The "safe" HTTP Preference
draft-nottingham-safe-hint-09

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Network Working Group                                      M. Nottingham
Internet-Draft                                            April 17, 2019
Intended status: Informational
Expires: October 19, 2019

                       The "safe" HTTP Preference
                     draft-nottingham-safe-hint-09

Abstract

   This specification defines a "safe" preference for HTTP requests that
   expresses a desire to avoid objectionable content, according to the
   definition of that term by the origin server.

   Support for this preference by clients and servers is optional.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
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   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 19, 2019.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  The "safe" Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Appendix B.  Sending "safe" from Web Browsers . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Appendix C.  Supporting "safe" on Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   Many Web sites have a "safe" mode, to assist those who don't want to
   be exposed (or have their children exposed) to content to which they
   might object.

   However, that goal is often difficult to achieve, because of the need
   to go to every Web site that might be used, navigate to the
   appropriate page (possibly creating an account along the way) to get
   a cookie [RFC6265] set in the browser, for each browser on every
   device used.

   A more manageable approach is for the browser to proactively indicate
   a preference for safe content.  A user agent that supports doing so
   (whether it be an individual browser, or through an Operating System
   HTTP library) need only be configured once to assure that the
   preference is advertised to a set of sites, or even all sites.

   This specification defines how to declare this desire in requests as
   a HTTP Preference [RFC7240].

   Note that this specification does not define what content might be
   considered objectionable, and so the concept of "safe" is also not
   precisely defined.  Rather, the term is interpreted by the server and
   within the scope of each Web site that chooses to act upon this
   information.

   That said, the intent of "safe" is to allow end users (or those
   acting on their behalf) to express a desire to avoid content that is
   considered objectionable within the cultural context of that site;
   usually (but not always) content that is unsuitable for minors.  The
   "safe" preference is not intended to be used for other purposes.

   Furthermore, sending "safe" does not guarantee that the Web site will
   use it, nor that it will apply a concept of "objectionable" that is

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   consistent with the requester's views.  As such, its effect can be
   described as "best effort," and not to be relied upon.  In other
   words, sending the preference is no more reliable than going to each
   Web site and manually selecting a "safe" mode, but it is considerably