Request/question about ServiceWorkers

[chippy]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Hi all,

as you might know (or not...) I'm distributing Icecat binaries via this
website: https://icecatbrowser.org and sometimes I receive some
feedback from users. 

The most of the cases I can reply to questions but I received this
request that I prefer to forward and share here because I'm not
prepared on the topic. It also sounds like something that can impact
users privacy.

==================================

> 
> Hi team,
> 
> tested the latest version you have on site... Dont have an account to
> codeberg to submit an issue.
> 
> You should disable by default the ServiceWorkers or make an
> enable/disable option. Read more 
> https://github.com/pipiscrew/small_prjs/tree/master/js_serviceworker
> 
> truly there is no need to have it... The guy is into Gecko render
> engine, see^ I have link, checked the source, used in multiple
> places, will be hard.. 
==================================

I checked 'about:serviceworkers' and indeed service workers are there
even after the page that registered them is long closed.

quote from the github url above:
> Service Worker - run independently of the specific page that
> registered it. Can continue running in the background even when the
> page that registered them is closed. Used for tasks such as caching
> resources, background sync, and push notifications. Can respond to
> events even when the associated web page is not active.
...
> Disable Service Workers
> 
> firefox :
> 
>     about:config
>     set false
>         dom.serviceWorkers.enabled
>         dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled
>         extensions.backgroundServiceWorker.enabled
> 
I can see how it can be used to track user activity.

Is disabling this going to prevent (some) websites from working
correctly? 

I can disable it on my Icecat and see what happens but seeing what
happens is on a different level than knowing what happens, where the
latter is to be preferred, reason why I'm asking here.
 
Thank you in advance,
Chippy

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=IVLD
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----