Basically – the problem with getting Skyhook™ on Linux seems to be that Skyhook™ needs low-level access to the system to command the wireless card drivers to scan for detectable access points and report back what they see, right?

Wasn’t the reason given for the fact that Ubiquity was only partially functional on Linux that (and I admit I’m ignorantly and grossly oversimplifying here in my interpretation of this…) the developers couldn’t decide on a way to get low-level access to window-control functions for certain features on Linux?

What disturbs me here is it makes it sound an awful lot like Firefox is turning into a new “Internet Explorer”, pushing towards requiring deeper hooks into the core system rather than running as an ordinary application. Am I mistaken?

(Still very much looking forward to geolocation functionality in Firefox 3.1 – without Skyhook™ or other proprietary platform-specific components – and appreciate Mozilla taking the lead on this…Thanks!)

- The system seems smart and puts the end-user in control so people should not be as concerned about privacy (as they seem to be).
- The current design works fine with WiFi but doesn’t work on wired desktops, that said great V1.

It’s a great idea and I’m excited to see it take off. This is the convergence of Mobile and Web. Bravo.

That being said, geolocation in the browser can indeed spawn innovation, so I am excited about it. Yet I can be abused just as easily, so it is good to put privacy on top of the priority list here.

These are valid concerns. They don’t pertain directly to Geode or the JS Geolocation API since, as you say, the user will have control over what, if anything, gets sent using that API when using Firefox. But the concern that web sites will increasingly use your location to alter your experience to your detriment is legitimate.

Unfortunately, your scenario 1 is only going to work if the site you are talking to gives more weight to what you tell it than what it knows about your IP address. For restrictive sites, that isn’t going to happen.

Other than a Tor network that was large and vibrant enough to avoid being blocked itself, along with some sort of exit node location setting, I’m not sure how one would get around the existing IP based filters.

Anyhow, I’m happy that the voluntary location aware ability is coming, if only because it will save me typing in my postal code and will render those databases less valuable. Real geo info, despite some draconic access policies in some governments, is the way to go!