Your battery status is being used to track you online

Started by mirth, August 02, 2016, 11:53:07 AM

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mirth

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/02/battery-status-indicators-tracking-online


Read the reddit comments for how to disable the battery status API in your mobile browser

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4vrlus/your_battery_status_is_being_used_to_track_you/


QuoteYou know your own battery life because your device tells you.  There is absolutely no need to pass this info along to a third party.
In Firefox, pull up about:Config -- do a search on Battery and turn it to false.  On Safari under the Mac and on iDevices, this API isn't even enabled: navigator.getBattery is not a function. (In 'navigator.getBattery()', 'navigator.getBattery' is undefined)
https://www.w3.org/TR/battery-status/
Even without knowing that this could be used for tracking, its a stupid idea to allow this information to be passed along to a third party.  At least for web browsers being web browsers (I know Chrome likes to pretend it can be a desktop and a word processor and all that at the same time).
"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

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