Web Environment Integrity (WEI) is an abandoned API proposal previously under development for Google Chrome. [1] A Web Environment Integrity prototype existed in Chromium, [2] [3] but was removed in November 2023 after extensive criticism by many tech groups. [4] Its purpose was to verify that interactions with websites were human and authentic as defined by third-party attesters.
The draft proposed an API for websites to get a digitally signed token that contains the certifier's name and whether or not they deem the web client to be authentic. The stated goal was for sites to be able to restrict access to human users instead of automated programs and "allow web servers to evaluate the authenticity of the device and honest representation of the software stack and the traffic from the device". Access to this API would not be allowed in non-secure (HTTP) contexts. [5]
On April 25, 2023, Google engineers, Ben Wiser, Borbala Benko, Philipp Pfeiffenberger and Sergey Kataev created a GitHub repository explaining the details of the proposal. [6] The proposal was flamed by GitHub users, with numerous comments, issues and pull requests voicing strong opposition to the existence of the standard and arguing for its deletion.
On July 21, 2023, Wiser and fellow Google engineer Yoav Weiss added a code of conduct to the explanation repository [7] and locked it from receiving new comments, issues or pull requests.[ citation needed ] On the same day, preliminary code was added to Chromium to implement the standard. This also received a large amount of highly negative comments. [2]
On November 2, 2023, Google abandoned the proposal, removed the prototype implementation from Chromium, and proposed a replacement API named "Android WebView Media Integrity API" limited to WebViews on Android. Google plans to start testing the new API with partners in early 2024. [4]
The proposal received widespread criticism for limiting general purpose computing, with some comparing WEI to digital rights management (DRM). [8] Others have accused the standard of being evidence of Google abusing Chrome's near-monopoly of browser share. [9] Some have issued official statements on the matter in 2023:
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