception.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 51 points 1 year ago

They grew thanks to the open internet where everyone let them scrape their website’s content. They can’t let anyone do that again.

[–] Scary_le_Poo@beehaw.org 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure it isn't. * Wink wink nudge nudge*

It'll be back. With a different name and modified messaging.

[–] JillyB@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

That probably would've been true even if they did follow through.

[–] macleod@infosec.exchange 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@dean @rysiek For now... they'll bring it back with a new coat of paint and a new name within the next year.

[–] 4censord@unfug.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
[–] macleod@infosec.exchange 6 points 1 year ago

@4censord @dean @rysiek I can see where they could integrate and feature creep to what they really likely want, but in terms of webviews this would likely be beneficial for security.

[–] beefcat@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They want to put it on the default webview in android, which doesn't seem like a huge deal to me. It would basically let apps that use webview for things like logging in beef up their security.

It's not like the entire concept of this API was bad, it's just that with Google's proposed implementation companies would abuse the fuck out of it to do bad things. Not having it in browsers pretty much eliminates that while still letting things like banking apps enjoy some of the benefits.

[–] gentooer@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] kevinbhayes@mastodon.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@dean @lisamelton One of the reasons I don’t use Chrome. Here, they’ve revealed what they are working towards. They’ll try again.

[–] lisamelton@mastodon.social 4 points 1 year ago

@kevinbhayes @dean You are correct. They will try again. 💯

[–] peter@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People here really can't just accept a win

[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A win is when we have forced them to abandon the wretched plan. Them taking it elsewhere with a different name, only to be brought back in the future isn't a win - it's more or less the folly the Trojans committed with the Greek wooden horse.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a much less broad, though. That's a win right?

[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't trust Google's word that they will keep it that way. Besides, would you have accepted this proposal if WEI wasn't proposed first? It's a form of manipulation.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sites inside webviews can already communicate with the app running them, I don't see how this proposal in this form causes any additional problems

[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The same can be said about WEI on browsers. Just wait till it becomes a problem - only problem is that you won't be able to escape it at that point.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

Except websites can't just communicate directly with the OS like they can in webviews

[–] beefcat@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm convinced people on Lemmy just want to be miserable all the time.

[–] java@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We have won the battle, but the war is not over. If one is tired, he or she could employ escapism. But don't blame or poke those, who don't do that.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] tesseract@beehaw.org 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nope. It's getting integrated into Android WebView.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Daaamn poor GrapheneOS devs...

[–] redw0rm@kerala.party 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't know about graphene, but doesn't some android roms allow to use custom ( more private Webview implementations) instead of default ?

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, they provide these Webviews, meaning they get a shitload of work probably, to remove that DRM BS. Until random apps (like all those Playstore apps) stop working on non-DRM webview... yay!

Like, there are already services that just work with apps. If these apps dont work anymore, well...

[–] Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even on "stock" android (at least the Pixel version) the option is there in the developer settings.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Like, you can switch some, but idk how you install a second one

[–] shym3q@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if you root, you can install open webview module.

currently using mulch webview and updating it in f-droid

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah I did that too. Mulch or Vanadium, I would recommend Vanadium. Bromite is dead. Cromite maybe, but really just use Vanadium its the most degoogled and secure one.

But apart from that, the developer options make no sense if there is no way to actually install one without root.

Also, openwebview replaces the installed one, doesnt it?

[–] shym3q@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It does replace system webview.

Both Vanadium and Mulch are powerful. Mulch is Divest os default vebview and is using Vanadium patches. While the Vanadium is Graphene one.

https://gitlab.com/divested-mobile/mulch

https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Vanadium

I stick with Mulch, because I added divest repo to Droidify, so I can upgrade webview as soon new update comes out. No need to wait for module update.

Haven't found a good way to easily update Vanadium. On XDA module's thread you can read about it.

https://xdaforums.com/t/magisk-module-webview-open-webview-2-3-1.4496119/

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I know the projects. GrapheneOS hates F-Droid which is annoying, but I am 100% sure its the more secure and complete OS. DivestOS probably has more user-facing features.

I think every Custom ROM should build on top of GrapheneOS, extend the device list (with worse security but only for some threat models) and add better apps.

Here you get the GrapheneOS apps (very few): https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Apps/releases

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

GrapheneOSses Appstore might be able to update the webview?

[–] Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Chromium comes with a webview APK, but I couldn't find one for Firefox / gecko

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Firefox doesnt provide a webview for some reason.

Its really shitty, because it could be a better standard for webapps on Linux too. But now we have electron, which is basically compatible with firefox as its web technology

the concept is good in theory; the reasoning was not.

[–] yoz@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Give Sundar a raise ? Finally he made a good decision.