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Google Wants To Kill the URL (wired.com)

As Chrome looks ahead to its next 10 years, the team is mulling its most controversial initiative yet: fundamentally rethinking URLs across the web. From a report: Uniform Resource Locators are the familiar web addresses you use everyday. They are listed in the web's DNS address book and direct browsers to the right Internet Protocol addresses that identify and differentiate web servers. In short, you navigate to WIRED.com to read WIRED so you don't have to manage complicated routing protocols and strings of numbers. But over time, URLs have gotten more and more difficult to read and understand. The resulting opacity has been a boon for cyber criminals who build malicious sites to exploit the confusion. They impersonate legitimate institutions, launch phishing schemes, hawk malicious downloads, and run phony web services -- all because it's difficult for web users to keep track of who they're dealing with. Now, the Chrome team says it's time for a massive change.

"People have a really hard time understanding URLs," says Adrienne Porter Felt, Chrome's engineering Manager. "They're hard to read, it's hard to know which part of them is supposed to be trusted, and in general I don't think URLs are working as a good way to convey site identity. So we want to move toward a place where web identity is understandable by everyone -- they know who they're talking to when they're using a website and they can reason about whether they can trust them. But this will mean big changes in how and when Chrome displays URLs. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as we're figuring out the right way to convey identity."

If you're having a tough time thinking of what could possibly be used in place of URLs, you're not alone. Academics have considered options over the years, but the problem doesn't have an easy answer. Porter Felt and her colleague Justin Schuh, Chrome's principal engineer, say that even the Chrome team itself is still divided on the best solution to propose. And the group won't offer any examples at this point of the types of schemes they are considering. The focus right now, they say, is on identifying all the ways people use URLs to try to find an alternative that will enhance security and identity integrity on the web while also adding convenience for everyday tasks like sharing links on mobile devices.

282 comments

  1. In other news, Google wants to track you more by sinij · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is not acceptable for Google that some browsing bypasses Google search engine when people directly type in URLs.

    1. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I imagine this would take more of the form of the SSL verified sticker. If you were on CNN then there would be some sort of identify icon around the URL which would let you know if you ever left the site to go to some third-party nonsense link.

      Taboola, etc.

    2. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The next Chrome browser will have no need of URLs: instead it will display a text box with a few search terms.

    3. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by think_nix · · Score: 3, Insightful

      or analytics services, adservice.google.com, apis.google.com, id.google.com, google crawlers, list goes on and on. Seriously though since late 90's early turn of the century with the initial launch of search which is nowhere near the original purpose of the service, I cannot think of one great advancement google has done to better anything on the web.

    4. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Chrome wants to be the new shiny TV....

    5. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by tlhIngan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is not acceptable for Google that some browsing bypasses Google search engine when people directly type in URLs.

      Remember the great dot-com shootout in the early 00's? Back when people wanted very special .com addresses because that's how people found you, by stumbling about composing URLs?

      Sites like sex.com, pets.com, books.com etc. etc. - those domains sold for $$$$$ back in the day. Nowadays it matters a lot less,because everyone Googles rather than tries random URLs. Doesn't hurt that half of the URLs you try will lead to a malware site these days.

    6. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You joke but I just had to use Chrome on Android recently and it had me type the URL I wanted to go to into the Google search because there was no other place to type it...

    7. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Is this better?
      I imagine this would take more of the form of the SSL verified sticker. If you were on Fox News then there would be some sort of identify icon around the URL which would let you know if you ever left the site to go to some third-party nonsense link.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    8. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      whitehouse.com was the best.

    9. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      As a developer, doing restful service calls. even though the info may not be useful for the normal user, It is handy for me the developer. I want to make sure I can load up different data elements, before the search screen is working, make sure security is properly working. Book marks to a url will load the right page when called again...

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    10. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, the expected hyperbolic FUD is of course voted insightful on Slashdot.

    11. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think that, if you are on Fox News, the SSL sticker should be Orange and petty. And it would let you know if you go to a site full of Fake News.

    12. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 0

      And if you're on MSNBC, the SSL icon would be pink and useless.

      (And to be clear, by pink I was not implying gay, I was implying communist).

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    13. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if you're on MSNBC, the SSL icon would be pink and useless.

      (And to be clear, by pink I was not implying gay, I was implying communist).

      It's ok, nobody likes gays or commies.

    14. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can accept that if Breitbart's is a crimson pentagram.

