Solved Geolocation and YouTube

[WetGeek]

I'm not sure that this issue is limited to Linux, but in this case, Linux is the OS that's involved. The computer that supplies streaming content to our television runs Solus OS.

We get that streaming content from YouTube TV (tv.youtube.com) because of all the streaming services, that's the only one I've found that offers our local TV stations. My wife can't miss her game shows that appear on a local ABC affiliate, so that limits my choices.

In order to stream the correct local content at the right time, of course, YouTube needs to know out location. It obtains that information from the browser we're using, which I'd prefer to be Vivaldi, but it just doesn't work. (Vivaldi is the only browser on the five other computers in this house, but it doesn't work for local stations on our media machine.)

Even though I set the geolocation permission to Allow in the settings, YouTube is never able to get our location from Vivaldi. Both Chrome and Firefox work without an issue, so I keep Firefox on that machine, and change to it just for her two game shows in the evening. At all other times, for all other content, Vivaldi works just fine.

I'd really like to be able to use Vivaldi as the only browser on that machine as well, but so far I haven't been able to make that work. Does anyone here know how I could solve this problem?

[Pathduck]

@wetgeek Hi - unfortunately Geolocation does not work in Vivaldi on Linux and MacOS and in Windows has to rely on the OS location service.

"Currently, on Windows we use Windows’ geolocation service, but on macOS and Linux geolocation has been disabled. This is not a situation we are happy with, and we are trying hard to find a solution. Your privacy is just too important to us."

https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/privacy/geolocation/

[WetGeek]

Thanks! That link provided quite an education. I couldn't figure out how to format something like 122°19′55″ W to fit into a text box that just accepts a number, and eventually gave up on it.

Actually, I don't hate Firefox, it's just that I backup frequently, and browsers with their cached data take a very long time to backup. Limiting those to just my favorite browser saves lots of time when I backup prior to Solus' weekly updates.

I have no other reason to use a second browser. My wife would probably leave me if she couldn't watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night, so availability of our local stations isn't an option. It's a requirement.

For now, I'll just keep Firefox around, and hope that Vivaldi is able to find a fix eventually. (Frankly, I don't fully understand the privacy problem, since access to geolocation information can so easily be denied in the Vivaldi settings.)

[Pathduck]

@wetgeek said in Geolocation and YouTube:

Frankly, I don't fully understand the privacy problem, since access to geolocation information can so easily be denied in the Vivaldi settings.

Yeah, I don't either understand why privacy is the main issue here. I suspect it's more about this:

"Commercial users can request an MLS API Query key capped at a daily usage limit of 100,000. The daily limit cannot be increased for commercial uses and those keys will expire after 3 months. In effect, commercial use of MLS will now be of limited duration and restricted in volume."
https://blog.mozilla.org/services/2019/09/03/a-new-policy-for-mozilla-location-service/

This basically only leaves Google's location service as the only alternative, and (I assume) it costs $$$ as well as really bad for privacy obviously.

browsers with their cached data take a very long time to backup

Tip: If you're able to, you can exclude at least:
Cache
Code Cache

and probably also, depending on your usage:
File System
Service Worker

to save a lot of time and space for backups. These directories will just be recreated.

[WetGeek]

@pathduck said in Geolocation and YouTube:

These directories will just be recreated.

Thanks for all your help. I use restic for backups, and currently exclude all VM data, so I know what you're referring to. Maybe it's time to create a file of exclusions instead of just that one -e item in my backup alias.

[WetGeek]

@Pathduck said in Geolocation and YouTube:

Yeah, I don't either understand why privacy is the main issue here.

Have you heard anything new on this issue in the last couple of months since we first chatted? It continues to amaze me that Firefox is able to provide tv.youtube.com with geolocation data, but Vivaldi cannot. Of course, Chrome can also provide it, being part of the same family.

I sure would like to get down to just one browser (and just the best one).