Re: [Bug 23128] Add an explicit "get access to media" call

On 9/6/13 1:23 PM, Martin Thomson wrote:
> On 6 September 2013 06:20, Robert O'Callahan <robert@ocallahan.org> wrote:
>> Thus, in my view, the first paragraph of
>> https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23128 is a good thing, not a
>> problem, and the ability to obtain "the full range of permissions that a
>> page would want" arbitrarily far ahead of actually using those permission
>> would be an antifeature, and significantly worse than the permission prompts
>> we currently have.
> I wholeheartedly agree.
>
> This being the key (from ROC's blog posting):
>    "If I don't grant the permissions, I can't use the app. "
>
> Holding functionality hostage, even if it's just implied, is going to
> create some serious negative consequences.
>
> Grant of consent needs to be tied to the activity, and more than just
> tied: it's best if it's an integral part of the action.  getUserMedia
> is still a potential consent-failure in the offing, but at least sites
> are discouraged a little from making the request since the act of
> asking has a direct and immediate effect.  APIs that allow for
> preliminary setup like getPermissions very easily generate a situation
> where a user gets consent fatigue.

I agree also.

So to avoid the annoying "Can I have the camera?", followed by "Oh, and 
the mic too?", maybe we should push the permission popups in the other 
direction, to have them appear later, closer to their use?

If getUserMedia returned muted streams which may contain something 
valuable later, then browsers can defer bothering the user until there's 
a need.

This untangles the UX from the API, and lets browsers manage their users 
without encumbering the web-developer.

.: Jan-Ivar :.

Received on Friday, 6 September 2013 22:01:00 UTC