    15. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nowadays it matters a lot less,because everyone Googles rather than tries random URLs.

      Except Google can be gamed to present malware links as the top links. In fact, unless you're looking for something popular, you're liable to get results other than what you're looking for. Even if it's something popular, you're liable to get tabloid papers instead of actual links to content, links that include words but don't represent the content, and of course Google itself either munging words for synonyms or outright dropping words to the point of excluding links that literally contain a quoted phrase.

      Back to the original point, the complaint is that people get confused by URLs. More accurately, maybe, most people don't care where they get their info, only that they get it. Yet that's only true so long as you don't care about the source of the info and Google does a good enough job returning relevant results. People don't get confused at that point, but they may be mislead because there is no real effort by Google to differentiate content. Some of that could be fixed if most sites had trademarked strings in their certificate and CAs diligently rejected similar looking or identical strings. This, of course, would just be a reiteration of the domain gold rush of the past.

      Regardless of if it ends up being CAs or Google who does it in their search results, someone has to clarify the difference between different web links before they're clicked and that puts them on the hook when they fail and people go to malware sites and are infected. Without that last part, then all the hubris of killing the URL is just that. If no one will actually stand by the results to make it clear that different sites are different and the desired one is shown, then nothing is actually accomplished.

      Of course, we're already there. Google has basically completely failed at removing all the spam content in their search results.

    16. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Mod +11. Fortunately users sort of understand URLs enough to where if you messed with them it would be the same reaction Microsoft always got when they tried to get rid of the start menu. Thank God users are dumb and stubborn animals sometimes.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    17. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like gays and commies.

    18. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      They literally have nowhere to go. Expect more of this batshit prosthelizing.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    19. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wutz uh libtard? fuckin kids and their broken english. you're why we can't have nice things.

    20. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      gays and commies are fine. its libtards and republotards that are the problem.

    21. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "prosthelizing"...profiteering? prosthelytizing? prophesying? prophylactizing? other? all of the above? edumuhkayshun 'merkin style?

    22. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "brothelizing"

    23. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by bluegutang · · Score: 1

      Gmail (AJAX webmail) and Google Maps (slippy map, public transit directions) were great advancements.

    24. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by houghi · · Score: 1

      They bought DejaNews. Oh, wait.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    25. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by yuvcifjt · · Score: 1

      No, they were copied products.
      Like pretty much everything google has ever done - either it's bought off competition (i.e. extinguish), or copied the competition (extend).

      There were a multitude on mapping products before google, including ajaxed ones, such as streetmaps and multimaps (bought by Microsoft and turned into bing). Although perhaps none were draggable.

      And like most clueless google supporters, you should read a little history - ajax was created by Microsoft (in 1998) for the very purpose of their office webmail!

      Android was brought from a competitor when they realised from their spy (Eric Schmidt who was on the board of Apple) what Apple were creating. So they had early prototypes and virtually copied every aspect of the iPhone. The purpose was for tracking users on-the-go and so that one player couldn't lock them out of the mobile search and ad market.

    26. Re: In other news, Google wants to track you more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If CNN doesnt want people being confused and thinking they're still on cnn.com when they've clicked a Taboola link, perhaps they shouldn't put Taboola links on their site, or at least mark them better.

    27. Re:In other news, Google wants to track you more by bluegutang · · Score: 1

      I'm aware that the technologies existed before before Gmail and Google Maps. But they were not available to the general public, until Google provided them.

  2. RIP Web by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google, just doing its part in ripping the last bits of the 'web' to shreds. I guess they really do want their search engine to be the place from which all information originates.

    1. Re:RIP Web by skids · · Score: 5, Insightful

      URI/URL effectively died a decade or so ago when savage PHP coders and their armada of "content
      management systems" violated the usage guidance on them and then took years to rediscover the
      concept on their own (as "permalinks").

      Though I'd say the initial first blow was the constant rearranging of static sites by companies that
      apparently had nothing better to do than pay people to move files around for no good reason.

    2. Re:RIP Web by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      I used to blame WordPress outright, but I eventually learned that the blame lies squarely with the users assuming everything 'just works', as well as with plugin developers getting complacent about people using their plugins sanely.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    3. Re:RIP Web by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Not the practice, but rather the need for the mechanisms that wind up supporting such practice.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    4. Re: RIP Web by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All they really need to do is force plain html pages instead of all the dynamic data cluttering up the address bar.

