alt Hacker NewsThe main application for WebRTC is peer to peer data transfer.
I think you can make the argument that it should be behind a permission prompt these days but it's difficult. What would the permission prompt actually say, in easy to understand layman's terms? "This web site would like to transfer data from your computer to another computer in a way that could potentially identify you"? How many users are going to be able to make an informed choice after reading that?
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Browser functionality needs a hard segmentation into disparate categories like "pages" and "apps". For example, Pages that you're merely intending to view don't need WebRTC (or really any sort of network access beyond the originating site, and even this is questionable). And you'd only give something App functionality if it was from a trustable source and the intent was to use it as general software. This would go a long way to solving the other fingerprinting security vulnerabilities, because Pages don't need to be using functionality like Canvas, USB, etc.
When enrolling Yubikeys and similar devices, Firefox sometimes warns "This website requires extra information about your security device which might affect your privacy. Do you want to give this information? Refusing might cause the process to fail."
You can use a similar language for WebRTC.
TFA list tens of thousands of websites using WebRTC for deanonymization. How many websites using it for P2P data transfer can you list?
What about "This website would like to connect to the Instagram App and may share your browsing history and other personal details."
The website wants to connect to another computer|another app on your computer.
Most users probably will click "No" and this is a good choice.
> The main application for WebRTC is peer to peer data transfer.
But not for the user.
Let it show "Use WebRTC?".
If users don't understand, they click whatever. If the website really needs it to operate, it will explain why before requesting, just like apps do now.
Always aim for a little more knowledgeable users than you think they are.