Kind of ironic, considering that Chrome, via Blink, is based on WebKit, that in turn was forked by Apple from KDE’s KHTMT/KJS used in Konqueror. It’s not an argument for or against, just … sad.
Also, don’t call these browsers “Linux Web Browsers”. They are various free software browsers, that are maintained independently of major silicon valley companies. Most, if not all of them should just as well be able to run on any other platform. And most, if not all of them, could be capable of faking that they are Chrome.
As a Safari user, sometimes I feel like the only reason I’m still able to use Google services on Safari is because of iOS, even though Safari supports all of the features their services require.
Years ago I was a Windows Phone user but heavily relied on Google services. Until they blocked Windows Phone’s browser from visiting Google Maps, forcing the phone to the WAP version even though the browser was more than capable of handling the full site. And after they turned down Microsoft’s invitation to build a Youtube app, MS built one of their own that was promptly blocked by Google.
It was at that point that I realized Google cared more about petty fights with other tech companies than they cared about their users. That was when I started switching away from every Google service I could. That was almost a decade ago, and nothing has changed.
This is unfortunate, and more reason to stay away from Google services. I started using qutebrowser again last week again was puzzled as to why I couldn’t log into YouTube.
I’m not sure the reason that Konqueror is blocked, but as a Mozilla user with a custom User-Agent header in my requests, I’m actually unable to access any navigational interface on YouTube (ironically, actually playing the videos still works, but /playlist pages are empty, and the title of all web-pages is missing, too).
Reset general.useragent.override, and reload — viola, the whole thing just magically works without any issues.
I think we’re going full-circle back to the early 2000s or whatnot where it’s no longer the actual features of browsers that get tested prior to use, but the User-Agent is what defines you.
The default Firefox user-agent on FreeBSD works perfectly for me on YouTube…
but the player on Twitch.tv does not work (serves a broken player that outputs errors into the console). It used to be fine. But now, it requires switching the UA to say Windows/Mac/Linux! Twitch is literally detecting “unknown” operating systems for some reason??
They probably have some sort of ML shizzle to determine whether requests are bot-y and trying to abuse their platform, and block them on basis of that. So they probably ban “unusual browsers”, rather than “Linux browsers”. This would also explain why the results aren’t consistent.
At least when MS engaged in anticompetitive practices it was because humans made decisions that were implemented by other humans. You can push against that internally, whistleblow if things get bad, and there’s almost always an incriminating email or two where somebody lets the mask slip.
With Google’s algorithmic everything, everyone just tosses their hands up and says “emergent behavior”. Nobody may intend to block alternative UAs, or permanently remove access to the gmail account you’ve used for the past decade - it just happens that your actions went one sigma too many past the acceptable user baseline. Sorry.
Kind of ironic, considering that Chrome, via Blink, is based on WebKit, that in turn was forked by Apple from KDE’s KHTMT/KJS used in Konqueror. It’s not an argument for or against, just … sad.
Also, don’t call these browsers “Linux Web Browsers”. They are various free software browsers, that are maintained independently of major silicon valley companies. Most, if not all of them should just as well be able to run on any other platform. And most, if not all of them, could be capable of faking that they are Chrome.
Any more ironic than AT&T getting an exclusive on iPhone after suing the BSD community for 1-800-ITS-UNIX?
Typical Google using 90s Microsoft style strategies.
I’ll bet they’re blocked because they’re not allowing some of the more dastardly ReCAPTCHA v3 nonsense that is a massive privacy risk.
Embrace, Extend, Lock-in. The SaaS equivalent of EEE.
As a Safari user, sometimes I feel like the only reason I’m still able to use Google services on Safari is because of iOS, even though Safari supports all of the features their services require.
Years ago I was a Windows Phone user but heavily relied on Google services. Until they blocked Windows Phone’s browser from visiting Google Maps, forcing the phone to the WAP version even though the browser was more than capable of handling the full site. And after they turned down Microsoft’s invitation to build a Youtube app, MS built one of their own that was promptly blocked by Google.
It was at that point that I realized Google cared more about petty fights with other tech companies than they cared about their users. That was when I started switching away from every Google service I could. That was almost a decade ago, and nothing has changed.
More likely because Apple does not allow other browser engines than the one of Safari and also iOS had a bigger market share than Konquerror.
This is unfortunate, and more reason to stay away from Google services. I started using qutebrowser again last week again was puzzled as to why I couldn’t log into YouTube.
I’m not sure the reason that Konqueror is blocked, but as a Mozilla user with a custom
User-Agentheader in my requests, I’m actually unable to access any navigational interface on YouTube (ironically, actually playing the videos still works, but/playlistpages are empty, and thetitleof all web-pages is missing, too).Reset
general.useragent.override, and reload — viola, the whole thing just magically works without any issues.I think we’re going full-circle back to the early 2000s or whatnot where it’s no longer the actual features of browsers that get tested prior to use, but the
User-Agentis what defines you.The default Firefox user-agent on FreeBSD works perfectly for me on YouTube…
but the player on Twitch.tv does not work (serves a broken player that outputs errors into the console). It used to be fine. But now, it requires switching the UA to say Windows/Mac/Linux! Twitch is literally detecting “unknown” operating systems for some reason??
They probably have some sort of ML shizzle to determine whether requests are bot-y and trying to abuse their platform, and block them on basis of that. So they probably ban “unusual browsers”, rather than “Linux browsers”. This would also explain why the results aren’t consistent.
At least when MS engaged in anticompetitive practices it was because humans made decisions that were implemented by other humans. You can push against that internally, whistleblow if things get bad, and there’s almost always an incriminating email or two where somebody lets the mask slip.
With Google’s algorithmic everything, everyone just tosses their hands up and says “emergent behavior”. Nobody may intend to block alternative UAs, or permanently remove access to the gmail account you’ve used for the past decade - it just happens that your actions went one sigma too many past the acceptable user baseline. Sorry.
Vivaldi seems to be having issues with Google for over a year now.
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/30266/can-t-login-to-any-google-services?lang=en-US&page=1