    5. Re:RIP Web by skids · · Score: 1

      I assume you are referring to the latter comment.

      Back in the initial years of the web, when only enlightened geeks were putting URLs online, they would take that act as a commitment (upon themselves) to keep that URL working. Which meant, even if some anal retentive urge compelled you to rearrange your website into a different directory structure, you preserved the old URLs as aliases so people could still use bookmarks they had made of them. See RFC1630:

      Many protocols and systems for document search and retrieval are
            currently in use, and many more protocols or refinements of existing
            protocols are to be expected in a field whose expansion is explosive.

            These systems are aiming to achieve global search and readership of
            documents across differing computing platforms, and despite a
            plethora of protocols and data formats.

      ...or in other words, URI/URL were originally designed to be a dewey decimal system for the web, not just an ephemeral way to make a browser see a page.

      That lasted until about the time that the commercial sector set their hordes of wage slaves onto webpage maintenance and started holding committee meetings to redesign their sites twice a year.... which meant the intended purpose of the URI/URL was a very short lived endeavor.

  3. Re:Maybe use key words? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or get my family friendly Goat C shirt! ~ CaptainDork

  4. Finally! by p4ul13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's about time we revert back to the future with the AOL keywords we all have been sorely missing from our lives!!!

    --
    Paul Lenhart writes words!
    1. Re:Finally! by thegreatbob · · Score: 2

      Alternative future: AOL is the new SCO, and continues to harass the goog for decades for trying to knock off its model.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  5. What the hell is this bullshit? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    PRO-TIP: There's this magical thing called a bookmark that stores all those 'so-over-complicated' URL thingies under a name that you can even change yourself so your teeny little human brain can understand it! Ain't that amazing?</extreme_sarcasm>

    Seriously, Google, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?
    Or is it that people have become so fucking dumb that they really can't type in {website}.{top_level_domain}? Considering all the stupid shit I see in the news pretty much every single day anymore I'd be very tempted to believe that, too.

    1. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by ddtmm · · Score: 1

      Forget the article, did you even read the summary?

    2. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by SirSlud · · Score: 2

      I love it when dumb people lament how dumb everyone has become.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    3. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Riceballsan · · Score: 2

      I don't think they are implying people don't know how to type cnn.com into their browser to get to cnn's webpage, they have trouble understanding that when they get an e-mail linking to http://www.cnn.notascam.com/st...

    4. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by bondsbw · · Score: 0

      Or is it that people have become so fucking dumb that they really can't type in {website}.{top_level_domain}?

      The point is making it easier to read and verify, not making it easier to type.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    5. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by fish_in_the_c · · Score: 1

      Actually , the reason certificates and https were invented is because without them there is no way to prove that when you type cnn.com on your web browser that you are getting a page from a computer that has anything to do with the entity you are wanting to trust. Any router, any DNS equipment , anywhere along the route can reroute you to a different page, one that logs your keystrokes and then sends you to the real site. So yes, this issue is deeper and harder then you might think. I'm sure one of the other problems they are considering is Denial of service attacks, which are hard to completely overcome because some server listing at a specific IP and port 80 needs to answer when your browser makes a request.

      I'm not saying I can think of a better way, but I'm not saying nobody can just because I can't.

      --
      âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
    6. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by think_nix · · Score: 1

      With some rng magic built in maybe this is a way for them to anonymize the ad service providers and all other tracking mechanisms they like to implement.

    7. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is making it easier to read and verify, not making it easier to type.

      If that were the case, then Chrome should show the entire URL instead of hiding pieces for reasons I am unable to comprehend.

    8. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it gets so confusing when I suddenly end up using goo.gl or youtu.be instead of google.com or youtube.com.

      If only someone could solve this confusing behavior...

    9. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I read the article so fuck you. They want to 'child proof' shit because people are dumb but childproofing everything just creates more problems. How about we EDUCATE people better so they're not so dumb anymore? People get more and more done FOR them by some automation or service or whatever and they never learn to do shit for themselves and over time it just makes them dumber and dumber.

    10. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Then we need to TEACH them to know better. Childproofing everything like everyone has an IQ of 75 isn't a good solution.

    11. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of which certificates address.

