URL disambiguation

http://no-www.org/
http://yes-www.org/

No doubt most of you are familiar with these web sites, and with the
arguments for and against requiring host names in URLs.

Most browsers seem to make it a moot point by accepting both forms of
URL.  If I type "example.com" into my browser it takes me to
http://www.example.com.  The agent is letting me be lazy and skip typing
the protocol (http://) or hostname (www.) portions of my destination
address.

The process of URL disambiguation, whereby the UA attempts to guess
parts of the address the user has omitted, should be standardized for
both security & experience reasons:

[protocol://][host.][domain][.TLD][:port][/[path]][?query]

 - If protocol omitted, UA must try https before http.  (Always prefer a
TLS protected destination.)

 - If host omitted, and protocol is http(s), UA may try the host name
"www" in the target domain if it has a DNS record, unless the agent is
in SBM mode.

 - etc.


> Michael McCormick, CISSP
> Lead Security Architect, Information Security Technologies
> Wells Fargo Bank
> "THESE OPINIONS ARE STRICTLY MY OWN AND NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF WELLS
> FARGO"
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