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So since this is evidently going to be baked into the browser, what security measures will be put in place to prevent some nefarious coding from turning on my l
by AdmiralAsshat 12y ago
So since this is evidently going to be baked into the browser, what security measures will be put in place to prevent some nefarious coding from turning on my laptop's webcam as soon as I visit a bogus site?
This is not meant to disparage Mozilla, it's honestly the first thing that came to mind when I read the article.
EDIT: Why not answer my question instead of simply downvoting me? This is an honest question, coming from a vocal Mozilla supporter.
- bri3d 12y agoHTML5 has a provision ( getUserMedia / Stream API ) for accessing the user's webcam and has for some time (supported for at least 2 years in Chrome and quite a long time in Firefox as well). This feature ("Loop") leverages this existing functionality along with WebRTC (a web standard for peer-to-peer real-time streaming between browsers) to create a video chat solution. So, there's no new avenue / attack vector by which a nefarious site could hijack your webcam, as far as I know. The Stream API has required a user affirmation to activate the webcam and mic in both Chrome and Firefox since its introduction.
- jgrowl 12y agoYeah, it would take a browser vulnerability for sites to just take control without the user accepting access to the camera. In chrome, there isn't even a way for you to accept camera access indefinitely to non-https sites. You will be prompted each and every time.
- moreati 12y agoThe browser will ask you, before it allows a particular website access to your camera or your microphone https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/02/cross-browser-camera-capture-with-getusermediawebrtc/#detection https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/02/cross-browser-camera-captu...