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Google Developers Create API For Direct USB Access Via Web Pages (softpedia.com)

Posted by msmash on from the improved-connectivity dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Two Google developers have uploaded an unofficial (for now) draft to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Incubator Community Group (W3C WICG) that describes a method of interconnecting USB-capable devices to Web pages. The API, called WebUSB, allows device manufacturers to provide special "registry and landing pages" where they can host JavaScript SDKs for their USB-capable devices. Site owners can load these SDKs as iframes inside their websites, and allow a site to access and relay commands (via the iframe to the browser's WebUSB API) to the actual device. To protect privacy and security, the WebUSB API also comes with a CORS-like system that prompts users for access to their devices to avoid abuse and Web-based fingerprinting. The system is also backward compatible with devices created before the standard's approval (if it gets approved).

3 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. That doesn't sound like it could ever be abused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That doesn't sound like it could ever be abused...

  2. Re: That doesn't sound like it could ever be abuse by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's just JavaScript. What could go wrong?

  3. ActiveX again? by Imazalil · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did all the Active X developers end up at Google?