From: Laszlo Vecsey <master@internexus.net>
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 12:43:36 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Netscape, Mosaic, and other goodies.
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.951201231649.5324C-100000@micro.internexus.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> > > The field is User-Agent. However, blocking access to users of Navigator 
> > > isn't a particularly useful thing to do. If you must do something, why 
> > > not modify your GET handler to add a header to the start of all html 
> > > pages informing people of the problem, and suggesting alternatives. 
> > 
> > Great idea! I'm sure there is a cypherpunk on this list willing to write a 
> > patch to NCSA HTTPd to get the job done, in a configurable manor of 
> > course so that a template.html would be 'inserted' at the top of every 
> > document sent out to the specified browser. Any takers?
> 
> No need. Simply add
> 
> <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="1;URL=netscape-warning.html">
> 
> to the start of your page. Netscape browsers will be redirected.

Are you sure Netscape browsers are the only ones that currently implement 
this tag? Other browsers will be implementing it soon enough I'm 
sure. I think the only fool-proof way of doing it is at the webserver.

Anyway, isn't 5 million bux a little too much for the government to give 
Netscape for the security improvements? I would think that for less than a 
million a group of programmers could be rounded up to create a stable 
multi-platform web navigator with VRML, MPEG, Audio, Postscript, and a 
zillion other features built in. :)

It's funny how one day we are raving about how great Netscape is, and the 
next day we hate them. If we aren't pleased with a particular piece of 
software, instead of argueing about it we should just go and make one 
that we are pleased with. Using the many libraries available such as MPEG, 
GIF, JPEG for example and releasing it under the GNU agreement is the way 
to go. Or perhaps we should just back the original browser, NCSA Mosaic. 
With some improvements it could once again be the best browser on the net.

I suppose I'm not clear about the implications of these eskrow keys... 
just because the government is supporting it, and Netscape will be 
implementing it doesn't mean that we have to use it. Is it against the 
law to encrypt data (using your own method) and send it over the Internet?
I don't think so.

...