• The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    15 hours ago

    They’re just going to do this with the TPM and similar chips that windows 11 semi-hard requires, and android, iOS, mac OS have already, anyway. The website will refuse to display if any modification whatsoever has been done to it, and any browser that refuses to comply to their standards will be blocked. There will of course be a couple hacks to get around it, but eventually they will close those leaks too. The open internet is very soon coming to an end.

  • Hauntology95@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    99
    ·
    6 days ago

    I wonder why all these totally unrelated things in the world are going to shit? Maybe theres a common thread

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      WEF Agenda from years ago. Which governments are using as guidelines.

      State Censorship with the help of Corps. heading toward Digital IDs.

      This is from their site, and what their white paper entails to aim for as a goal to have a central ID that can be used to easily keep track (read: doxx you) via everything you do, and about you. As it will be connected to everything, including social media, obviously. What we are seeing is the slow normalisation of this. With the goal being fully there by 2030 at the latest. Albeit I have seen 2027 being thrown around for some partial goals.

      So, no privacy, for control… Sorry, to protect you and your convenience. Yeah, that. Believe me, bro. Will never be abused. Promise.

      Central Bank Digital Currencies, over cash. Due to Dystopian levels of granular digital control over the currency. Friends from the bank I used to work on the IT side have already been getting briefed that these are coming down the pipe, eventually. This was done in late 2024. These things are slow to test and implement and take time but they are coming.

      Resource management that will become intrusive in your every day, via smart everything and endless bureaucracy.

      Less purchases and owning, more subscription models in absolutely everything that is possible.

      Essentially technocrats larping as activists who “care” about society, for grift and profit.

      • Hauntology95@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        This is pretty crazy how its been in the open for so long but when you talk to people about the WEF they look at you like you’re telling them the world is flat, Its in the open for all to see but everyone has their heads in the sand and wont realise until its too late, i mean it is already. As it seems alot of these things in the diagram and what you’ve said has already come true.

        I cannot describe in accurate enough words how terrified this makes me for the future and how apathetic people will be to it.

        • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 hours ago

          Yeah, it has been quite in the open. I used to be like those people until one day, I decided to stop being dumb and actually go take a closer look at the WEF and simply read between the lines and analyse how some of their policies would actually look if implemented in real life. All the WEF cliches are correct.

          But people are gullible and busy with their lives. The WEF and their proxies will lie because of course they will. And the average person is not going to go to the WEF site, read pages upon pages of white papers and read past the BS, cheery marketing and DEI coat they put over absolutely everything. The WEF may be cocky and have tons of self-righteous greedy, technocratic psychopaths but certainly they aren’t that stupid to spell it out directly.

          The white paper I got that picture from is all about inclusivity and DEI, while literally stating between the lines that they want to control and be able to monitor everything you do… For inclusivity, you see. It is almost insulting.

          Besides many people in power are WEF members and they will for sure deny or say it is a conspiracy theory despite them pushing for WEF-like policies.

          For example, up here in Canada. Trudeau was a graduate of the WEF’s Young Leaders Program, so he is all bought in. His Deputy PM/Finance Minister, Freeland, she was in the WEF’s Board. The leader of the other Left leaning, somewhat Socialist party, Singh, he was also a WEF member. Both parties formed a coalition to push a number of WEF-like policies. So is Macron of France, so was the Ex-PM of New Zealand, just to name some more.

          Trudeau ended up being hated, so Freeland ran for the Leadership of the Liberal Party and lost to Mark Carney. Oh, look, our newly minted PM, annointed by the Liberal Party to be their leader, as he had never once run for Political office or was voted in by anyone in the public… Carney is literally a member of the WEF’s Board of Trustees, the highest echelon within he WEF, besides the Schwab himself. What are the chances of that? Do we think he is going to push pro WEF-like policies? Yes or Yes?

          Just questioning why some in the highest circles of Canadian Politics are all WEF members is already something to be questioned. Given that Schwab has years ago l, openly and mockingly stated that he had infiltrated the Cabinets of many countries. Well, he ain’t lying.

          Lastly, check this presentation from the WEF I came across and the glee this presenter has for tech that will monitor your brain waves at wotk, just to see how productive you should be. Pure Dark Mirror stuff:

          ⭐ Ready for Brain Transparency? #WEF23 #Davos


          Bargain Privacy.

          ‘Workplace surveillance’ is a current practice aimed to increase and is expected, at least by some, to become a standard across industries. Such as, scanning your brainwaves -I am not kidding- during work, and thus monitor what you are doing and what type of thoughts you are having at all times. On this WEF presentation, they touch on thought and mental privacy, and cognitive liberty as issues to be tackled. Also, brain transparency policies where your work or even governments should inform you of what they are recording from you. Perhaps you may not want to be in a workplace where your brainwaves are constantly monitored yet, the Presenter wants and believes, this practice to become ubiquitous and that it is good, for your safety, fight crime and profit. When the question is, should we want this at all? Or outside narrow fields like say, practical medical uses? Do you want your brainwaves recorded by your employer or government agencies?

      • Hauntology95@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        26
        ·
        6 days ago

        People still look at me like I’m some sort of conspiracy theorist when I say that it’s all connected back to capitalism

        • kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          5 days ago

          A friend of mine recently called me more brainwashed than anyone for questioning capitalism and said how can I question a system that gives me bread and butter.

          When I tried to point out that the system does not give me food by the goodness of it’s heart but rather extracts something out of me in return, he pointed out that Milton Friedman was a staunch supporter of capitalism and there is no way I can know more than him.

          But the truth is, the world is crumbling. And I had rather believe what is unfolding before my own eyes than an economics textbook from 1970s (not to mention, that unlike say math economics isn’t that objective a field. Just like he purported a free market supporting Economist, I too can forward names of folks who support the opposite POV).

          The day folks stop seeing themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires would be awakening.

          • frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            5 days ago

            Milton Friedman was a staunch supporter of capitalism and there is no way I can know more than him.

            Einstein supported socialism. You think you’re smarter than Einstein???

          • pirat@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            5 days ago

            Is there any hope of asking when the most prosperous period of the USA was and what economic policies were used to create those conditions? Keynesian policies during the new deal - which are a tad different from MF’s.

            • Zanathos@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              5 days ago

              Easily the 90s when Clinton wiped the USA debt away to a clean slate, and Bush immediately made it worse with Iraq in his next term. I’m speaking loosley, but assume that’s when this all started based on your question.

        • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          15
          ·
          6 days ago

          Most people are just in denial. The left has been calling out capitalism as the problem for over a century

          There was just a decent period in the middle there for the west that put a lot of people into complacency, but finally we’re starting to approach the logical conclusions of capitalism again, and it’s all coming crashing down

          Unfortunately I strongly believe that things are going to get much worse before they get better. I think the vast majority will need to be shocked into action

    • romanticremedy@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      6 days ago

      Yeah as if things happening in US isn’t chaotic enough. I wonder if that send signal to the world that it’s okay to be suppress all rights suddenly

      • Zwrt@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        5 days ago

        The news is about to report on another US approved massacre in gaza, quick someone file a new form to spy on person communications, get that money transferred we said we didn’t have and for the love of god get some children in here we’re getting hungry.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    82
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    The case stems from online media company Axel Springer’s lawsuit against Eyeo - the maker of the popular Adblock Plus browser extension.

    Axel Springer says that ad blockers threaten its revenue generation model and frames website execution inside web browsers as a copyright violation.

    FYI, Axel Springer is a company and owns Business Insider (since 2015), Politico, and Politico Europe (since 2021). They suck.

    Gudrun Kruip, a scholar associated with the Stiftung Bundespräsident-Theodor-Heuss-Haus, has claimed that Axel Springer SE, along with its subsidiaries, exhibits a pro-American stance, often omitting criticism of US foreign policy.[58] This observation is then backed by allegations made by two former CIA officers in an interview with The Nation, claiming that Axel Springer received $7 million from the CIA.[59] The purpose of this funding, they allege, was to influence the publisher to align its editorial content with American geopolitical interests.[59]

    As of 2001, the Axel Springer SE names “solidarity with the libertarian values of the United States of America” as one of its core principles on its website.[60] This explicit stance has led to critiques from scholars and independent observers regarding the company’s perceived alignment with American interests.[58][61][62][63][64] Furthermore, an article in Foreign Policy has critiqued Axel Springer SE for a history of compromising journalistic ethics to support right-wing causes, implying a longstanding pattern of bias in its publications.[65]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Springer_SE#Criticism

    • passepartout@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      Seems like you forgot the Bild Zeitung, the worst piece of media out there (comparable to the Sun I’ve heard):

      It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as “notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and sensationalism” and as having a huge influence on German politicians.

      They also bought a lot of other services, see this list, seems like it’s not maintained anymore but still.

      Let’s also not forget the time that Mathias Döpfner stole the German election in 2021 so that the FDP could screw over the coalition, see here:

      Zwei Tage vor der Bundestagswahl soll er Reichelt gedrängt haben: “Please Stärke die FDP. Wenn die sehr stark sind, können sie in Ampel so autoritär auftreten, dass die platzt und dann Jamaika funktioniert.”

    • Allemaniac@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      5 days ago

      Axel Springer company is even worse, their CEO said a year ago that all east-germans are either fascist or communist and that their opinions are to be dismissed, basically stating us as second-class-citizen. He owns the most fakenews spewing tabloids in Germany, BILD and WELT If you want to pinpoint one person where hate and fakenews come from in central europe, Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, is the culprit.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

        Thank you for that information. Judging from Politco and Business Insider, they’re pretty good at masking their hate and propaganda. Meaning, they’re not as blatant as Fox News here in the states. Are they as shady about it for BLD and WELT?

  • Ferk@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    This is grounded in the assertion that a website’s HTML/CSS is a protected computer program that an ad blocker intervenes in the in-memory execution structures (DOM, CSSOM, rendering tree), this constituting unlawful reproduction and modification.

    This is ridiculous… the in-memory structures are highly browser dependent, the browser is the one controlling how the DOM is represented in memory… it would imply that opening the website AT ALL in a different version of the exact specific one they target or with a different set of specific features/settings would also be a violation, since the memory structure would likely be different too.

    At that point, they might as well just ask for their website to not be visited at all.

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      21 hours ago

      Yeah, the real BS is the claim to reclassify software in a website as a copyrighted work. And that that ad blockers “changing/blocking” the code in the computer, hence the vague argument relying on Privacy Law – would constitute, or so they say, as copyright infringement. Since the blocking cuts on their profits, as you did not let the copyrighted code run fully or in entirety. As doing so, would include ads and thus, revenue.

      It is an absolute wild and bonkers claim with so many down current repercussion that it would redefine the entire internet if somehow it managed to win the case and become legal precedent. Clearly, the lawyers either do not care or never bother to think about it. Common sense would say that it should get thrown out of court. Is that insane.

      Was discussing it with a lawyer friend and it is feasible or it could be argued by the reading of the claim, that if taken by the letter, that you blocking the java script on a site, would or could also be considered as “piracy,” too.

    • chillhelm@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      5 days ago

      By that same logic I could claim that SHOWING me an ad by circumventing my ad blocker is interfering with the in memory execution of my ad blocker. Wtf.

    • lime!@feddit.nu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 days ago

      or mandate which program can be used to access the page.

      like an app.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    5 days ago

    I can literally open up the development console and manually click an ad, and delete it. Am I now hacking and sabotaging a protected program?

    WTF is this for nonsense, what mental gymnastics…?

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 minutes ago

      Only if you delete it before the script runs through its entirety and before you watch the ad. Doubt they actually care what you do after the fact.

      Mental gymnastic Olympic, indeed. However, the reason the case is back under a lower court is because the upper court stated that the case was thrown out too quickly and without all facts being properly reviewed.

      So, it seems --hopefully – that it is more of a legal clerical/procedural issue rather than the fact that Corp. argument carries any actual water, or logic, for that matter.

    • Karna@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      5 days ago

      I just increased the font size on their website. By "their logic, I should be sued as well :D

  • Leaflet@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    I can’t understand this logic.

    Assume as stated that a website is a copyrighted and protected. Sure, that means I can’t redistribute it to others without permission or a license. But I can’t see how me locally, privately modifying the site would be against the law. Should Crayola be sued because their crayons can be used to modify a copyrighted art piece? Is it illegal for me to watch a movie with a blue-light filter on because it modifies how the content is displayed?

    Edit: After further thought, a stronger argument would be that it’s illegal (in some places) to bypass DRM protections. That’s because if I break DRM of some media (say, of a rented DVD) so that I can keep it forever, that would technically be illegal even if I never shared it with anybody else. So if a site tries to break ad blockers but an ad blocker works around that, that would be “breaking” DRM, therefore illegal. But I still find that to be an lacking argument.

    • BlueÆther@no.lastname.nz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      6 days ago

      I have DRM on my network, I manage my digital rights with an ad blocker. If you try and circumvent my digital right can I sue?

    • Evono@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      6 days ago

      Issue is our government and justical system is stuck in many areas between 1980-1995.

      God knows what logic they had for that

      • BehavioralClam@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 days ago

        Yeah, but if the indeed come and try to sue you, a competent lawyer will force the case dismissal and they will end up having to review whatever law they pass.

        • Evono@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          issue with your approach is money , a lawyer , courts and stuff all need TONS of money , not everyone got such money to burn. Here in germany simply asking a lawyer to write something is expensive like seriously expensive.

          • BehavioralClam@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            14 hours ago

            Every country has organizations and activist lawyers that help people with governmental and private overreach and power abuse. Is just a matter of finding them out. Germany has a very strong base of professionals that view social benefit as the main reason for their activity, so I’m pretty sure there are plenty of places where one could get help if required.

        • sleen@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 days ago

          With the fact that governments are nonstop trying to implement “child protections”, I don’t realistically see them editing the laws.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 days ago

      I think the logic here is that the code to deliver an ad is protected by copyright and your modification of that code is considered a derivative work that is protected under copyright law.

      But that’s not what happens at the browser level.

      The HTML code is sent, whole cloth, to the browser. The browser inspects the code, you know, to do browser stuff.

