Privacy

52,002 readers

4,778 active

717 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 7 years ago

moderation log

moderators

Companies now block older browser versions from accessing their websites! (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 months ago by madeindex@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47871545

🌐 Many companies now block older browser versions from accessing their websites!

This follows many browser makers ending updates 4 older operating systems, leaving legacy devices unable to use web services without an OS upgrade.

This kinda reminds me of the Java website block by browsers a few years ago, just in reverse. (Revenge? ;)

Old Android versions are also increasingly blocked from accessing the Google appstore.

Truly about security or perhaps Planned Obsolescence?

Update: "old devices can only use old os > old os can only use old browser > old browser cannot use web> poor uneducated people = screwed once again!"

"Only suggesting corporate browsers, kinda like an ad."

Screenshot of a notification on a website: Sorry, we no longer support your browser version. Please upgrade your browser or use the ***** mobile app. In order to provide new and engaging experiences for our customers, we require the use of the latest browser versions. This ensures that you can have the best possible experience with additional benefits including improved privacy and security. Please upgrade to the latest version of the following browsers: Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 1 point 5 months ago*

Companies now block older browser versions

Now? This has been happening since the dawn of the web. At least the screenshot you pasted represents all of the big three rendering engines - it used to be common to see "Internet Explorer version XYZ required", sometimes with javascript to prevent you from using the site with any other browser (even if in some cases it would actually work fine if you simply spoofed your user agent string).

I have used kinda retro devices to surf the web at times

Most websites became HTTPS-only sometime after the snowden disclosures in 2013.

Over time old versions of TLS have been deprecated and eventually support for them is dropped from browsers and web servers alike. So, a browser from even 15 years ago literally cannot connect to most webservers today.

Planned obsolescence is terrible but it's a minor factor here: it's actually dangerous to use even (especially?) a slightly-out-of-date web browser because every new release fixes vulnerabilities which can be exploited to run malicious code on your computer. The planned obsolescence which prevents people from being able to have an up-to-date browser comes mostly from proprietary operating system vendors; to have up-to-date software while continuing to use somewhat older computers you need to use free/libre software.

permalink

fedilink

source

parent