Re: [bug #57884] wget reveals my operating system to the server

[address@hidden]

Interesting - forcing a user agent string could be in violation of GDPR since 
it would definitely make the user environments more identifiable. The 
"fingerprinting" discussion refers. On the other hand, if all browsers 
henceforth were to send the same string the opposite would be true. 

I wonder about the reason given: "To avoid compatibility issues." That was - if 
I recall correctly - the reason for having the string to start with: So that 
servers can format pages to suit the capabilities of the browser and version 
used. If in the future all browsers were using the Chromium engine this 
mechanism might no longer be needed and web pages would no longer need to 
adjust for browser differences - although I can't see a world where all 
browsers on all types of devices and all "other" client software would be 
behaving identically. 

Gerd
 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Ruehsen" <address@hidden>
To: "Tim Ruehsen" <address@hidden>, "Bruno Haible" <address@hidden>, 
address@hidden, "bug-wget" <address@hidden>, address@hidden
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 12:10:56 PM
Subject: [bug #57884] wget reveals my operating system to the server

Follow-up Comment #6, bug #57884 (project wget):

There seem to be concerns and actions taken by browser vendors about regarding
the User-Agent header. It's about "freezing" the User-Agent string once and
for all to avoid compatibility issues.

Is this an option for us ?

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!msg/blink-dev/-2JIRNMWJ7s/yHe4tQNLCgAJ

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/new-privacy-oriented-feature-added-to-edge-82-freeze-user-agent/m-p/1165269


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