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Comment by progbits | Hacker News Reader

Why is it that every gemini/gopher discussion throws out the baby with the bathwater?

> Chrome alone controls roughly 73% of global desktop browser market share.

> More and more, the webdevs of the world test and develop for Chrome only.

> It doesn't need to be this way. https:// is not the only way to connect and interface with the Internet

These are completely unrelated concepts! Google/Chrome doesn't control HTTP nor HTTPS. There is nothing wrong with the protocols, you can just make your website plaintext file if you like.

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Google almost shipped a DRM for the whole internet in 2023, and they will try again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Environment_Integrity

Yes that's absolute shit thing to do.

It's also on completely different OSI layer.

I don't see the difference between your comment and a statement like "I don't like email so let's stop using TCP".

Yes WEI operated between layer 5 and 7.

But the day your bank and insurance implement WEI, it'll going to be too late to switch to another protocol. Your existence will depend on it.

Honestly, I think at some point we will need something similar to WEI to ensure we’re interacting with other humans in a hostile AI internet.

Before we ever come to this point I hope as a society we take a real swing as dismantling big tech. So much potential is being hoarded by literal dragons of progress.

Just like CAPTCHAs, WEI won't actually prove that you are a human, just that you are using an approved setup.

You may be surprised to find out that the majority of gemini/gopher authors actually do have simple HTTP(S) sites. Some even have very complex HTTPS sites. Gemini and Gopher isn't really about getting rid of the WWW, it's about having a space that's entirely disconnected from it.

Why is it that every criticism of gemini/gopher throws the baby out with the bathwater?

When you browse to a pristine html page containing zero adtech it contains links. Those links you might click on without first thoroughly vetting them for behavioral exhaust.

Hyperlinks are a vector for contagion. A new protocol creates isolation. What's wrong with both existing? Defense in depth at all levels, I say. You think https can't enshittify, maybe you just haven't waited long enough.

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