A thing like geolocation should be truly optional and use the Mozilla browser’s extension system so users can actually remove (not disable and hope it’s not buggy) some of the data-rape enabling technology.

Personally I am going to create a Privoxy filter to remove geolocation attempts from websites, just as I use Privoxy to remove other annoyances (eg fixed elements that float about) and some other attempts at data-rape (eg Google analytics).

If you disable geolocation only your IP address can be used by sites to track your location in the world.

For example, if I surf to dnsstuff.com, my location appears to be in a town about 100 miles from where I actually live. Is this what’s supposed to happen?

Location-Aware Browsing is always opt-in in Firefox. No location information is ever sent without your permission. If you wish to disable the feature completely, please follow this set of steps:

* In the URL bar, type about:config
* Type geo.enabled
* Double click on the geo.enabled preference
* Location-Aware Browsing is now disabled

“(…)we will collect, depending on the capabilities of your device, information about the wifi routers closest to you, cell ids of the cell towers closest to you, and the strength of your wifi or cell signal.”

“(…)we also collect IP address, user agent information, and unique identifier of your client. We use this information to distinguish requests, not to identify you.”

“(…)We also use all the information above to operate, support, and improve the overall quality of the Google Location Service.”

“Information collected above will be anonymized and aggregated before being used by Google to develop new features or products and services, or to improve the overall quality of any of Google’s products and services.”