In bug 853356, there is some discussion around the permission granting 
mechanism to allow content to ask for microphone access via getUserMedia. The 
current plan is to use a prompt & permission combination similar to the way 
geolocation is handled. To me this API is much more sensitive than geolocation, 
and needs stronger mitigation.

Some thoughts for discussion:

1. Current FirefoxOS prompts can not be ignored
Prompts on b2g are modal and can not be ignored - the user must choose one way 
or another. Compare this to the door hanger approach for getUserMedia on 
desktop: if the user simply ignores the prompt it goes away. I would like to 
see  "safe if ignored" style of permission request on FirefoxOS for this use 
case if possible to prevent the user accidentally making the wrong choice.

2. Current permission indicators are not strong, or always present
For untrusted content, there needs to be some trusted indicator that the 
camera/microphone is enabled. At the moment we have small icons in the taskbar 
for some permissions but in this case I think we need something more obvious 
like a red bar or something that is present for the duration of recording. 
(something similar to the call background indicator perhaps)

3. The user needs a way to turn off video/audio
The user needs a trusted way to know that video/audio is disabled. The 
permission is revoked when the window (app) is closed, but how does the user 
know which app is using the camera/mic? Obvious idea would be that tapping the 
recording indicator takes you to the app which is using the permission, so you 
can turn it off in the app, or close the app.
However I also worry that the UI to close an app isnt very discoverable (long 
press on home, swipe up on app thumbnail). So maybe we need something more 
explicit here (perhaps combined with the notification from 2.)

Finally, I imagine that we might provide less intrusive UI for privileged  or 
certified apps, but exactly what depends on the UI for web content, and the 
privileged/certified use cases.

Thoughts/comments/suggestions etc? 

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail

_______________________________________________
dev-b2g mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-b2g

Reply via email to