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It would be nice if this spec would be implemented in major browsers allowing access from JavaScript to USB crypto tokens.

In my country (and, AFAIK, in many other places) those tokens are used to provide some government services which require digital signature. Few years ago Java applets were widely used to provide that functionality. There's no other way for JavaScript to access crypto token. It wasn't that smooth, but it worked. Now, when Java applets started to disappear in major browsers, websites require you to download a program which must be run, it listens at local port and website uses websocket to communicate with that program. This process becomes much more complicated for user, especially for non-Windows OS.

If JavaScript would be able to access USB crypto device, the whole user experience improvement would be huge.




Chrome Apps already have USB access: https://developer.chrome.com/apps/app_usb


Already possible in Chrome, and soon in Firefox, with Edge having announced eventual support; have a look at Fido U2F [1].

Yubico sells U2F tokens that can be used to authenticate with GMail, Dropbox, and GitHub in your browser; today.

I just hope that these standards become implemented soon enough for governments to choose them over home brewed or proprietary solutions.

1: https://fidoalliance.org/specifications/overview/




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