      All a cert does is say the following: "I am $IDENTITY." It does NOT authenticate that identity on it's own. To do that, you need to know where that identity originated from, and who approved it. None of which is done with the modern CA system we have in-place. Everyone puts blind trust in whatever CAs are bundled with their device. They never check them nor could they if they wanted to. The extended validation process means nothing because no one knows anyone involved with it. The only exceptions are small businesses where the face of the company is still the one setting everything up. Otherwise that certificate that you're using to "trust" the server you connected to was made possible by Worker Drone #225852520.

      Oh and BTW: What is the backing element of the given identity of a certificate? The fully qualified domain name for that server as defined by DNS. So anything that can compromise DNS will also compromise the Certificates you get.

      As for Google... unless you're going to re-implement Second Life as the replacement for the URL, IE. recognizable locations based on their proximity to other locations, don't bother. Practically nothing is useful or readily identifiable by users. Whether it's a bunch of random numbers VS. a bunch of random characters, it all lacks context from the user's point of view. Without the context of "what's near by?" they may as well be on the other end of the universe when trying to determine their "location" online. That's just how our monkey brains are wired up from birth. Very few can grasp the concept of abstract relations at scale.

    12. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. URLs have no trust. Well, duh, that's why we have SSL certificates - if you can't trust the site based on the information in the SSL certificate.

      "You can't determine trust in an SSL certificate without visiting the site first," you say? No kidding. You can't figure out if someone is trustworthy In Real Life either, until they've demonstrated some level of trust to you first.

    13. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rick, can you please get the FUCK off of this site? You're a fucking moron, all the time.

      They were talking about fixing URLs to prevent phishing, so that I cannot trick you into going to myaccount.google.com-securitysettingpage.tk, the way Russia did to the DNC.

    14. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So put a bloody splash page on the browser to explain the first part of a URL. You don't see people (generally) getting fucked up between cities and streets... just explain to read it backwards and if where you want to go isn't the 'second last', it isn't this.

    15. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of the people I work with who are in their 20's use bookmarks. They have pretty much grown up just typing what they want in the URL field.

    16. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point of the 'childproofing' isn't the childproofing itself, it's the gathering of the power necessary to do it.

    17. Re: What the hell is this bullshit? by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Bookmarks were too cumbersome. People threw in the towel a long time ago and just signed up for Facebook.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    18. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Joe Q. Public WANTED to be educated, they wouldn't have been dumb enough to elect a pathological liar as president. but then its possible there'd have been no swamp in congress either.

    19. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe because nobody cares what top level domain someone has registered for their website. People could learn top level domain names if it was necessary and important. It's not, so they don't. It has nothing to do with intelligence.

    20. Re:What the hell is this bullshit? by Reziac · · Score: 2

      Didn't there used to be a plugin called something like Link Decombobulator, that decoded, sanity/safety-checked, and previewed these messy links?

      If there's not, there should be; problem solved.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  6. IPv6 address only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only IPv6 addresses. Take that Google.

  7. Obfuscate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They will make the whole thing more difficult to see at a glance. Just as the switch from simple html pages to ?88858232838812288589018299-style URLs, there will be an additional layer to "convey identity", leaving people further at the mercy of the operators.

  8. Solution by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can guess what Googles solution will be: if you want to host web content you need to purchase a virtual website on their cloud and then they will issue you a code that people can use to type or scan into Chrome. After all, think of the terrorists and/or the children.

    1. Re:Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      meh

  9. AOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With Google mail and voice and everything else and now this. I guess Google wants to be the 21st century AOL.

    At least we won't have to worry about the endless stream of CDs in the mail.

    1. Re:AOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We certainly won't. Google is smarter than AOL.

      AOL's downfall was sending out CDs instead of CD-RWs. Google will send endless streams of USB sticks so that we could reuse them.

    2. Re: AOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they can make the USB sticks stackable like Legos and call it "revolutionary modular storage" as a marketing gimmick!

  10. Back to AOL? by agiacalone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Didn't AOL try this back in the 90s with the 'AOL Keyword'? IIRC, it failed miserably.

    1. Re:Back to AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I disagree. I'd say the 'AOL Keyword' idea was perfected by Google. IIRC, Google's top search result is GOOGLE.

    2. Re:Back to AOL? by mu51c10rd · · Score: 1

      Didn't AOL try this back in the 90s with the 'AOL Keyword'? IIRC, it failed miserably.

      I believe Yahoo tried this with their directory as well back in the day. That didn't make it either...

    3. Re: Back to AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      On the contrary, it DID make it, which is why you have heard of Yahoo. For a while it was a directory. Only later did automated algorithmic search come in. The internet was a much smaller place back then.

