Advocating for the future of the open web

JS Party: JavaScript, CSS, Web Development

Alex & James Moore, founding members of the Open Web Advocacy (OWA), join Amal to talk about the critical work the OWA has been doing to ensure users have browser choice and that web apps can be first-class citizens on mobile devices. We learn about how an ad-hoc group of software engineers worked with regulators, legislators & policymakers to help drive some of the most impactful legislation curbing anti-competitive behaviors on the web for tech giants such as Apple, Google & Microsoft via the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Tune in for this deeply important & timely discussion as we also unpack recent events with Apple and their DMA (un)compliance, and how the OWA helped successfully organize thousands of web developers from around the world to hold ground for a free & open web.

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Sponsors:

• CrabNebula Cloud – CrabNebula Cloud is here! Distribute Tauri apps and Electron apps with best in class updater. At the heart of CrabNebula Cloud is a purpose-built CDN ready for global scale, and secure updates as a first-class citizen. Learn more at crabnebula.dev/cloud
• PowerSync – Build local-first web apps — Give users instantly reactive UX with an in-browser database that keeps itself in sync with any backend Postgres. No need to wait for network requests, code complicated caching logic or to maintain in-memory state. Set up is easy, removal too. Try on a generous free plan.
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Featuring:

• Alex Moore – LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• James Moore – GitHub
• Amal Hussein – GitHub, X

Show Notes:

• Open Web Advocacy
• Open Web Advocacy Open Letter (signed by 1000s to protest the 17.4 breaking changes for web apps on iOS)
• Open Web Advocacy Walled Gardens Report
• European Union Digital Markets Act (DMA) - EUR-Lex
• Article 5: Obligations for gatekeepers - EUR-Lex (from the DMA)
• The Verge: European Union Commission Digital Markets Act
• Blog: The Digital Markets Act is in Force - What Happens Now?
• Blog: Apple Backs Off Killing Web Apps
• Blog: It’s Official: Apple Kills Web Apps
• Blog: Apple on Course to Break All Web Apps in EU within 20 Days
• Blog: Did Apple Just Break Web Apps in iOS17.4 Beta (EU)?

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Chapter

1. It's party time, y'all (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: CrabNebula Cloud (00:00:39)

https://crabnebula.dev/cloud/

3. Hello, JS Party people! (00:03:28)

4. Getting to know our guests (00:05:03)

5. The Open Web Advocacy (00:07:22)

6. When Firefox isn't Firefox (00:19:22)

7. Sponsor: PowerSync (00:30:03)

https://www.powersync.com/changelog

8. The proof is in the pudding (00:32:01)

9. Contacting the regulators (00:43:23)

10. What about NOT in the EU (00:46:39)

11. The Digital Markets Act (00:51:21)

12. Anti-competitive behavior (01:04:56)

13. Choice screens (01:09:04)

14. Dark Pattern Central (01:13:26)

15. Sponsor: Changelog News (01:19:03)

https://changelog.com/news

16. Recent Apple drama (01:20:55)

17. How the OWA responded (01:31:02)

18. How to support the mission (01:38:28)

19. Only devs care about this? (01:48:13)

20. How to get involved (01:52:35)

21. Pushing Google's agenda? (01:59:18)

22. Closing time (02:00:34)

23. Next up on the pod (02:02:14)