Bad protocol, bad politics

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 draft abstract reads as follows:

This specification describes an optimized expression of the semantics of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP/2 enables a more efficient use of network resources and a reduced perception of latency by introducing header field compression and allowing multiple concurrent messages on the same connection. It also introduces unsolicited push of representations from servers to clients. This specification is an alternative to, but does not obsolete, the HTTP/1.1 message syntax. HTTP's existing semantics remain unchanged.

Considering it has been almost 26 years since the original specification one would assume we are probably overdue for a evolutionary leap in the specification, but according to Poul-Henning Kamp the changes will be sadly neutered.

The reason HTTP/2.0 does not improve privacy is that the big corporate backers have built their business model on top of the lack of privacy. They are very upset about NSA spying on just about everybody in the entire world, but they do not want to do anything that prevents them from doing the same thing. The proponents of HTTP/2.0 are also trying to use it as a lever for the "SSL anywhere" agenda, despite the fact that many HTTP applications have no need for, no desire for, or may even be legally banned from using encryption.

This is really disheartening news on many levels. Please take the opportunity to read the entire article over at ACM Queue.



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