This browser extension shows what the Internet would look like without Big Tech

The Economic Security Project is trying to put an end to major technological monopolies by releasing a browser plug-in that will block any websites that block IP addresses hosted by Google, Facebook, Microsoft or Amazon. The extension is called Big Tech Detective, and after using the internet for a day (or, more accurately, trying and failing to use it), I would say that it’s the point that it’s almost impossible to do this. to avoid businesses on the internet. modern web, even if you try.

Currently, the app needs to be placed on Chrome, and the Economic Security Project expects that to remain the case. It is also available to download on Firefox. By default, it only keeps track of how many requests are sent and to which companies. If you set the extension to actually block websites, you will see a big red pop-up when the website you are visiting sends a request to one of the four. The pop-up also contains a list of all the requests so that you can get an idea of ​​what is being asked for.

It’s worth keeping in mind that just because a website reaches out to one or more of the four big tech companies, does not mean that it’s necessarily snooping or doing something crooked. Many sites use Google Fonts fonts, or host their sites with Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. However, there are pages that are linked to the IP addresses because they use trackers provided by one of the four major companies. The examples I am going to list were chosen because they are common sites, not necessarily because they should be ashamed.

Screenshot: The edge

I saw the popup a lot. DuckDuckGo and Fastmail, popular alternatives to non-Google for search and email, were both blocked because they loaded resources from Google, and DuckDuckGo also loaded stuff from Microsoft (not that it was surprising, since the search engines’ ads from it come). In fact, almost every search engine I could think of was blocked: Microsoft’s Bing, of course, but also Yahoo, Startpage, Ecosia, and even Ask.com. The edge was also blocked because it loads sources from Amazon, Google and Facebook.

If I tried to use the internet without being able to connect to IP addresses owned by the four big ones, it would definitely make my job more difficult: not only could I not easily search for information, basically every news site I could think of also got blocked – even the one for my local newspaper.

If I can not work, what about entertainment? It can also be tricky. Google owns YouTube, of course, but Netflix, Hulu, Floatplane, Mangadex and even Vimeo also all showed the big red lock screen with the expansion of Big Tech Detective. It was the same story with online shopping, as Etsy uploads resources from all four companies. And if this extension wanted me to let the internet go and go to the forest? The Hiking Project and AllTrails were also lost.

To try to manage the point that the removal of this extension should be more in the line of ‘the whole internet is basically dependent on four companies’ and not ‘every website follows me’, I tried to go to a website which I helped. build and what I know nothing do creeps or even show ads. It’s blocked because it’s hosted on AWS and uses Google fonts.

Screenshot: The edge

Of course, if a browser extension can see that there are trackers, it is of course also possible to block them. There are quite a few extensions available that do this, and I used one called NoScript earlier. However, it’s a balance between blocking things you do not want and breaking the site you are trying to visit – dealing with broken sites due to extremely strict settings was the reason I tried it.

Big Tech Detective is not meant to keep your data from these companies private – it says even when it closes one of the pages, that it does not prevent the resources from being loaded, or to collect your data if it is their purpose is not. It is really meant as a visualization tool to show you that if you want to use the internet without relying on these companies, you are not going to have a good time. However, it does allow you to recreate the experiment somewhat Gizmodo ran where one of his reporters tried to cut out the same four technology companies and Apple – and a bit of technology out of work helps drive this expansion.

Oh, and if you’re wondering if I found sites that are not blocked, the answer is yes: somehow the iCloud site seems to be working well. However, Apple’s real website did not do that – it requested Amazon.

It is possible that the dependence on the Internet on Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon may change. This hilarious explicit website is always the best way to remind me that the modern web is very different from what it was.