de0u
Adding code to Vanadium to put back those headers, plus UI and preference code to conditionalize on domains, wouldn't be impossible, but it would be work, and that work wouldn't be pro-security or pro-privacy.
Absolutely, I completely agree. It's the biggest drawback of my proposal: it's work. I'm aware that UI preference code needs to maintained, plus I'm not sure how easy it is to make the header behaviour work differently on a per-domain basis.
I was hoping that all the necessary hooks are in place and it would be a low-hanging fruit, so to speak. If it's not too much work it could become appealing in terms of work/reward ("reward" in terms of sucking less).
Maybe even without UI, to reduce the work and stress this is not really an advertised user-facing feature. Drop a list of domains in a magic JSON file in a specific directory in /sdcard
. :-)
It might not be hard for somebody to build a browser which would be exactly Vanadium plus the silly headers (maybe call it Scandinavium?).
This could also be viable. The potential problem is that another browser will not be GOS' WebView component. Depending on what the app is doing, it might rely on WebView instead of opening a custom tab of the default browser.
Then maybe some journalist could write a piece about how silly the situation is (or maybe one journalist per country plus Ars Technica?), and maybe the silly people might be shamed into being less silly?
That would be the best outcome all around. These companies only change if a decision-maker is embarrassed. I have personally worked in a number of Danish companies in this domain (financial/authentication sector), and they're absolutely not going to care about a niche OS used by few people that have a specific phone and have wiped it to install another one.
Because I know that this is the reality, I don't hold my breath for them to changing their ways in a timescale that is less than years, at least in the absence of some event that forces their hand.