Firefox 3.5 -- Did You Already Set geo.enabled To False?

Firefox 3.5 has a nifty new feature called „Location-Aware Browsing”. They describe it like this: Firefox 3.5 can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful..

What they actually do is – after prompting the user – sending the following information to sites like Google Maps, et.al:

list of available WiFi access points, including
- SSID
- MAC address (a unique identifier assigned to most network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification)
- signal strength
an access token (similar to a 2 week cookie)
the user’s IP address

Now, I do not want this per default. Unfortunately, Firefox provides no toggle to switch in his privacy settings. Sou you have to use the „about:” URL like this:

In the Address Bar, type about:config (Note: Firefox will warn you about voiding a warranty. just ignore it and click the button.)
Type geo.enabled in the filter bar.
Change the Value to false by double-clicking.

If you’ve given Firefox permission to always give your location to a site and later change your mind, you can easily revoke that permission. Here’s how:

Navigate to the site to which you’ve given permission
Go to the Tools menu, then select Page Info
Select the Permissions tab
Change the setting for Share Location

Could someone please write an extension to do all this in a more user-friendly way?

More reading:
Location-Aware Browsing – Frequently Asked Questions
Mozilla Development Center: Monitoring WiFi access points
Mozilla Development Center: Using geolocation

Tagged as: firefox, google, provacy, rant, settings | Author: Martin Leyrer
[Freitag, 20090710, 21:00 | permanent link | 0 Kommentar(e)

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Firefox 3.5 -- Did You Already Set geo.enabled To False?

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