- From: Scott Lawrence <lawrence@agranat.com>
- Date: Tue, 01 Jul 1997 15:39:42 -0400
- To: http-wg@cuckoo.hpl.hp.com
>>>>> "KH" == Koen Holtman <koen@win.tue.nl> writes: KH> - Web servers SHOULD NOT use GET based forms for the submission KH> of sensitive data, because this will cause this data to be encoded in KH> the request URI, and many existing servers, proxies, and user agents KH> will log the request URI in some place where it may be visible to KH> third parties. Servers can use POST based form submission instead. This is just the latest of a number of suggestions lately that are based on the idea that a 'server' can protect users from various insecure or otherwise inadvisable practices. The _server_ cannot know whether or not a form contains 'sensitive' data; only the application designer (the one who wrote the form) and perhaps the user know that. The world may need a Best Current Practices RFC to advise application designers on how to avoid problems like the one Koen cites, but no HTTP server can stop them, and the specification should not be muddied with requirements which can neither be implemented nor tested. -- Scott Lawrence EmWeb Embedded Server <lawrence@agranat.com> Agranat Systems, Inc. Engineering http://www.agranat.com/
Received on Tuesday, 1 July 1997 12:43:39 UTC