Mozilla using camera
I've seen this asked a few times and they have all been a generic answer that really doeant apply to what is happening. I'm hoping I can articulate a better description as to what's going on.
Ever since the latest android update I've randomly received system notifications of Mozilla using the camera in the background. There is no prompt to allow or decline and it's never for any specific site. I took screenshots for reference but the only tabs I had open this time was summit racing, rockauto and Google. None of which require camera use. The only site that's always been open when I've had the occurence is Google but it's extremely random. It is always via firefox and as I stated Google is the only page that's been open every time and again there is no prompt for permission. I have went in this time and disabled camera permissions for firefox as I finally got a screenshot before the message went away.
This has clearly been an issue for others as well but the answers I've seen have not been consistent for what's happening. Unless I havent found a better reply.
Thanks and hopefully this can be addressed.
Wubrane rozwězanje
We have investigated it and the cause is ad networks trying to list the media devices. Firefox forwards the requests to the user. You can set Firefox to never have access to the microphone and camera and Firefox will work just fine. However some website functions such as the ability to make audio or video calls with others will not function.
We are looking at some ways to make this more closely match user expectations. However we cannot break websites that are legitimate users of the camera/microphone APIs.
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Wubrane rozwězanje
We have investigated it and the cause is ad networks trying to list the media devices. Firefox forwards the requests to the user. You can set Firefox to never have access to the microphone and camera and Firefox will work just fine. However some website functions such as the ability to make audio or video calls with others will not function.
We are looking at some ways to make this more closely match user expectations. However we cannot break websites that are legitimate users of the camera/microphone APIs.
Excellent. Thank you for the reply and explanation of the cause. I did disable camera use and I'll suggest it to others as well. Hopefully you can find a good way to prevent this access in the future. It's very discomforting knowing the camera is running without concent.
Thank you and have a good one.
Excellent. Thank you for the reply and explanation of the cause. I did disable camera use and I'll suggest it to others as well. Hopefully you can find a good way to prevent this access in the future. It's very discomforting knowing the camera is running without concent.
Thank you and have a good one.
The camera is not running. It is a request to list the device ID for the camera or microphone. If allowed the ad networks would get a set of numbers and letters that are unique to that device and website until the user clears sensitive data such as cookies or site settings. Anytime the camera or microphone is requested by a website Firefox for Android will confirm with the user that this request is wanted by the user.