
WebRTC in Safari? - arnaudbud
http://webrtcbydralex.com/index.php/2015/08/29/webrtc-in-safari/
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pepijndevos
Great news! Not because I use WebRTC at all, but because I use Safari.

Why would you do that?? It integrates nicely with the OS. Spell checking,
keychain, services, keyboard shortcuts, right-click dictionary lookup, easy
link sharing. Little things.

I have recently noticed more and more sites are starting to break on Safari.
Ever since Chrome forked webkit, it has started to lag behind. Since Safari
has a small marketshare and a different engine from the major players, some
sites dropped support for it.

A prime example is file-upload to Github issues. You'd think that uploading
files is as old as the web itself, but when you try to do this in Safari, it
says something like "Sorry, Safari does not support file attachments. Please
use a modern browser like Firefox or Chrome."

~~~
JohnTHaller
If the only way for me to test your small market share desktop browser is to
buy hardware from you because you artificially lock your os to your hardware,
I'm not going to test on your browser.

On Mac OS, the solution for users is to run a different browser like Chrome or
Firefox, as nearly all of my Mac friends do. If this issue starts to affect
media consumption sites on iOS's Safari, that's another story since iOS users
aren't allowed to use an alternate browser (they're all running Safari
underneath).

~~~
wbl
It's file upload: I'm 99.9% sure that the most braindead 90's style way of
doing it will work on all browsers today, and continue to work in the future.
Why do you need to break it?

~~~
untog
Newer methods allow you to do a lot more - report progress of the upload, even
read the file locally before upload (so you can resize images, for example).
They're all great features to add, and I guess that GitHub decided that it was
worth adding them and not keeping an older experience for Safari users.

IMO, they're both at fault here. GitHub should be able to provide a fallback,
but also Safari should be keeping up to date.

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untog
Great news, but sad news. Obviously this isn't coming in iOS9, so we've got to
wait at least another year before we get to use it.

Apple: please, please decouple Safari from the OS, and use App Store updates
to update your browser more frequently.

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arnaudbud
UPDATE: [https://bloggeek.me/webrtc-plugin-free-world-is-almost-
here-...](https://bloggeek.me/webrtc-plugin-free-world-is-almost-here-apple-
and-microsoft-joining-the-crowd/)

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rebootthesystem
What bothers me about WebRTC is that it can be used to penetrate privacy
measures. More specifically, for IP address discovery. Other than that, full
speed ahead!

~~~
Khaine
Not only privacy concerns, but for an enterprise, security concerns. I see
this as potentially another mechanism for APT exploitation

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agouaillard
Post updated to reflect all the comments. cheers.

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rsy96
So now I have to find out how to disable WebRTC or just STUN to avoid my true
public ip address leaking (while on VPN).

~~~
lern_too_spel
Just use [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webrtc-network-
lim...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webrtc-network-
limiter/npeicpdbkakmehahjeeohfdhnlpdklia)

~~~
rsy96
How will a Chrome extension prevent WebRTC ip leaking in Safari?

~~~
OldSchoolPro
Install Chrome, install extension, don't use Safari :)

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shmerl
So, will Apple support Opus now?

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Khaine
Why would I want any of this in a web browser?

~~~
greggman
What's the alternative? Installing native apps that can own your machine,
install root kits, and spy on your entire system? Why would I want to install
a native app to do any of this (skype, google hangouts, fb messenger, ...) if
I can do it in a browser and not have to trust the app?

~~~
hollerith
Statistically speaking, more users get owned via web browsers than via native
apps, and that is unlikely to change if people keep on adding new APIs to web
browsers because every time a new API is added to my web browser, every web
site I visit gets a chance to use the new API to try to own me.

I certainly understand why developers and others find it _convenient_ and
_profitable_ to keep on adding APIs the client part of the global client-
server document-publishing platform, but I am simply amazed to come across
someone using _security_ of all things as an argument or a justification for
doing it.

Think about what you are saying! You have a new API you want to make available
to developers, but of course it is really hard to create an API that cannot be
exploited, so to keep things as secure as possible, every time the user needs
to check the weather forecast, look at the new photos of the grandkids or look
for a new recipe, some random web server plus zero-or-more third-party ad
servers should get a crack at exploiting the new API!

~~~
roarkjs
> Statistically speaking, more users get owned via web browsers than via
> native apps

Source? Seems like a long stretch, especially if you factor in non-windows
desktops and all mobile devices.

If you really are concerned about security wouldn't you rather trust basically
just Apple and Google or Apple, Google, and every native app developer in the
app store?

Having a load of random apps installed on your smartphone is simply less
secure than than just using that functionality within a sandboxed and
standardised web browser that goes through endless routine security updates.

~~~
Khaine
No,

Its much easier to chose what to install from an app store. If you click on
the wrong link, or if you receive malvertising, boom! vulnerabilities in this
could cause your phone to be infected.

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joshontheweb
This is awesome news! I had begun to lose hope that this would happen anytime
soon. I'm building my business on using this api to help podcasters record in
high quality ([http://zencastr.com](http://zencastr.com)). Currently I can
only support Chrome and Firefox. Adding Safari to the list is most welcome and
will open up the possibility for iOS users as well.

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MBCook
As someone who doesn't know what WebRTC is, I can only guess after reading the
article that it has something to do with video.

The article goes through an effort to explai WebKit and Safari but never makes
a single mention about WebRTC. Title of the blog doesn't help either.

~~~
droopybuns
As someone who does know what web RTC is, I find your comment interesting.
Strange that a hacker news reader wouldn't know what webrtc is nor how to
handle being unaware of a technology.

This posting is interesting because webrtc support has lagged in safari.

Webrtc is about more than just video and worth looking up.