      Now get off my lawn.

    4. Re:Back to AOL? by bigpat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Didn't AOL try this back in the 90s with the 'AOL Keyword'? IIRC, it failed miserably.

      Actually AOL keywords were very very successful and AOL charged big bucks to sell keywords to companies, but eventually domain names and URLs were cheaper to get (unless someone else registered it first) and the DNS system wasn't a monopoly so competition drove down prices further.

    5. Re:Back to AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article specifically states they haven't released any ideas being considered, and that it's more in the vague planning stages of looking for options than anything else, yet you decide to jump straight to the assumption that they're going to use AOL Keywords?

    6. Re:Back to AOL? by dissy · · Score: 1

      Didn't AOL try this back in the 90s with the 'AOL Keyword'? IIRC, it failed miserably.

      Actually AOL keywords were very very successful and AOL charged big bucks to sell keywords to companies, but eventually domain names and URLs were cheaper to get (unless someone else registered it first) and the DNS system wasn't a monopoly so competition drove down prices further.

      "Eventually" but not by too far.

      From 1984 until 1990, the DNS system was completely a monopoly, in whole administrated by InterNIC.
      InterNIC was also the sole source of .com domains (as well as net, org, us, edu, mil, and gov, and before that .arpa) and IP allocations.

      It wasn't until 1991 that they split off top level control to Network Solutions.
      It was a couple years after that until the "root servers" and "gtld-servers" were split apart, although Network Solutions was still the sole source for .com (and net and org) until 1998 when ICANN was given administrative control of the GTLDs.

      The monopoly wasn't broken until then, when domain pricing saw its first drop ever from $50/year down to $35/year, but still required two years up front.

      True competition still took another year or two after ICANN allowed other domain registrars to exist.
      As I recall we didn't really see major price changes until Tucows came along and sold "domain reseller" services to mostly anyone that wanted to do so.
      That was the first time I remember seeing $7/year domains, and because tucows did the thing where the reseller paid into an account with them in advance to spend out of, you saw hosting companies and ISPs doing that to offer far cheaper domains included with their packages.

      I worked for one such ISP at that time, and we offered domains for $5 included with our hosting packages, knowing we'd take a $2 hit on each one but over all making that up in the monthly hosting fees if a customer stayed with us.

    7. Re: Back to AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hahaha this. I have a friend who types "youtube.com" into the google search bar then clicks the link to youtube.com. Every. damn. time.

    8. Re: Back to AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are 10 kinds of people. The ones that get it and oppose to being taken away freedom, and the ones who blindly accept whatever is put in front of them.

      Apparently you are the second kind. Good for you.

  11. People have a really hard time understanding URLs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People have a really hard time understanding URLs

    Understatement of the year. "People" don't understand URLs at all. That doesn't mean we should let Google be the arbiter of identity on the internet.

  12. Why reinvent the wheel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Isn't this what SSL Certs were supposed to fix?

    The only important part of a URL to the vast majority of end users is the domain name. As long as that's shown and the SSL is valid just show that bit to users by default. Clicking into the address bar gives the entire address to copy/bookmark/whatever.

    No longer confusing is it.

    1. Re:Why reinvent the wheel? by ChoGGi · · Score: 2

      This right here is what I came to say ^

      Just show the domain from the cert for the address bar until you click on it, then show the actual url.

    2. Re:Why reinvent the wheel? by Riceballsan · · Score: 1

      well you still have to LOOK at it, and have some moderate understanding of the workings... even slashdot knowing it has a supposedly tech savy target demographic, does something most browsers etc... fails to do, (it takes the time to point out where the site really is). Say if I linked to https://bankofamerica.actually... your average human would see that as a bank of america site, with some refrence to actually criminals. you and I (and slashdot's post reader), clearly realizes that the primary page is actuallycriminals, with a subdomain named bankofamerica. Actually criminals would have no problem getting themselves a free ssl certification in about 30 seconds. Which again creates the problem that someone see's the url in an e-mail, facebook or twitter post etc... The human instinct of reading the url tells them it's from their bank, security tells them it is a secure site, everything appears to be hunky doory to a non computer savy user.

