After Safari, Firefox Also Declines to Implement Web USB and other Privacy Sensitive APIs

After Apple declined to implement 16 Web APIs in Safari browser citing privacy and security reasons, Firefox has specified that they will be doing the same.

Almost all of these APIs are hardware oriented, either enabling web applications to connect with external devices or device's sensors :

• Web Bluetooth — enables web apps to interact with Bluetooth devices
• Web MIDI — enables web apps to interact with MIDI devices (digital instruments, synthesizers, audio devices etc)
• Web Magnetometer — can provide information about the magnetic field as detected by the device
• Web NFC — enables web apps to interact with NFC devices
• Device Memory — can measure the amount of device's memory
• Network Information — can give information on current network information of the device
• Ambient Light Sensor — can detect ambient light level of the device's environment
• Proximity Sensor — can provide information about the proximity level as detected by the device
• WebHID — enables web apps to interact with HID (human interface devices) devices
• Serial API — enables web apps to interact with serial devices (e.g. Arduino)
• Web USB — enables web apps to interact with USB devices
• Geolocation Sensor — enables webapps to get geolocation data in the background
• User Idle Detection — can detect whether user is lying idle on the webpage

Looks like Google Chrome will be the only browser supporting these APIs in the near future.

Read more on this Twitter thread

Related

• Safari Declines to Implement Web USB and 15 Other APIs, Mentions User Privacy Risk