Nice. <https://thelibre.news/foss-infrastructure-is-under-attack-by-ai-companies/>
Am 26. August 2026 02:09:21 MESZ schrieb Pigeon <[email protected]>: >Package: www.debian.org > >A large number of pages on debian.org websites are no longer >accessible, and internal links on those pages which are accessible are >broken. > >This includes the "submit" function of the BTS search form on >www.debian.org/Bugs, so I cannot check whether this problem has been >reported already. > >Specific broken links/pages include: > >- The BTS search form, as described above >- packages.debian.org/sid/all/yt-dlp/download (from search engine) >- www.debian.org (from www.debian.org/Bugs/pseudo-packages) >- bugs.debian.org/general (from www.debian.org/Bugs/pseudo-packages) >- wiki.debian.org/Teams/Debbugs/ArchitectureTags (from >www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting) > >The problem in all cases is the same: Instead of the expected page, I >am redirected to something called *.debian.org/internal/challenge.html. >This shows as a blank grey screen with no content on it at all. > >Inspecting the page source reveals that this is because of a piece of >broken javascript embodying various false assumptions: > >- It assumes that cookies are enabled, or alternately, that instructing > the user to "enable cookies" is in some way acceptable. >- It assumes that javascript is enabled, or alternately, that instructing > the user to "enable javascript" is in some way acceptable. >- It assumes that ES6 is supported. >- It assumes that javascript crypto functions are supported/enabled. >- It assumes that the only cases it needs to cater for are "javascript > works flawlessly" or "javascript is disabled". It does not cater for > "javascript does not work". The "noscript" tag is not adequate for > this. > >And most fundamentally: > >- It assumes by default that the user is a bot, and that the > unavailability of javascript and/or cookies is infallible > confirmation that the user is indeed a bot, whereas any human user > must necessarily not only have them but have them turned on. > >None of these happen to be true. > >From the page source I see that the "noscript" tag contains a snarky >message about "AI crawlers break the web". What actually breaks the >web is blocking humans from sites because they don't allow sites to >run code or store state on their machines, on the principle of "guilty >until proven innocent" using a fundamentally broken method of "proof". > -- Sent from /e/ OS on Fairphone3
