On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 9:33 AM, Jonas Sicking <jo...@sicking.cc> wrote:
> Fingerprinting doesn't seem useful if the fingerprint changes every > few minutes as the battery level changes. > > I do agree that there are concerns that if the user has > private-browsing pages and non-private-browsing pages open at the same > time, that the pages can track when exactly the battery level changes > and thereby figure out which user is using the private browsing > window. > > So disabling the API, or fudging its return values, in private > browsing windows sounds like a good idea. The same applies to features > like device orientation, proximity/light sensors, network information > (wifi vs. mobile etc), device orientation and probably a few more. > Another example of this is the Chrome memory API, that lets a page read out how much memory it is using (I think how much the current Chrome process is using, in practice). My understanding is that they quantize the reading, and also only take a new reading occasionally (every few minutes maybe?). > > / Jonas > > > On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 12:55 PM, Chris Peterson <cpeter...@mozilla.com> > wrote: > > What is a legitimate use case for a web page to know my battery status? > > Battery level and time remaining can be used to fingerprint users. > > > > A mobile webapp might use battery level to throttle its activity, but > that > > could be something the OS handles by pausing or throttling apps directly > or > > broadcasting app lifecycle events. I can't think of a good reason why a > web > > page in a browser, especially on a desktop OS, needs to know anything > about > > my battery. > > > > > http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/03/privacy-smartphones-battery-life > > > > http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/616.pdf > > > > > > chris > > _______________________________________________ > > dev-platform mailing list > > dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org > > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform > _______________________________________________ > dev-platform mailing list > dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform > _______________________________________________ dev-platform mailing list dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform
