Discussion
Honestly, whoever makes decisions about the online infrastructure for public libraries in The Tron needs some help, with getting rid of the corporate Web 2.0 fleas that infest their website. I'm a card-carrying library member trying to login to;
https://hamiltonlibraries.co.nz/
From the moment I arrive on the landing page, I'm beset by scripts from dubious third-party domains (as identified by the NoScript plugin in my browser).
(1/?)
Then when I go to the login page, my browser gets served scripts from;
* staticcdn.co.nz
Does a library website really need a third-party CDN? It could be getting thousands of visitors a day, so maybe it does. But who is this staticcdn.co.nz outfit? Could the scripts served from their domain not be served directly from the webserver at hamiltonlibraries.co.nz?
(3/?)
Once I enter my Hamilton public library # and PIN to login and click 'submit' (a phrase I hate seeing on any button I'm expected to click), I'm served scripts from;
* sirsidynix.net.au
This is the Ozzie arm of SirsiDynix, the Weyland-Yutani of library software;
https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2009/11/11/open-source-advocates-reject-sirsidynixs-warning/
According to the Wikipedia article, SirsiDynix has its HQ in Utah, US, and it's currently owned by Harris Computer. A subsidiary of a Canadian company called Constellation Software. Who acquired it from another holding company, ICV Partners, after they acquired it from another holding company called Vista Equity Partners.
Is any of this *not* making your skin crawl?
(4/?)
Clicking 'submit' redirects me to a completely different domain;
* ent.kotui.org.nz
This is an instance of the proprietary software supplied by Weyland-Yutani (see previous post). To add insult to injury, my login only succeeds if I run scripts from ClownFlare;
* challenges.cloudflare.com
... so they can check I'm human with their captcha.
(5/?)
On top of that, this page is trying to serve scripts from no less than 3 Goggle domains, the aforementioned;
* googletagmanager.com
Plus;
* google.com
* gstatic.com
All 3 of which are most likely serving scripts that - whatever else they do - squeeze my browser for any drips of personal data they can extract.
(6/?)
Aotearoa is the country that gave birth to Koha, one of the most widely used Free Code library systems. Commissioned and co-designed by librarians here for use in 1 of our public libraries in Horowhenua;
https://koha-community.org/about/history/
We do not need to be subjected to any kind of corporate shitfuckery just to browse the catalogue or request a book at our local public library.
How do we get this fixed?
(7/7)
For a start, on every page they're helping Goggle spy on me, by making my browser run scripts from;
* googletagmanager.com
This domain serves scripts for Goggle Analytics. A DataFarming tool that can be replaced with privacy-respecting Free Code web analytics software, like Matomo and Plausible, Umami, and PostHog.
(2/?)