Re: real location vs. fake location

i simply wanted to point out that "lying" or "using fake locations" can 
be either done in a device, or in an app. if it's done in the app, we 
can say the API always provides the real and true location (as much as 
the device is capable of doing so). if we want to include the 
possibility that devices are allowed to use fake locations, we

- should make sure there's no language in the spec that creates the 
impression that the location provided by the API always is the actual 
location, and

- could include language pointing out that apps should be aware of the 
fact that locations could be user-provided rather than "real".

Doug Turner wrote:
> Hi Erik,
> What exactly would you want to see done?  The UAs can add "Lying" as a 
> browser feature if they wanted.  Are you looking for something more than 
> this?
> 
> Doug
> 
> On Jan 27, 2009, at 11:30 AM, Erik Wilde wrote:
> 
>> "The Geolocation object can be used by scripts to programmatically 
>> determine the location information associated with the hosting device."
>>
>> is what the spec currently says. this could probably be considered to 
>> also cover fake locations.
>>
>> "Common sources of location information include Global Positioning 
>> System (GPS) and location inferred from network signals such as IP 
>> address, RFID, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, and GSM/CDMA cell IDs."
>>
>> is another quote. again, nothing disallows fake locations. and i am 
>> not sure whether any language exists anywhere in the draft that does 
>> disallow fake locations. we could be more explicit to be aware of that 
>> use case by saying:
>>
>> "Common sources of location information include Global Positioning 
>> System (GPS), location inferred from network signals such as IP 
>> address, RFID, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, GSM/CDMA cell IDs, 
>> and location information provided by users."
>>
>> Richard Barnes wrote:
>>> I agree with Doug here.  As long as the choice of location provider 
>>> is invisible to the web app (as the current thinking seems to be), 
>>> "lying" is just providing location from another (false) location 
>>> provider.
>>> --Richard
>>> Erik Wilde wrote:
>>>>
>>>> you could. but you could also imagine the device having a "fake 
>>>> location" configuration. in that case, apps don't know that they're 
>>>> being lied to. which probably is what you want as a user, unless 
>>>> you're lying in a ditch with a broken leg and wish your device would 
>>>> send out your real location with its emergency app and not the fake 
>>>> one...
>>>>
>>>> Doug Turner wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Dret,
>>>>>
>>>>> This is an implementation detail.  You could imagine a User Agent 
>>>>> supporting "Lying" by allowing their user to define their location 
>>>>> manually in some manner.
>>>>>
>>>>> Doug
>>>>>
>>>>> On Jan 27, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Erik Wilde wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> hello everybody.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Any good social geoapp will let you type in a fake position 
>>>>>> manually."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/17-02/lp_guineapig
>>>>>>
>>>>>> interesting article. we recently had this discussion about "just 
>>>>>> the current position" vs. "any position", and i guess the 
>>>>>> underlying question is, given the above statement, can i lie to my 
>>>>>> app, and/or can i lie to my device? there's a trade-off; if i can 
>>>>>> lie to my app, all my apps have to support lying, and i have to be 
>>>>>> consistent at lying. if i can lie to my device, i only have to do 
>>>>>> it once, and then all my apps will be fed the same lie. this in a 
>>>>>> way does not affect the API design, but i think if the wording in 
>>>>>> the draft implies (and i don't know that) that the position has to 
>>>>>> be the real and true position of the device/user, then this could 
>>>>>> be changed to saying something like "assumed position".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> cheers,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> dret.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> erik wilde   tel:+1-510-6432253 - fax:+1-510-6425814
>>       dret@berkeley.edu  -  http://dret.net/netdret
>>       UC Berkeley - School of Information (ISchool)

-- 
erik wilde   tel:+1-510-6432253 - fax:+1-510-6425814
        dret@berkeley.edu  -  http://dret.net/netdret
        UC Berkeley - School of Information (ISchool)

Received on Tuesday, 27 January 2009 19:50:58 UTC