I reread the entire thread.  If I can restate the concern -- the concern is 
that a site will enable access without understanding what enabling access means 
and therefore unintentionally leak data.  This is a risk with or without 
cookies, but the cookies means that the site might unintentionally leak 
user-specific data.  
 
 The intention is to cripple the access-control functionality by eliminating 
cookies in order to prevent site authors from injuring themselves, thus 
eliminating a large class of valid use cases but preventing site-authors from 
leaking their own user-specific data covered by their own privacy policy.
 
 I'm reminded of the Ronald Reagan quote:  "Government exists to protect us 
from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to 
protect us from ourselves."  
 
 I think trying to protect site authors from themselves is giving site authors 
far too little credit.  
 
 --Brad

Brad Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Can you illuminate more clearly what the unintended consequence is for the 
server maintainer is caused by sending the cookies with the request?

--Brad
(Sent from mobile device)

On Feb 22, 2008, at 9:47 PM, Jonas Sicking  wrote:

Brad Porter wrote:
We should remember that non-malicious cross-site-requests with cookies go on 
all the time.  A simple peek at your cookie store (or turning on accept/reject 
of cookies) will show that many sites make cross-site-requests with cookies all 
the time.  Banner ads on the web work entirely based on cross-site GET requests 
with cookies.  There is no same-origin policy for cross-site IMG, FRAME, etc 
requests with cookies.

As I outlined in my "to cookie or not to cookie" email, the concern isn't that 
new attack vectors are introduced. The concern is that servers will enable 
access control without realizing what it means.

/ Jonas



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