HTML5 Voice Input mic access

Question

How does the HTML5 Voice input on Chrome (Mac) get access to the mic? Is it because I have the google voice plugin installed?

Shouldn't the browser explicitly ask for permission before giving access?

http://slides.html5rocks.com/#speech-input

Solution 1

The microphone isn't directly being exposed to the Web page—it's just posting the speech (and receiving text) through Google servers so it's not considered a security issue (and you have to click the microphone icon to start it). It's pretty similar to how voice input works on Android and Google's iPhone/Blackberry apps.

Solution 2

It is explicitly asking permission before giving access, that's what clicking the microphone icon is.

Think of it more like the <input type="file"> element -- you click "Browse", it shows you your file system, and the browser sends the selected file directly to the server.

Solution 3

For those saying that you can't style the button and it can't be exploited - it was done with Facebook like buttons - http://www.esrun.co.uk/blog/disguising-a-facebook-like-link/

So what's to stop it working for the Google Mic button?

Comments

[Ali]

But cant the field be hidden and the icon could be changed to look like another button? Also, how exactly is the script accessing the microphone? Is it a plug in like flash?

[Jason Hall]

It's not a plugin, it's built into the browser. That's why this doesn't work on any browser but Chrome (for now)

[Nicholas Riley]

If the field's hidden, you can't click on it to trigger it. The icon can't be styled.

[tonyhb]

It's an input type="text" still, and the icon is hard-coded into webkit/chrome. The closest you can get to hiding the icon is by using a background gradient similar to -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 0 bottom, from(#9A9A9A), to(#818181)). Even then, you have to click the button.

[rahulserver]

" it's just posting the text"-no it is not! See this link:mikepultz.com/2011/03/accessing-google-speech-api-chrom‌​e-11 .U may edit ur answer!