ALARMING: Google now treats privacy as suspicious behavior by default. Users of GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/OS, and other deGoogled Android phones are being locked out of millions of websites unless they install the exact Google Play Services software they deliberately removed…
Google wants you to use only “approved” devices and software and the gate to this walled garden is it’s new reCaptcha access gendarme. Either you use Google services or be BANNED!
the system effectively locks users out of websites unless they use Google-approved devices and software
GrapheneOS described the change as part of a broader industry push toward hardware-based attestation and claims the technology disproportionately impacts privacy-conscious users, journalists, activists, lawyers, and others who intentionally avoid Google services.
And how does this affect Purism’s phones?
Most websites probably identify the Librem 5 as a Linux desktop PC. Mega (not FOSS), mentioned in the article, provides native apps for Linux and their web app appears to work on the Librem.
Google may eventually remove the remaining fallback methods accessible via small icons beneath the verification prompt
Surely that would be unlawful? Sounds like classic monopoly behaviour that would attract the attention of the authorities. Mind you, the authorities can be very slow to act, only acting after it is too late.
What are those fallback methods? (small icon of headphones and small icon of eye)
I can only guess that the “eye” might give you the traditional annoying image-clickery, while the “headphones” give you a sound-based challenge (for the visually impaired, for example).
In theory that doesn’t solve the problem of forced attestation because a spyphone can provide attestation relayed through the desktop / laptop.
In other words, if Google ratchets the Evil Level up to 100%, there would be many many web sites that you simply wouldn’t be able to access from your desktop / laptop unless you have an approved spyphone on hand.