Re: [PATCH] gnu: Add GeoClue desktop service.

[ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)]

Andy Wingo <wingo@igalia.com> skribis:

> On Thu 20 Aug 2015 17:09, ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>>> +@defvr {Scheme Variable} %standard-geoclue-applications
>>> +The standard list of well-known GeoClue application configurations,
>>> +granting authority to GNOME's date-and-time utility to ask for the
>>> +current location in order to set the time zone, and allowing the Firefox
>>> +(IceCat) and Epiphany web browsers to request location information.
>>> +Firefox and Epiphany both query the user before allowing a web page to
>>> +know the user's location.
>>> +@end defvr
>>
>> Does that mean that all these applications get blanket access to
>> location info, and just happen to be nice enough to ask the user?
>>
>> If the answer is yes, I would rather remove the Web browsers from this
>> list by default.
>
> I think that's right.  I'm still figuring some of this out :P But yeah,
> I think the reasoning is that since web browsers ask you already, don't
> default to giving the web access, and you already trust the web browser
> in other ways, that this is a reasonable default that prevents
> double-asking.

OK.  But then that raises the question of how applications are
authenticated: if I call my binary ‘epiphany’, will GeoClue consider it
to be the authorized application?  (Sorry for the newbie question...)

> I guess ideally it would be going through policykit and asking the user
> through the session manager.  Maybe that's a TODO; dunno.

My only concern is to make sure the default settings are
privacy-preserving.  I realize that’s a question that goes beyond GuixSD
itself though.

Thank you,
Ludo’.