Forum Discussion

Deleted's avatar
Deleted
Jun 17, 2019

Disable media control overlay in inprivate browsing

I meant, what's the purpose of using inprivate browsing if someone can see what you *watch* when you try to increase/decrease the volume?
Deleted's avatar
Deleted
Jun 18, 2019

You're missing the point. Try to use inprivate browsing, then play video. After that try to change the volume. You'll see what you *watch* there. This isn't privacy at all, if you watch something, then someone comes in to your room, you switch the virtual desktop to make sure they don't know what you're doing. But that person suddenly knows what you do because they try to change the volume before playing the video/music (they're borrowing your device for example).

 

I know that the ISP still knows what you're doing, but that's not the point of what I'm asking. It's inprivate browsing for f**k's sake, so the media overlay *shouldn't* leak what is happening on the inprivate browsing. 

DarrenMH's avatar
DarrenMH
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jun 18, 2019

Deleted I was able to disable the media being displayed on the volume by setting the flag edge://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling, Steps I did to verify behavior -

 

  1. From within Edge Insiders, Settings and more, New InPrivate window.
    1. I'll reference this as Desktop #1.
  2. From within the InPrivate window, I picked a streaming service (I used both Netflix and Hulu)
  3.  Started a video, used keyboard to change volume
    1. From within Desktop #1 Edge Insider, changed volume, I see media info
    2. On lock screen, change volume, I see media info
    3. From Desktop #2 change volume, I see media info
  4. Set the flag edge://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling from with Edge Insider on Desktop #1, restart Edge for change to set, kick off InPrivate session and stream media
    1. From within Desktop #1 Edge Insider, changed volume, I see no media info, just volume bar
    2. On lock screen, change volume, I see no media info, just volume bar
    3. From Desktop #2 change volume, I see no media info, just volume bar

As you know, InPrivate browsing enables you to surf the web without leaving a trail, information is discarded when you end your session. This is different than keeping a device secure, or configure privacy settings, when someone has physical access. 

 

Maybe the ask is this - when using InPrivate browsing, you would like Edge to trigger the edge://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling automatically?

 

  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jun 18, 2019

    DarrenMH 

    Yeah, what I meant is when you open private mode, that flag would be auto-disable (only for that mode) while in the normal mode, it will be the same.

     

    So let me show you a scenario,

    I have two windows opened at the same time, the first one is normal mode and the other one is private mode. If I play video/music in the normal mode, the overlay will be shown. However, when I play video/music in the private mode, the overlay won't be shown. 

     

    Can you understand what I meant? Sorry for my bad English.

    • DarrenMH's avatar
      DarrenMH
      Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
      Jun 18, 2019

      Thanks Deleted for the clarification.

       

      I'll put in a feature request on this and share your feedback with it. Thanks again for taking the time on this to help me understand. 

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