Re: Don't cache things against content providers' wishes. Re: Draft finding - "Transitioning the Web to HTTPS"

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 8:05 AM, Eric J. Bowman <eric@bisonsystems.net>
wrote:

> Tim Berners-Lee wrote:
> >
> > It is is counterproductive to say that technology and policy should
> > be discussed in different fora.
> >
>
> +1
>
> >
> > Should ideally it be illegal to cache things against the
> > content-owner's wishes, then?
> >
>
> Not on a public network? Also, the wording would be tricky -- think
> Wayback Machine, blatantly disregarding cache expiration values. Which
> could be considered against the content-publisher's wishes.
>
> >
> > Should it be illegal for an ISP to inject anything (like javascript)
> > of any sort into anything (like http: HTML pages) ?
> >
>
> The problem is that isn't always nefarious. People sign up for ISPs who
> offer free access in exchange for injected advertising.


Modifying the content of others is not a good technical approach for that
business proposition. ​When you modify computer software created by someone
else - without coordination or permission - you create a new piece of
software that the original creator has had no opportunity to test. As a
result such modifications frequently cause failures. Indeed anyone who has
ever written software knows that if you do not test it, then it _will_
fail. So, the modification impacts the ability of the original creator to
offer their customer the service they promised.

The above is equally true if you modify the data the software acts upon.

…Mark



> It would be
> like legislating against video-hosting services because some content is
> pirated.
>
> -Eric
>