Firefox Can Send Websites Your Location

[expat]

From:

 

 

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/geolocation

 

When you visit a location-aware website, Firefox will ask you if you want to share your location.

 

If you consent, Firefox gathers information about nearby wireless access points and your computer’s IP address. Then Firefox sends this information to the default geolocation service provider, Google Location Services, to get an estimate of your location. That location estimate is then shared with the requesting website.

 

If you say that you do not consent, Firefox will not do anything.

 

If you wish to turn off this function:

 

Location-Aware Browsing is always opt-in in Firefox. No location information is ever sent without your permission. If you wish to disable the feature completely, please follow this set of steps:

 

* In the URL bar, type about:config

* Type geo.enabled

* Double click on the geo.enabled preference

* Location-Aware Browsing is now disabled

 

If you want to see what information your browser sends out when you allow it, you can use the following site; make sure you haven't turned off the geo function in about:config as above and that you enable the following site:

 

http://benwerd.com/lab/geo.php

 

Thanks to my friends over at SFB for the info.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

This has always been possible already. Very easy to find out roughly where a person is coming from by looking at their IP address.

 

Sanuk!

 

[preahko]

Hi,

 

This has always been possible already. Very easy to find out roughly where a person is coming from by looking at their IP address.

 

Sanuk!

 

Unless they're using VPN...