3 ms·

I don't understand why there isn't a browser feature that would simply disable all and any support for <video> and <audio> elements, or ask you a permission bef

I don't understand why there isn't a browser feature that would simply disable all and any support for <video> and <audio> elements, or ask you a permission before a website can create any. It's really that simple. No need to try, and fail, to figure out which videos are "safe" to autoplay and which aren't. Let the user decide.

hiccuphippo 5y ago
Makes me miss the days of Flash because I could block everything video, audio and animation related with FlashBlock.
onion2k 5y ago
I've seen sites that autoplay video by implementing a JS h264 decoder that renders to a <canvas> element. Developers will go to significant lengths to work around browser permissions.
- grishka 5y ago
  That's... actually viable? You can decode h264 in real time in JS with a single thread that also runs the UI?! Sometimes I have this crazy thought that we maybe, just maybe, should undo all the JS performance optimizations in browsers. So JS again becomes the macro language for hypertext documents it's meant to be, not an "application platform".
  - zrm 5y ago
    Or just have browsers disable javascript by default and require explicit permission to use it. 90+% of web pages shouldn't need it for anything.
    - wruza 5y ago
      Or make a dead-slow subset that doesn’t eat cpu cycles, but schedules 10-20 ops every 1ms. And then enable full-speed if the user asks. Ads guys would then resurrect a demoscene spirit out of it. Ah, dreams.
      - onion2k 5y ago
        I'd be a lot more in favour of ads if they had more copper effects and shadebobs.
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    Easy, install Edge. https://therecord.media/microsoft-silently-enables-super-duper-secure-mode-for-edge/ https://therecord.media/microsoft-silently-enables-super-dup... Although I guess this isn't the answer you're looking for.
    - olyjohn 5y ago
      lol. This reminds me of IE's "Enhanced Security Mode" where they disabled pretty much everything in the browser. This was pre-configured on Windows Server (probably still is). The browser is pretty much useless in this state, so the only way to get what you needed from a browser was to make it "unsafe." Too unsafe for servers with experienced tech people using them, but just fine for the general public on a desktop.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    That's... actually viable? Developers who do things like that probably aren't checking whether their code works well on any machines besides their own.
  - tux3 5y ago
    Oh, there's worse. Some video chat apps encode in software. The magical browser APIs don't always give you enough control to do what you want with the video stream, so they just output the video stream into a hidden canvas, screenshot the canvas 20 times a second, and throw the frames at ffmpeg.js ...
pabs3 5y ago
uMatrix can do that, but it is unmaintained. uBlock Origin uses the same engine as it and probably can do that too.

hiccuphippo 5y ago

Makes me miss the days of Flash because I could block everything video, audio and animation related with FlashBlock.

onion2k 5y ago

I've seen sites that autoplay video by implementing a JS h264 decoder that renders to a <canvas> element. Developers will go to significant lengths to work around browser permissions.

grishka 5y ago
That's... actually viable? You can decode h264 in real time in JS with a single thread that also runs the UI?! Sometimes I have this crazy thought that we maybe, just maybe, should undo all the JS performance optimizations in browsers. So JS again becomes the macro language for hypertext documents it's meant to be, not an "application platform".
- zrm 5y ago
  Or just have browsers disable javascript by default and require explicit permission to use it. 90+% of web pages shouldn't need it for anything.
  - wruza 5y ago
    Or make a dead-slow subset that doesn’t eat cpu cycles, but schedules 10-20 ops every 1ms. And then enable full-speed if the user asks. Ads guys would then resurrect a demoscene spirit out of it. Ah, dreams.
    - onion2k 5y ago
      I'd be a lot more in favour of ads if they had more copper effects and shadebobs.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Easy, install Edge. https://therecord.media/microsoft-silently-enables-super-duper-secure-mode-for-edge/ https://therecord.media/microsoft-silently-enables-super-dup... Although I guess this isn't the answer you're looking for.
  - olyjohn 5y ago
    lol. This reminds me of IE's "Enhanced Security Mode" where they disabled pretty much everything in the browser. This was pre-configured on Windows Server (probably still is). The browser is pretty much useless in this state, so the only way to get what you needed from a browser was to make it "unsafe." Too unsafe for servers with experienced tech people using them, but just fine for the general public on a desktop.
- onion2k 5y ago
  That's... actually viable? Developers who do things like that probably aren't checking whether their code works well on any machines besides their own.
- tux3 5y ago
  Oh, there's worse. Some video chat apps encode in software. The magical browser APIs don't always give you enough control to do what you want with the video stream, so they just output the video stream into a hidden canvas, screenshot the canvas 20 times a second, and throw the frames at ffmpeg.js ...

pabs3 5y ago

uMatrix can do that, but it is unmaintained. uBlock Origin uses the same engine as it and probably can do that too.