      During this inspection, the code is put against the ad block rules. Nothing is modified. If the code violates some sort of logic, it doesn’t get rendered properly.

      Hell, the opposite argument is probably more damning. Say you have this literal HTML:

      <html>
      <title>I use arch</title>
      <p>
      Btw
      hello
      World</html>
      

      You could argue the browser is NOT showing your code the way you intended (e.g. “Btw hello World” being rendered though I’m not sure if spaces would be there or not).

      At the end of the day, unless you send your webpage as an image, you can’t guarantee how the browser will render it.

      • HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        You could argue the browser is NOT showing your code the way you intended

        I don’t think that’s a good example because how line breaks are treated is defined in the HTML standard.

        A better example might be “reader” mode on mobile browsers? Or that mode in Opera where their servers act as a proxy to compress images and reduce the amount of data required to load the website for slow connections.

        Actually the default HTML form and button elements are good one. Chromium and Firefox have different default styles.

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 days ago

        yeah, website code editing is not needed, blocking of resource loading and browser API editing is what is done, and of course attaching additional stylesheets. sometimes HTML “code” editing happens too, but that’s probably not that important.

        also browsers are called user agents for a reason. they should be an agent of the user, not of website owners, for the purpose of communicating with the website on the behalf of the user

        You could argue the browser is NOT showing your code the way you intended (e.g. “Btw hello World” being rendered though I’m not sure if spaces would be there or not).

        and that shouldn’t be legally required either. for one the web standards were not developed as laws of a government, but there’s also software bugs and unspecified behaviors, website owners should never be able to sue browser makers for not showing their website exactly as they expected.

        • Ferk@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          5 days ago

          They are also including the “CSSOM” and “rendering tree” as part of what they consider subject to “unlawful reproduction and modification”.

          So, according to them, the rendering tree is also part of their IP… which is bonkers, since it’s the browser the one who implements this and even different browsers (or different versions of the same browser) might actually have different rendering strategies, different trees… different CSS extensions (or omisions/deprecations), etc. You basically would be potentially violating their IP if you used any browser different than what they specifically might have had in mind (which we don’t even have a way to know for sure unless they clearly state it…).

          It’s like a painter suing someone for using glasses and altering the lightwaves coming from their painting…

          • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            5 days ago

            You basically would be potentially violating their IP if you used any browser different than what they specifically might have had in mind

            also if you update the browser and the update uses new rendering code that does things differently, that would also result in a copyright violation.

            simply, these things are intermediate “products” of the web browser, not of the web developer.

  • officermike@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    If Germany bans ad blockers and a German citizen or company becomes victim to a malicious advertisement, do they have a case against the German government or by extension Axel Springer?

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 minutes ago

      Yes.

      Technically they could argue that. if it was their code.

      Corp. would likely counter with some BS that if it was not their code that they are not liable.

  • w3dd1e@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    5 days ago

    This is grounded in the assertion that a website’s HTML/CSS is a protected computer program that an ad blocker intervenes in the in-memory execution structures (DOM, CSSOM, rendering tree), this constituting unlawful reproduction and modification.

    This would also ban Dark Mode features and extensions.

  • network_switch@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    ·
    6 days ago

    Internet advertising, spreading malware since the 90s. Barely do anything to hold digital advertisement networks accountable for what they distribute, not even copyright/fraudulent website cloning for servicing malware, but always ready to crack down on people trying to browse the internet more securely and always ready to make more money for the rich

  • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    5 days ago

    Black mirror 15 Million Merits

    And this…

    …in a nutshell is US patent US8246454B2. Sony owns the rights since 2009 but has not implemented it. When the permit expires in 2030, it will basically be open for other companies to use

  • Allemaniac@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    5 days ago

    “The EU recognizes the right of users to choose what content they receive, including the ability to block unwanted advertising.”

    what happened to our privacy rights? Are they being dismantled in order for giant tech companies to take a foothold in controlling the masses? I mean that’s what we get when we elect a self-proclaimed “transatlantist” chancellor. Fuck Merz and his blackrock cronies

  • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    Europe went from leader of internet freedom to Stasi police Gestapo in a few months.

    Guess there’s a top down policy to implement Fascism across Europe soon, judging by the speed at which Europe is passing dracnonic internet control.

    • FreudianCafe@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      Its a preparation for war with russia. If journalism and free flow of information keeps existing, its hard to explain to people they should support such madness, so its time to silence everyone

      • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        6 days ago

        Frankly, I don’t think so, the vast majority are not fans of Russia, especially after the invasion of Ukraine. Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Russia is a threat, and there’s no need for any media suppression for that

    • uberstar@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      5 days ago

      Among other things, Germany’s been quite strict about piracy, so they’ve been holding the L for a while now, and continue to do so…