@wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz That’s the problem though, why is it standard for websites to be built in such a way that their basic functionality depends on allowing such arbitrary scripts? Shouldn’t there be some regulatory body that tells them that’s against the rules or something?

@rtxn@lemmy.world Do you want regulatory overreach?

@wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz I don’t view basic consumer rights as “regulatory overreach.”

@rtxn@lemmy.world Imagine forcing every small project or self-hoster to adhere to the rules set by the equivalent of the HDMI Forum, but controlled by the likes of Microsoft and Facebook.

@wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz No and no. I never said it should be corporations setting the standard. That’s the FCC’s job, and comparable agencies in other countries. The FCC already regulates many things about the internet. Some things they don’t regulate enough. […]

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Also, there’s such thing as the IEEE. Standards for web development are not unheard of, and they’re not categorically wrong. There need to be rules governing the rules that govern web development to ensure those rules aren’t abused. But setting no rules or standards would be insane.

@rtxn@lemmy.world To redirect your other question: you should ask the web developers. If they’re honest, you’ll get a dozen legitimate answers that can’t be solved without locally running code.

@wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz That’s not honesty. That’s deflection and dissembling. Sure, you can think of a dozen different reasons why scripts need to be run locally. But that doesn’t excuse using those scripts as a trojan horse for malicious data mining practices. Permissions can be atomized.

If a web developer can’t compartmentalize the part of the script that loads an image on their website from the part of the script that harvests sensitive fingerprinting data that the website has no legitimate need for, then they’re either a really bad developer who’s never heard of modularity, or they’re doing it deliberately and maliciously because they know they can get away with it and are choosing to make their website break for anyone who doesn’t let them basically peep under their device’s skirt.

Oh la la!