[Feature request] More granular permissions API

[abjugard]

Description

Google recently moved Google Maps from maps.google.com to google.com/maps, this means that the current location access system forces me to give ALL Google applications location access if I want Google Maps to have access to my location.

This highlights to me that the permissions APIs (location access in particular) available in the Chromium codebase are not precise enough for the modern web.

Suggested implementation

Allow users to narrow the scope of permissions to include paths as well as just domain. One way to present this could be using radio buttons, e.g. for an app at https://some.app.domain/very/deep/path?some=query&parameters=here:

• some.app.domain (just domain)
• some.app.domain/very (path)
• some.app.domain/very/deep (deeper path)
• some.app.domain/very/deep/path (deepest path)
• some.app.domain/very/deep/path?some=query&parameters=here (full url)

For the Google Maps example it might look like this:

I'll leave it to the engineers more familiar with the codebase to consider how best to present a feature like this in settings, could be modelled as separate sites, or just as sub-sites under the domain where these settings are currently stored.

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave: 1.45.118 Chromium: 107.0.5304.91 (Official Build) (x86_64)
Revision: 3d5948960d62418160796d5831a4d2d7d6c90fa8-refs/branch-heads/5304@{#1097}
OS: macOS Version 13.0 (Build 22A380)

Other Additional Information:

I was made aware of this via Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33729345

[ShivanKaul]

Interesting idea, but this would be a big change in how we or any other browsers handle permissions. I think the UX issue here is sticky: how deep should the path options, and what should the default scope be? If the latter is "most restrictive" i.e. the full URL, then that would lead to users getting spammed with geolocation prompts on websites, which is not great for security. If it is not, then the first time you get hit with the geolocation prompt you probably don't know the right granularity and end up over-granting (and also never see a prompt for that permission again).

[abjugard]

I experimented with a slider for selecting scope as well. While it takes up less space because only one label has to be rendered, I think it's even less obvious how to use it.

Maybe someone from the Brave or Chromium UX teams has some input here?

[abjugard]

Bumping this as we just utilised this behaviour in a pentest.