Re: Proposal: Prefer secure origins for powerful new web platform features

On 08/22/2014 03:09 PM, Jeffrey Yasskin wrote:

[...]

> "be careful" is useless unless we can describe what care is appropriate.

My wife tells me to "be careful" when I go running in the woods. What I 
think she means is:

* Make enough noise to avoid running into a bear or a snake
* Don't get lost
* Get back before dark
* Wear enough clothes

(and see * below)

... and maybe a few other things. Her advice is vague and open to my 
interpretation, but still useful. But that's mostly because I have lots 
of education of what happens when I ignore her advice (never ignore your 
spouse's advice ;)

> And we have to describe it concisely and clearly so that users can read
> and understand it while it's interrupting the task they want to do.

Getting back to the original issue (opening particular features of the 
web platform to "secure origins") I would say that yes, providing 
adequate education about what is implied by a server requesting access 
to perform operations (of any kind) is an excellent idea. What can a 
browser tell you about an essentially unknown web server?

>
> Do you buy things over the internet? Would you send your credit card
> data over a non-TLS connection just because TLS doesn't give perfect
> security?

I would separate this question into a couple of other questions:

* Do I give my credit card information to untrusted people in untrusted 
places?

The answer is yes, and I would guess you have heard of credit card 
skimmers?

* Would I like my credit card information to remain confidential?

The answer is again yes. And I do my part to ensure it does. TLS is not 
the only thing required of me to do that.

As I've said previously, I think the encryption available in TLS is 
excellent for transmitting confidential data.

I just don't see that an encrypted transport layer is the same thing as 
a secure way of authenticating a server to perform an operation on the 
web platform.

Regards,

- johnk

* what she actually means is "don't make me have to come and get you!"

>
>     -- see the "ceremony" idea you mention above), and also to state
>     that TLS only protects data while in transit between a user's
>     network endpoint and the network endpoint with whom they are
>     communicating. It is not a solution (without additional context at
>     least) either for authentication of the parties, or for ensuring
>     that a user's data remain confidential once transmitted to any other
>     party.
>
>     Regards,
>
>     - johnk



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Received on Friday, 22 August 2014 19:45:05 UTC