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HTTP/2.0 Opens Every New Connection It Makes With the Word 'PRISM' (jgc.org)

Posted by samzenpus on from the reading-between-the-lies dept.

An anonymous reader writes: British programmer and writer John Graham-Cumming has spotted what appears to be a 'code-protest' in the next generation of the hypertext protocol. Each new connection forged by the HTTP/2.0 protocol spells out the word 'PRISM' obliquely, though the word itself is obscured to the casual observer by coded returns and line-breaks. Work on the hidden message in HTTP/2.0 seems to date back to nine days after the Snowden revelations broke, with the final commit completed by July of 2013. In July 2013 one of the protocol's architects appealed to the development group to reconsider design principles in the light of the revelations about the NSA's worldwide surveillance program.

4 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Re:it took 2 1/2 years... by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    took 2 1/2 years for someone to care

  2. Re:no, without linefeeds it says PRI*HTTP/2.0SM by dcollins117 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So someone added cruft to a communications protocol just to make a political statement? Seems to me that is a very poor reason to make a technical decision. It's not needed, it should be removed.

  3. Re:no, without linefeeds it says PRI*HTTP/2.0SM by Jesus_666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    // HTTP 1.1 is essentially 1.0 so any future version of HTTP will work with our code.
    var weSupportThis = new Regex("^HTTP/\d+\.\d+").IsMatch(header);

    There are many coders out there and many broken ways of detecting protocols. Only changing the version number might run into trouble if one side of the conversation assumes that everything starting with "HTTP" is going to be pretty much equivalent to HTTP/1.0. So at least the "PRI" part makes sense.

    --
    USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  4. Re:it took 2 1/2 years... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No. It took this long for someone to post it to Slashdot.

    People still don't care.