Topic: Computing/Websites
You are looking at all articles with the topic "Computing/Websites". We found 6 matches.
Hint:
To view all topics, click here. Too see the most popular topics, click here instead.
π VRML β Virtual Reality Markup Language
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced vermal or by its initials, originallyβbefore 1995βknown as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind. It has been superseded by X3D.
Discussed on
- "VRML" | 2022-04-15 | 150 Upvotes 144 Comments
- "VRML β Virtual Reality Markup Language" | 2021-10-30 | 15 Upvotes 3 Comments
π HTTP 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons
In computer networking, HTTP 451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons is an error status code of the HTTP protocol to be displayed when the user requests a resource which cannot be served for legal reasons, such as a web page censored by a government. The number 451 is a reference to Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, in which books are outlawed. 451 intends to provide more information than 403 Forbidden, which is often used for the same purpose. This status code is standardized in RFC 7725.
Examples of situations where an HTTP 451 error code could be displayed include web pages deemed a danger to national security, or web pages deemed to violate copyright, privacy, blasphemy laws, or any other law or court order.
The RFC is specific that a 451 response does not indicate whether the resource exists but requests for it have been blocked, if the resource has been removed for legal reasons and no longer exists, or even if the resource has never existed, but any discussion of its topic has been legally forbidden (see superinjunction). Some sites have previously returned HTTP 404 (Not Found) or similar if they are not legally permitted to disclose that the resource has been removed. Such a tactic is used in the United Kingdom by some internet service providers utilising the Internet Watch Foundation blacklist, returning a 404 message or another error message instead of showing a message indicating the site is blocked.
The status code was formally proposed in 2013 by Tim Bray, following earlier informal proposals by Chris Applegate in 2008 and Terence Eden in 2012. It was approved by the IESG on December 18, 2015. It was published as RFC 7725 in February 2016.
HTTP 451 was mentioned by the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent program, as an indication of the effects of sanctions on Sudan and the inability to access Airbnb, iOS's App Store, or other Western web services.
After introduction of the GDPR in European Economic Area (EEA) many websites located outside EEA started to serve HTTP 451 instead of trying to comply with this new privacy law.
Discussed on
- "HTTP 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons" | 2019-10-25 | 72 Upvotes 18 Comments
- "HTTP 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons" | 2019-03-22 | 18 Upvotes 2 Comments
- "HTTP 451: Unavailable for Legal Reasons" | 2017-01-26 | 10 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Evercookie
Evercookie is a JavaScript-based application created by Samy Kamkar that produces zombie cookies in a web browser that are intentionally difficult to delete. In 2013, a top-secret NSA document was leaked by Edward Snowden, citing Evercookie as a method of tracking Tor users.
Discussed on
- "Evercookie" | 2011-04-05 | 75 Upvotes 17 Comments
π Domain Fronting
Domain fronting is a technique for Internet censorship circumvention that uses different domain names in different communication layers of an HTTPS connection to discreetly connect to a different target domain than is discernable to third parties monitoring the requests and connections.
Due to quirks in security certificates, the redirect systems of the content delivery networks (CDNs) used as 'domain fronts', and the protection provided by HTTPS, censors are typically unable to differentiate circumvention ("domain-fronted") traffic from overt non-fronted traffic for any given domain name. As such they are forced to either allow all traffic to the domain frontβincluding circumvention trafficβor block the domain front entirely, which may result in expensive collateral damage and has been likened to "blocking the rest of the Internet".
Domain fronting does not conform to HTTP standards that require the SNI extension and HTTP Host header to contain the same domain. Many large cloud service providers, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, actively prohibit domain fronting, which has limited it as a censorship bypass technique. Pressure from censors in Russia and China is thought to have contributed to these prohibitions, but domain fronting can also be used maliciously.
A newer variant of domain fronting, domain hiding, passes an encrypted request for one resource (say, a website), concealed behind an unencrypted (plaintext) request for another resource whose DNS records are stored in the same cloud. It has much the same effect. Refraction networking is an application of the broader principle.
π GitHub was blocked in Turkey
GitHub has been the target of censorship from governments using methods ranging from local Internet service provider blocks, intermediary blocking using methods such as DNS hijacking and man-in-the-middle attacks, and denial-of-service attacks on GitHub's servers from countries including China, India, Russia, and Turkey. In all of these cases, GitHub has been eventually unblocked after backlash from users and technology businesses or compliance from GitHub.