Re: LYNX-DEV nit about agent string

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On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Foteos Macrides wrote:

> Foteos Macrides <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
>       I take that back.  The -08 draft has "Section 3.8 Product Tokens"
> which still specifies what precedes the first slash in the User-Agent
> field.  "Mozilla" is the product token for Netscape browsers -- not a
> trademark, nor a copyright notice, but a *product token* according to the
> HTTP protocol.  If you arrange for software to send that as the string
> preceding the first slash, according to the HTTP protocol, you still are
> misrepresenting the software as a Netscape browser, and real lawyers will
> need to test, someday, whether that amounts to a copyright violation.

I think it would simply mean that the "product" indicates it can handle
(whatever that implies) extensions specifically for browser type
indicated.  If I say I am MSIE, I can expect to get ActiveX applets.

Or, maybe we need some lawyers to write nasty letters to web sites that
contain words like "anti-trust" and "americans-with-disabilities-act" when
they refuse to accept Lynx as a valid browser by checking agent strings
instead of determining actual capabilities (e.g. you can disable weak SSL
protocols at the server end, so you would not be able to connect to such a
site with a crypto-crippled browser).

I could modify lxp to add something to the agent string to indicate SSL
capability, but if they aren't going to look past Mozilla, it won't
matter.

--- reply to tzeruch - at - ceddec - dot - com ---

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