But Google made little effort to publicise another feature that's decidedly less friendly to privacy, because it lets websites connect to Bluetooth devices and harvest information from them through the browser. Here's Pete LePage of the Chrome Developers team describing the feature:
LePage, in the video, says: “Until now, the ability to communicate with Bluetooth devices has been possible only for native apps. With Chrome 56, your Web app can communicate with nearby Bluetooth devices in a private and secure manner, using the Web Bluetooth API.
“The Web Bluetooth API uses the GATT [Generic Attribute Profile – ed.] protocol, which enables your app to connect to devices such as light bulbs, toys, heart-rate monitors, LED displays and more, with just a few lines of JavaScript.”
Google software teams are soo eager to push out features before announcing them publicly, and sometimes not even then. It's like they're satisfied to have the canary testers find out, then their work is done. And of course, incorporating a setting to toggle the brand new feature when it has reached the normal client seems to be generally frowned upon.
