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Re: What's the deal ?

mpoole@heac006.gb.ec.ps.net writes:
> I suspect that the following is not a real issue, but would be interested
> to hear if anyone has any real details of what the problems are/were.

  Ahem - problem: lazy journalists who don't bother to check details
        solution: shoot them when they publish obvious idiocy

  This might be related to the brou-haha that came up when people
discovered that some web browsers actually _FOLLOWED_THE_SPEC_ for HTTP/1.0
and sent the Referer: and From: fields in an HTTP/1.0 request.  I know its
a shock for a web browser to actually adhere to standards, but please try
to bear with us. :)

  Browsers I know of that send referer (correctly or not):

  1. Emacs/w3     3. AIR Mosaic     5. Arena
  2. Lynx         4. Netscape       6. NCSA WinMosaic (??)

  The same list holds for the sending of 'From' field.  But it can be
turned off in all of them as well.

  Sigh.  I wonder who these so-called industry experts are.

-Bill P.

> > ONLINE SPYING
> > While you're connected to your favorite Web page, it's also connected
> > to you, and could be copying all sorts of information off your hard
> > drive, say industry experts. In fact, it happened last year when
> > Central Point Software used registration software developed by
> > Pipeline Communications, and inadvertently also gathered descriptions
> > of the users' systems -- the type of microprocessor, the version of
> > DOS and Windows, the type of display and mouse, and the amount of free
> > space available on the hard drive. Customers squawked, and Central
> > Point had Pipeline change the software. However, Pipeline reports that
> > at least one of its clients is using the scanning feature now -- but
> > only after getting the owner's permission. The lesson? "If you can't
> > trust it, don't connect to it." (Forbes 2/13/95 p.186)
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