Reading List 341

This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We just released Vivaldi 7.3, which has Proton VPN integrated into Desktop. So try it, unless you enjoy having a browser that’s like a data-mining tortoise.

• Republicans push for a decadelong ban on states regulating AI – This makes me really excited to use Big Tech and let them train their LLMs on all my stuff, utterly unregulated and unfettered.
• EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe has no legal basis – Landmark court decision against “TCF” consent pop ups on 80% of the internet
• JavaScript, when is this? – by Mat <marquee>
• The Browser Wars – Then and Now – It’s not often that I get to interview an ex-Cold Warrior and ex-Microsoft lawyer who’s now working to make the web a better place, but I caught up with Gene Burrus, who advises the The Browser Choice Alliance on how to counter Microsoft’s anti-choice tactics
• Wikipedia legally challenges ‘flawed’ online safety rules – it says UK’s new Online Safety Act regulations could threaten the safety of its volunteer editors and their ability to keep harmful content off the site.
• Nextcloud cries foul over Google Play Store app rejection – “What we are experiencing is a piece of the script from the big tech playbook.” Big Tech using technical “policy changes” as a tactic to squeeze out competitors? The very idea!
• Are ‘CSS Carousels’ accessible? The lovely Sara Soueidan looks at the experimental implementation of this draft spec. There’s also a really good intro to the accessibility tree, what it is and how to read it.
• Industry Voices Caution Against DOJ’s Plan to Force Sale Of Chrome by my old chums at Open Web Advocacy
• Do Not Publish Your Designs on the Web with Figma Sites… “Unless you want to fail all the WCAGs, create litigation risk, close off opportunities in Europe, engage in reputational harm, and oh yeah, throw up barriers to your customers and users” cautions the glamorous Adrian Roselli
• Exploiting Copilot AI for SharePoint – just the phrase “Copilot for SharePoint” gives me the heebie-jeebies. And the collywobbles. AND the screaming abdabs.
• Apple exec ‘outright lied’ during Epic trial – Judge Gonzalez Rogers says Apple “did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive.”
• … and, lo and behold: Amazon, Finally, Now Has a ‘Get Book’ Button in Its iOS Kindle App – even Gruber is getting the point
• Evolving the Team – Mastodon has taken the strategic decision not to accept venture capital investments for growth, but rather restructure to a European non-profit organisation. Yay.
• Privacy at W3C – Tara Whalen, W3C Privacy Lead, shared a progress update on the Privacy and Advertising Working Groups, launched in late 2024. (YouTube link)
• Big Tech Wants Free Rein to Sell Your Data – “Tech companies accused of exposing consumers to fraud want the Trump administration to let them freely buy and sell your personal information.”
• Commission let tech firms water down key AI Act text, NGOs claim
• Milestone for digital sovereignty – The Document Foundation celebrates the 20th anniversary of adoption of ODF as an OASIS standard.
• North Korea Stole Your Job – “For years, North Korea has been secretly placing young IT workers inside Western companies. With AI, their schemes are now more devious—and effective—than ever.”
• Guitar chord diagrams – in CSS!