Re: [hybi] IESG note?, was: Last Call: <draft-ietf-hybi-thewebsocketprotocol-10.txt> (The WebSocket protocol) to Proposed Standard

"Roy T. Fielding" <fielding@gbiv.com> Sat, 03 September 2011 17:01 UTC

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From: "Roy T. Fielding" <fielding@gbiv.com>
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Date: Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:03:17 -0700
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To: Julian Reschke <julian.reschke@gmx.de>
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Subject: Re: [hybi] IESG note?, was: Last Call: <draft-ietf-hybi-thewebsocketprotocol-10.txt> (The WebSocket protocol) to Proposed Standard
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I don't know if this is a cultural issue or not, but neither of those
changes is an improvement, nor should they be any less offensive.
Convoluted and inefficient describes the hashing algorithm in the
least offensive way possible -- "complex" doesn't say anything.
There are a lot of complex algorithms (e.g., TLS) that are
necessarily so.

And I gave the sole reason the WG has for using those ports -- I don't
want people to imagine there might be any other (sane, unselfish, etc.)
reasons.

Besides, what I wrote is entirely factual -- the offensive version
would have melted your LCD.

....Roy

On Sep 3, 2011, at 6:17 AM, Julian Reschke wrote:

> On 2011-09-03 12:54, Julian Reschke wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I believe that almost everything Roy says below is non-controversial; if
>> we can tune the language to be less offensive it might fit well into the
>> Introduction (and not require an IESG Note to get into the document).
>> 
>> Best regards, Julian
>> ...
> 
> Like that...:
> 
>   The WebSocket protocol is designed with an assumption that
>   TCP port 80 or 443 will be used for the sake of tunneling raw
>   socket exchanges over HTTP.  The result is a convoluted and
>   inefficient exchange of hashed data for the sake of bypassing
> 
> s/convoluted and inefficient/complex/
> 
>   intermediaries that may be routing, authenticating, filtering,
>   or verifying traffic on those ports.  The sole reason for using
> 
> s/sole//
> 
>   ports 80 and 443, and hence requiring the hashed data exchange,
>   is because many organizations use TCP port blocking at firewalls
>   to prevent unexpected network traffic, but allow the HTTP ports
>   to remain open because they are expected to be used for normal
>   Web request traffic.  WebSocket deliberately bypasses network
>   management constraints in order to enable Web application
>   developers to send arbitrary data though a trusted port.
> 
>   Naturally, the WebSocket protocol does not have the same network
>   characteristics as HTTP.  The messages exchanged are likely to
>   be smaller, more interactive, and delivered asynchronously over
>   a long-lived connection.  Unfortunately, those are the same
>   characteristics of typical denial-of-service attacks over HTTP.
>   Organizations deploying WebSockets should be aware that existing
>   network equipment or software monitoring on those ports may need
>   to be updated or replaced.
> 
> Best regards, Julian
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