New version of Chrome can WATCH and LISTEN
Google shows off new API by sending your face to London Science Museum
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Google now has technology that could allow ads that offer classes to correct your posture, thanks to features in a new stable version of its Chrome browser.
Version 21 of the browser offers users the chance to allow Chrome to monitor their activities with a PC's camera and microphone.
The getUserMedia API makes this trick possible, without so much as a plugin being required to beam your silky voice and beaming mug to the operator of a web app.
Google is talking up the new feature by showing off an app called Sketchbots which uses the API to grab a shot of your mug and then reproduces it in sand at the Science Museum in London, thanks to some HTML 5 cleverness.
A person's face depicted in sand thanks to the getUserMedia API and the new version of Chrome, as created by the Science Museum, London
Here in El Reg's antipodean eyrie we're wondering how long it will take before some bright spark uses it to create an app that tells you when to stop slouching, or a service that figures out your weight, detects the fact you've departed from the keyboard at a likely snacking time and tells you not to eat that mid-morning muffin. ®
COMMENTS
Time to uninstall that shite I reckon and go back to the skanky verminous fox instead for all your browsing needs!
In soviet Russia
The porn watches you
Browser assisted video/voice conferencing ... good
Browser based surveillance .... bad
Guess which option will be most popular with out ad wielding corporate overlords
Time for webcams to come with a physical on/off switch
To the paranoids above
Your browser has been able to do this all along thanks to the flash plugin (and others), the functionality just moved from plugin to browser.
So you cry you're going to uninstall chrome, where will you turn to? Check that other browser to make sure.
So you cry exploit in 3 2 1... errrr if they do any exploit in your browser, they can access your hardware anyway, just made it a tiny bit easier.
Do you know *all* browsers can read/write your disk? Doesn' *that* scare you? And beware of H20, it's a very dangerous chemical. Etc....
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