Re: Archaic HTTP "From:" Header

On 5/27/13 8:39 AM, mike amundsen wrote:
> If you decide to register a new header[1] ("webid") I suggest you also 
> consider registering a Link Relation Value[2] ("webid") so that the 
> WebID information can be easily included in message bodies (e.g. 
> HTML.LINK, HTML.A, etc.) when that is appropriate.
>
> [1] http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3864#section-4
> [2] http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5988#section-6.1

If taking this route we need three headers:

1. AgentID -- for denoting user agents using a URI as opposed to literals
2. WebID -- for denoting agents using an HTTP URI
3. NetID -- for denoting agents using URIs.

I don't see the need for a specific Link Relation since one can use 
existing URIs from shared vocabularies to denote the relations for which 
any of the above could be a subject or object.

Kingsley
>
>
>
> mamund
> +1.859.757.1449
> skype: mca.amundsen
> http://amundsen.com/blog/
> http://twitter.com/mamund
> https://github.com/mamund
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeamundsen
>
>
> On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 8:29 AM, Melvin Carvalho 
> <melvincarvalho@gmail.com <mailto:melvincarvalho@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>     On 27 May 2013 14:17, mike amundsen <mamund@yahoo.com
>     <mailto:mamund@yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>         Register "webid" as a Link Relation Value and ese the LINK
>         header as in
>         Link: <http://...." rel="webid">
>
>         This will make sure you don't step on someone else's header,
>         no-one will step our yours. This will also allow you to
>         include it in the header and (when appropriate) include it
>         within a message body.
>
>
>     That could work so how about
>
>     [[
>
>
>           WebID
>           <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#header.from>
>
>     The "WebID" header field contains a URI for a user who controls
>     the requesting user agent.
>
>        WebID    = user
>        
>        user = [[ Text linking to URI spec]]
>
>     An example is:
>
>        WebID:http://example.org/alice#me  <mailto:webmaster@example.org>
>
>     A user agent /SHOULD NOT/ send a WebID header field without
>     explicit configuration by the user, since that might conflict with
>     the user's privacy interests or their site's security policy.
>
>     Servers /SHOULD NOT/ use the WebID header field for access control
>     or authentication, without extra out of band entropy, such as a
>     shared secret contained in the URL query string or a cookie.
>
>     ]]
>
>
>
>         mamund
>         +1.859.757.1449 <tel:%2B1.859.757.1449>
>         skype: mca.amundsen
>         http://amundsen.com/blog/
>         http://twitter.com/mamund
>         https://github.com/mamund
>         http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeamundsen
>
>
>         On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 7:18 AM, Melvin Carvalho
>         <melvincarvalho@gmail.com <mailto:melvincarvalho@gmail.com>>
>         wrote:
>
>
>
>
>             On 3 April 2013 19:18, Kingsley Idehen
>             <kidehen@openlinksw.com <mailto:kidehen@openlinksw.com>>
>             wrote:
>
>                 All,
>
>                 I think the HTTP "From:" header [1] is now truly
>                 archaic circa. 2013. If the range of this particular
>                 predicate was a URI it would really aid our quest for
>                 a RWW.
>
>                 Suggestion:
>
>                 As part of our RWW bootstrap effort, we could consider
>                 an "X-From:" header that basically takes a URI or
>                 Literal value.
>
>                 I think we can flesh this out across WebID and RWW via
>                 implementations before moving up to TAG and IETF.
>
>                 Mark: what do you think, anyway ? :-)
>
>
>             After some investigation on this:
>
>             Here is the current text, which is slightly different from
>             the RFC
>
>             [[
>
>
>                   5.5.1
>                   <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#rfc.section.5.5.1>
>                   From
>                   <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#header.from>
>
>             The "From" header field contains an Internet email address
>             for a human user who controls the requesting user agent.
>             The address ought to be machine-usable, as defined by
>             "mailbox" in Section 3.4
>             <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322#section-3.4> of
>             [RFC5322]
>             <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#RFC5322>:
>
>
>                From  <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#header.from>     =mailbox  <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#header.from>
>                
>                mailbox  <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#header.from>  = <mailbox, defined in[RFC5322]  <https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/wg/httpbis/draft-ietf-httpbis/latest/p2-semantics.html#RFC5322>,Section 3.4  <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322#section-3.4>>
>
>             An example is:
>
>                From:webmaster@example.org  <mailto:webmaster@example.org>
>
>             The From header field is rarely sent by non-robotic user
>             agents. A user agent /SHOULD NOT/ send a From header field
>             without explicit configuration by the user, since that
>             might conflict with the user's privacy interests or their
>             site's security policy.
>
>             Robotic user agents /SHOULD/ send a valid From header
>             field so that the person responsible for running the robot
>             can be contacted if problems occur on servers, such as if
>             the robot is sending excessive, unwanted, or invalid
>             requests.
>
>             Servers /SHOULD NOT/ use the From header field for access
>             control or authentication, since most recipients will
>             assume that the field value is public information.
>
>             ]]
>
>             1. "From" seems to be largely unused according to various
>             sources
>
>             2. Some people are already using "From" for http URIs
>
>             3. From my informal straw poll more people are in favour
>             of using HTTP URIs in From than against (roughly 2 to 1),
>             though those against seem to be strongly against
>
>             4. It may be possible to use another header, but that is
>             less intuitive, and we will need suggestions
>
>             5. It was pointed out that, what later became known as
>             "WebID" stuffed an HTTP URI in the header field.
>
>             6. The User-Agent field is used by spiders such as baidu
>             and google to give an HTTP URI
>
>             IMHO, this is a valuable use case for identifying on the
>             web, without a dependency on X.509 certs which are (at
>             least perceived as) very hard to deploy.  If you want
>             strong security use TLS but it need not be mandatory for
>             more casual usage.  A use case might be to get a casual
>             social web going eg via the tabulator extenstion
>
>             So the question is which header to use for identity on the
>             web ...
>
>
>                 -- 
>
>                 Regards,
>
>                 Kingsley Idehen
>                 Founder & CEO
>                 OpenLink Software
>                 Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>                 Personal Weblog:
>                 http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
>                 <http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>                 Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
>                 Google+ Profile:
>                 https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
>                 LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen

Received on Monday, 27 May 2013 13:15:13 UTC