3 ms·

Extrapolating the reasons behind a particular standard being created from a random Tweet is a bit disingenuous. Here are the examples that the standard proposal

by hoten 6y ago

Extrapolating the reasons behind a particular standard being created from a random Tweet is a bit disingenuous. Here are the examples that the standard proposal cites: https://w3c.github.io/ambient-light/#usecases-requirements https://w3c.github.io/ambient-light/#usecases-requirements The camera one especially seems convincing to me.

gruez 6y ago
None of the examples they've listed sound convincing. >A Web application provides input for a smart home system to control lighting. Why would you need ambient light level to control lighting? Do you need a phone to calibrate the room's brightness or something? >A Web aplication checks whether light level at work space is sufficient. Can't think of a reason why an app would need to do this >A Web application calculates settings for a camera with manual controls (apperture, shutter speed, ISO). Seems contrived to me. It might make sense for an analog camera, but every digital camera has a lightmeter, which is what you'd want anyways rather than the light sensor on your phone with unknown accuracy and viewing angle. >A Web application monitors light level changes produced by hovering hand user gesture and interprets them to control a game character. Wouldn't that be better served by using the front facing camera? You can even implement different hand gestures that way.
Rantenki 6y ago
They left some out: - Monitor room light level for fluctuations that correspond to advertising broadcasts for advertising proximity fingerprinting, or location fingerprinting, ie: the illuminance profile for a video broadcast is moderately unique, and can identify the fact that it's playing on a screen near the user - Side channel for data exfiltration attacks (we require permission to use the microphone for more reasons than just listening for people talking) - Monitoring for in/out of pocket/purse state for the phone - Probably a ton of other nefarious stuff that I am not devious enough to think of.

by hoten 6y ago

gruez 6y ago

None of the examples they've listed sound convincing. >A Web application provides input for a smart home system to control lighting. Why would you need ambient light level to control lighting? Do you need a phone to calibrate the room's brightness or something? >A Web aplication checks whether light level at work space is sufficient. Can't think of a reason why an app would need to do this >A Web application calculates settings for a camera with manual controls (apperture, shutter speed, ISO). Seems contrived to me. It might make sense for an analog camera, but every digital camera has a lightmeter, which is what you'd want anyways rather than the light sensor on your phone with unknown accuracy and viewing angle. >A Web application monitors light level changes produced by hovering hand user gesture and interprets them to control a game character. Wouldn't that be better served by using the front facing camera? You can even implement different hand gestures that way.

Rantenki 6y ago

They left some out: - Monitor room light level for fluctuations that correspond to advertising broadcasts for advertising proximity fingerprinting, or location fingerprinting, ie: the illuminance profile for a video broadcast is moderately unique, and can identify the fact that it's playing on a screen near the user - Side channel for data exfiltration attacks (we require permission to use the microphone for more reasons than just listening for people talking) - Monitoring for in/out of pocket/purse state for the phone - Probably a ton of other nefarious stuff that I am not devious enough to think of.