Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 99 posts

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#31

Post by Karellen »

irrational wrote: post #23
0des wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont want to dislike firefox, but I am starting to find new reasons to resent it. It seems like every other week there is something new I'm finding out about that gives me pause before running updates. Every new 'feature' brings me further and further away from feeling like it's a browser I can trust to be just a browser. Something has to change. Pocket, Allo, still taking the google allowance, absolutely squanderi…

But, what will you go to? Chrome is worse by any metric.

Epiphany (aka Gnome Web) works pretty well on 99% of websites for me

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#32

Post by frankenstein »

stevewatson301 wrote: post #13

This extension takes an interesting approach to spoofing data, which is nice! In my case, I’m interested in doing the same thing inside of Puppeteer for web scraping, unfortunately it seems like the only possible approach is similar to content scripts (for example https://github.com/berstend/puppeteer-extra/tree/master/pack... ) which leads to it being easily detected. Are there any similar approaches that can be use…

You can load extensions in puppeteer, also in headless with the experimental chrome mode. https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/blob/main/docs/api.md...

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#33

Post by traceroute66 »

Surely this is a case of inventing something that does not to be invented ?

Surely the only correct answer is:

    1) Go to browser preferences
    2) Go to Privacy & Security
    3) "Don't allow sites to see your location" = ON
Firefox has this. Brave has this. And if you use Chrome, well, sharing your location is probably the least of your worries !

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#34

Post by ibejoeb »

tauwauwau wrote: post #16
ldoughty wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a note at the link that explains the command line flag you need to pass in

Thanks, I will have to create a shortcut for it. This should work chrome.exe --silent-debugger-extension-api Is it safe to do? I mean I want to stop this message for Vytal only, because I know that it uses debugger API. But I would want to know if tomorrow my adblocker starts to use debugger API.

Any existing extension would have to explicitly declare the appropriate permission for using the debugger API. Chrome automatically disables extensions that add new permissions until you review them.

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#35

Post by _gyhb »

traceroute66 wrote: post #33

Surely this is a case of inventing something that does not to be invented ? Surely the only correct answer is: 1) Go to browser preferences 2) Go to Privacy & Security 3) "Don't allow sites to see your location" = ON Firefox has this. Brave has this. And if you use Chrome, well, sharing your location is probably the least of your worries !

Surely this is a case of commenting something that does not to be commented ?

Check out https://vytal.io/. There are many more data points then just the geolocation api.

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#36

Post by traceroute66 »

_gyhb wrote: post #35
traceroute66 wrote: post #33

Surely this is a case of inventing something that does not to be invented ? Surely the only correct answer is: 1) Go to browser preferences 2) Go to Privacy & Security 3) "Don't allow sites to see your location" = ON Firefox has this. Brave has this. And if you use Chrome, well, sharing your location is probably the least of your worries !

Surely this is a case of commenting something that does not to be commented ? Check out https://vytal.io/ . There are many more data points then just the geolocation api.

> Check out https://vytal.io/. There are many more data points then just the geolocation api.

I think most people would agree that your so called additional data points are worthless for the purpose that most people would be concerned about location data.

Something like timezone "location" (which basically what your vytal website is showing) is simply not granular enough to be used for nefarious purposes.

I mean, if my browser is telling someone that my "location" is EDT timezone what good is that going to do them ? Its still too much of haystack to be useful to anyone.

Let's be honest here, "location" to most people means GPS-type location (i.e. you'll find me in this house on this street). Anything more coarse than that is frankly of limited use to an adversary.

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#38

Post by schleck8 »

traceroute66 wrote: post #33

Surely this is a case of inventing something that does not to be invented ? Surely the only correct answer is: 1) Go to browser preferences 2) Go to Privacy & Security 3) "Don't allow sites to see your location" = ON Firefox has this. Brave has this. And if you use Chrome, well, sharing your location is probably the least of your worries !

Wait until you find out about js timezone checks. It even states so in the dev's comment here...

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#39

Post by _gyhb »

traceroute66 wrote: post #36
_gyhb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely this is a case of commenting something that does not to be commented ? Check out https://vytal.io/ . There are many more data points then just the geolocation api.

> Check out https://vytal.io/ . There are many more data points then just the geolocation api. I think most people would agree that your so called additional data points are worthless for the purpose that most people would be concerned about location data. Something like timezone "location" (which basically what your vytal website is showing) is simply not granular enough to be used for nefarious purposes. I mean, if…

What if you're trying to hide your country lol? It also spoofs your locale and user agent. Just because its not something you care about doesn't mean its useless. Also never claimed it was going to change the world or anything. Just thought it was an interesting way to use the debugger api and that some people might find it cool.

Re: Show HN: Browser extension that spoofs your location data to match your VPN

#40

Post by aaronmdjones »

Shugarl wrote: post #28
kdot wrote: post #20

Does geolocation need to be spoofed if I'm on a VPN? Is't geolocation detected using IP address?

Well Google Map still knows where I am when my VPN is activated. So I'd say yes, unless VPNs on mobile are less reliable than on PC

Google Maps still knows where you are on your mobile because it can still detect nearby WiFi networks and use the GNSS receiver. You would need to remove these permissions, and then it wouldn't work at all.
Post reply on HN