[mediacapture-main] What happens when laptop lid is closed / phone display is turned off? (#670)

jan-ivar has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/mediacapture-main:

== What happens when laptop lid is closed / phone display is turned off? ==
Seperate from https://github.com/w3c/mediacapture-main/issues/668 because, as mentioned in https://github.com/w3c/webrtc-pc/issues/2489#issuecomment-602879082:
> 1. Closing a laptop lid is _**not**_ the same as freezing. It may _trigger_ it, but was observed not to.
> 2. It's a physical act that (sans external display) seizes display, audio output, mic & cam capture.

This physical act seems similar (but not identical) to pressing the physical "display off" button on most smartphones and tablets, or closing a flip phone.

To complicate matters, there appear to be several device exceptions:
1. A laptop with external monitor attached may not seize media i/o.
2. A flip phone with back-display may have its back camera work as front camera when closed.
3. Some phone apps (like YouTube now) still play audio while screen is off (with or wo/headset)

But one commonality seems to be that most devices have some way to shut media playback up temporarily, and resume later. Should we piggyback media capture to that?

Secondly, we already have the `mute` and `unmute` user agent events for notifying JS. But from my observations, browsers aren't fire them when I close and reopen the laptop lid, even though capture is interrupted. Do we need to say anything more, or simply file bugs on implementations?

Thirdly, there may be common privacy issues around this behavior. E.g. Users may be surprised
 1. if microphone keeps recording when they switch display off phone/tablet to put in pocket.
 2. if laptop microphone keeps recording when they close the laptop lid.
 3. USB camera keeps recording when they close the laptop lid.
 4. If camera and mic (and screen-sharing?) resume during laptop lock screen on reopen
 5. If camera and mic don't shut off when audible playback shuts off.
 6. If camera and mic resumes before audible playback resumes.

Do we want to try to say anything around that?

Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/mediacapture-main/issues/670 using your GitHub account

Received on Monday, 23 March 2020 22:57:44 UTC