Google Chrome API experiments with browser history

Google has added a pair of "experimental" APIs to its Chrome browser, including one for querying and modifying the user's browser history and one for accessing info involving Google's new-age process model. Both the "experimental history" API and the "experimental processes" API are now available with Chrome's dev channel …

[Andrew Baines]

querying and modifying the user's browser history

No privacy issues there then!

But at least we can trust Google to do no Evil with our personal data.

Guess I'll stick with Firefox and all the privacy plugins (not that I have anything to hide of course)

[amanfromMars 1]

For the Ultimate Groom ..... ESPecial Operations

"When the experimental history API is finalized, Kay says, it will also let developers replace - or "override" - Google's history page with their own. Today, Google provides an override for the Chrome's New Tab page, the page that appears when you create a new tab or window."

Wow, a Forensic Reverse Engineers Mindfield and Very IMPressive Stay Out of Jail Free Credit Card Facility for All Manner of Chief Mischief.

[Anonymous Coward]

I really hope...

...there iwill be a overide for this...

"The design page suggests that the API might allow for a Chrome extension that automatically restores all affected tabs when a process crashes"

This smacks of a great way to **** up a browser.

create page that crashes browser, browser reloads, crashes,reloads,crashes......

[Robert Carnegie]

Restore all tabs except that one

Hang on, wasn't Chrome the browser where one web page crashing didn't take down the whole lot?

Firefox and Opera reload tabs after a crash - optionally, the option being all/none, I think. A smarter response would be to present a list of tabs open at time of crash and let the user pick which to include/exclude. Or to open them all in a sort of frozen state - with URL and title but displaying "This web page was open when the browser terminated abnormally", if that's what the kids are calling it now.

As for API for the browser history (if that doesn't already exist), has blackmail exploit potential. "Im in ur cache surfing ur porn."

[Anonymous Coward]

Modify user's history

No m'lord, I really didn't visit those kiddie-fiddling sites, my browser history has taken on a life of its own....

[BorkedAgain]

This is the browser with "Incognito" mode, remember?

So I don't imagine the idea is to facilitate the leaving behind of fewer traces (for example) or blackmail (tinfoil hats are so last season) but probably to allow your web app's history entry to work better when you revisit the site after your session has closed, for example.

Or maybe they just did it 'cos it seemed like a funky thing to do at the time...

Or maybe, just maybe, it really is part of their secret plans to turn every internet-connected human being into an oompa-loompa...

[amanfromMars 1]

Anarchy Assured ..... or Chaos Diverted?

"Modify user's history ..... No m'lord, I really didn't visit those kiddie-fiddling sites, my browser history has taken on a life of its own...." ..... Anonymous Coward Posted Tuesday 2nd March 2010 14:16 GMT

And whenever they perfect remote auto downloads is everyone free and difficult to prosecute and persecute.

[Eddie Johnson]

@Robert

Love your idea of [optionally] reopening the tabs in a frozen state. When my Firefox is restarted from a crash invariably 50+ pages all start reloading at once with numerous popups for passwords, cookie setting etc. all stepping on each other. You always end up with some failures, typically that certain tab icons don't load properly. I'll have 6 pages prompt me for the same username/password where if just one of them had been allowed to finish loading the others would not have prompted.

They should at least implement some sort of staggered startup like a RAID array, each successive page starts with an N second delay.