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756 points dagurp | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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endisneigh ◴[] No.36881965[source]
How exactly is WEI any worse than say a peep-hole on a door? At the end of the day bots are a huge problem and it's only getting worse. What's the alternative solution? You need to know who you're dealing with, both in life and clearly on the web.

I'm probably alone in this, but WEI is a good thing. Anyone who's run a site knows the headache around bots. Sites that don't care about bots can simply not use WEI. Of course, we know they will use it, because bots are a headache. Millions of engineer hours are wasted yearly on bot nonsense.

With the improvements in AI this was inevitable anyway. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. Reap what you sow and what not.

edit: removing ssl comparison since it's not really my point to begin with

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rezonant ◴[] No.36882015[source]
TLS* does not allow websites to restrict users from using the tech stack (hardware, OS, browser) that they want to use. This does.
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endisneigh ◴[] No.36882026[source]
Fundamentally both give a 3rd party the authority to verify the legitimacy of something, and similarly both can be avoided if you're willing to not participate.
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1. rezonant ◴[] No.36882084{3}[source]
One provides encryption over the wire (TLS), but in modern implementations (extended validation certs are more or less dead in the browser space) hardly provides the user any guarantee that the website is who they think it is.

The other provides the website the ability to ensure that the user's device is one of an approved set of devices, with an approved set of operating system builds, with an approved set of browsers.

These are fundamentally different, surely you can see that.

> similarly both can be avoided if you're willing to not participate.

Actually, no. Unless your definition of "avoided" is simply not using a website which requires attestation, which, over time, could become most of them