WebRTC is a technology in modern web browsers that allows direct real time peer to peer communication between browsers. This allows audio and video communication to work without needing to install plugins or download various applications. While it has allowed sites like google hangouts to function, there are some downsides to those wanting more privacy online.
WebRTC is known to have security issues that can leak your real IP address to various web sites while using a VPN. The purpose of having a VPN is to hide your actual location (ISP provided IP address) from any websites you visit. This is for privacy concerns or to use services blocked in your country. By having WebRTC enabled in your browser it may make your VPN service worthless.
There are a number of downloadable plugins that disable WebRTC. However these also pose security concerns. If you are using Firefox as your browser WebRTC can be turned off by using the about:config command built into Firefox.
Here is how to disable WebRTC in Firefox:
type about:config in the url box
search for media.peerconnection.enabled and set to false
search for media.navigator.enabled and set to false (disables microphone and camera information, important for laptop users since they are built-in).
to check if items are disabled, go to this site: https://browserleaks.com/webrtc
and make sure everything is either false or n/a.
