Mozilla is discontinuing the location service MLS (Mozilla Location Service). MLS allowed software programs to determine location based on nearby Wi-Fi SSIDs, cell phone locations, and Bluetooth beacons. The service was particularly useful when the hardware had no or only limited options for determining position using navigation satellites.
Advertisement
Mozilla said in a statementthat the accuracy of the service had been declining for some time. MLS was launched in 2013 and drew its data primarily from the community, which was able to feed data using the open source Android app MozStumbler. After a patent dispute in 2019, Mozilla said it was difficult to further expand the offering. The company Skyhook Holding, which has since been purchased by Qualcomm, filed patent infringement notices by MLS in 2019. There was a similar patent dispute with Google in 2012. According to Mozilla, an agreement was reached. However, this apparently meant that the data could no longer be updated in the previous style and became outdated. At the beginning of 2021, the MozStumbler program was discontinued.
Geolocation in the browser
Geolocation using MLS is primarily available as an option in the Firefox browser so that websites can determine the user’s position. MLS was also used in the Linux area, for example in KDE Plasma Desktop, to determine the location of the computer.
MLS is to be shut down in five stages. As of March 13th, no new API keys for using MLS have been released. Starting March 27, data input via the API will no longer be accepted and new cell site records will no longer be published. The cell phone location records are scheduled to be deleted on April 10th. In the final phase in the summer, only Mozilla can initially use the service and from July 31st the source code will also be archived on GitHub. The source code for Mozilla Ichnaea should remain available.
Once planned for FirefoxOS
MLS was free to use but without any guarantee of availability or accuracy. The geolocation service was once associated with the Mozilla smartphone operating system FirefoxOS, but further development of this service was discontinued in 2016. Mozilla continued to offer the service but refrained from commercializing it.
(mki)