To put it simply, WEI (Web Environment Integrity) is a feature currently in development for Google Chrome that will "Allow web servers to evaluate the authenticity of the device and honest representation of the software stack and the traffic from the device".
Sort of like DRM.
As a Firefox user, I've often seen webpages that nag me to switch to Chrome or refuse to work altogether in anything else. This is easily bypassed, but the way I see it, WEI is not gonna help fix this.
To quote Mozilla's "Our Values for the Web" page,
"the standards themselves aim to avoid assumptions about the underlying hardware or software that might restrict where they can be deployed. This means that no single party decides which form-factors, devices, operating systems, and browsers may access the Web. It gives people more choices"[1]
WEI poses a major problem here since this would allow, say, Google, to completely lock out non-Chromium browsers from some kinds of content, to force people to switch over to Chrome
"Everyone can access the Web, and use it to reach others."[1] -Mozilla, 2022
I don't trust Google Chrome since it operates behind mostly closed doors. The Google Chromium browser that Chrome is based on is open-source, the rest of its components are not.
Also, if you know anything about Chrome, you'll know that their "Topics" API is yet another way of tracking users. Where does this data go? We'll never know because all of this is behind closed doors. This is also supposed to be used for more targetted advertisements.
Yet another thing, Google introduced something called "Manifest v3", which breaks most adblockers. Someone on Reddit even mentioned that it's a pain in the ass to work with too
"Manifest V3 is the single most garbage thing I've ever had the displeasure of working. You haven't seen hell until you were tasked with changing a manifest v2 extension into manifest v3 while trying to keep its original capabilities."[2] -u/already_taken-chan, 2022
Off to a great start.
I think all of this is out of pure greed, otherwise this wouldn't be a concern at all. I'm already kinda concerned of what the future might be like considering we already have this kind of bullshit