Re: lights are on, no one's in.

At 05:27 PM 11/7/2001 , Access Systems wrote:
>On Wed, 7 Nov 2001, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
>oh yes, lets help them break into our systems easier

I'm sorry, I think you're a bit confused.  The CC/PP specification
does nothing to help people "break into your systems easier"; it
only provides for the ability to communicate whatever YOU feel is
appropriate to a server, with the goal of that server being able to
provide you a better user interface.

Such information should be covered by a P3P privacy policy, which
would allow an intelligent user agent to discern if their privacy
policies conform with your privacy settings -- and if not, the
user agent would deny the server the information, if that's what
you've decided is appropriate.

But if you decide the privacy policy IS acceptable, then you could
have the information instantly transmitted by your self-identifying
user agent.

Nothing in this makes you any more or less likely to have your
system broken into, especially not compared with the CURRENT system
which is that for the most part, your browser already transmits
a great deal of information about your system.

I probably know more from your email that would allow me to crack
your system (if I were that type of person) than from a CC/PP
profile.  (The fact you're using Pine on Linux through
smarty.smart.net [207.176.80.102] running, possibly, Sendmail
8.9.1/8.9.1? is broadcast in your headers, and is much more
useful than knowing the dimensions of your display and whether
or not you have a pointing device.)

Let's not allow unfounded paranoid fears of computers getting cracked
to dismiss what could be a very useful advance in the usability and
accessibility of the web.

--Kynn

--
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
Technical Developer Liaison
Reef North America
Accessibility - W3C - Integrator Network
________________________________________
BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL.
________________________________________
http://www.reef.com

Received on Wednesday, 7 November 2001 20:29:56 UTC