    3. Re: Why reinvent the wheel? by jd · · Score: 1

      Yes, but only Class 3 matters and everyone bought the cheapo ones instead.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  13. Seperate Things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like Qubes' solution. One browser is sandboxed for banking, credit cards, that kind of stuff. AND THAT'S IT. It could be made easier - you tell the browser which sites you do financial stuff with and it whitelists those and blacklists everything else. Email is done in another sandbox and can't send links to the banking site.

    Not a perfect solution, but infinitely better than changing a standard, even if it's only the display.

    1. Re:Seperate Things by nadass · · Score: 1

      Would copy-and-paste be available commands across browsers, or do I have to type everything across every browser window? Cuz if it's the latter, it is a solution that improves security but dramatically impedes user friendliness (and thus adoption).

    2. Re:Seperate Things by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      I cannot agree more. Qubes is a very good solution. Next to that is using VMs for everything. Web browsing is done in one VM, banking and stuff in another, etc. Plus, some VM programs support encryption, further ensuring that data doesn't get lost. With decent backups and something like VMWare Workstation's AutoProtect [1], you have decent recoverability as well.

      [1]: Snapshots are not backups. This is why having some form of backup, even just suspending the VM, and throwing the encrypted thing onto some secure media is critical.

  14. little-endian hostnames by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whatever steaming pile is on offer from Google, it would be nice if we could at least do away with little-endian hostnames.

    1. Re:little-endian hostnames by clovis · · Score: 2

      Whatever steaming pile is on offer from Google, it would be nice if we could at least do away with little-endian hostnames.

      That would be an easy fix and probably stop most of the phony sites right there. So it's not going to happen.

  15. I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by HotNeedleOfInquiry · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That used to be the first step in an internet protocol change. Does Google well and truly own the internet now?

    --
    "Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
    1. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Interesting

      RFCs are what you issue when you have a proposed standard. Right now Google are just saying "URLs suck, know what I mean? Right? You agree right?" which isn't really a "proposed standard" any more than "You know, it'd be awesome if I could send some text across the Internet" would have been enough to issue RFC 822.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by mu51c10rd · · Score: 2

      Does Google well and truly own the internet now?

      Yes. Or can you tell me the last time you "Bing'd" something or "Yahoo'd" something?

    3. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Tim Berners-Lee never intended URLs to be so visible or people to type them in manually so much; he though people would mostly follow hyperlinks from their home page. He said that if he had known people would deal with raw URLs and HTML so directly he would have made the syntax less cumbersome. So Google's move could be a return to the original vision in some respects. However, I'm still wary of any change, because the ability to see and type any URL is part of what makes the Internet so free, open, and useful, so I'd want to make sure that whatever the change is it wouldn't hinder that.

    4. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by BlackOverflow · · Score: 1

      I use duckduckgo. No tracking there, baby!

    5. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by sinij · · Score: 2

      Don't duck his questions.

    6. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I can tell you the last time I Googled something was 2 or so years ago. I use DuckDuckGo now. If you haven't noticed Google's search engine has either changed or been destroyed by phones/people using it as a spell checker. Google rarely returns anything relevant anymore. If you want a wiki how on how to power off your windows 10 PC its great though.

    7. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Based on all the comments on this story, I'm starting to think the older Slashdot crowd is suffering from some early-onset mental defect. Seriously, it's a theme where fairly low-number accounts keep posting the same FUD and hyperbole that suggests they read nothing more than the headline.

    8. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Made it less cumbersome how exactly? A regular URL has exactly what's needed to display the resource requested.

      The ones people use today are decidedly not regular because Google has to tack on all their tracking and marketing bullshit, use redirects when you get results from their search engine unless you take active measures to block that, and don't even get me started on the utter disaster that is AMP on mobile sites, all courtesy of the same people who are bitching about a problem they were absolutely instrumental in creating.

      These people have enough of the Internet, and allowing them to have any say at all in new standards is just asking for trouble beyond belief.

    9. Re:I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere... by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Tim Berners-Lee never intended URLs to be so visible or people to type them in manually so much; he though people would mostly follow hyperlinks from their home page. He said that if he had known people would deal with raw URLs and HTML so directly he would have made the syntax less cumbersome.

      I don't see a lot of ways to simplify the URL structure without removing actual information. Today's URLs are only cumbersome because webmasters have chosen to do so, for example via the shitton of parameters sent by GET rather than POST.

      If you want to access $content at $site, what's so cumbersome about http: //$site/$content, and how are you going to put that any simpler? (Personally, I don't know what the // stand for, so they look superfluous to me :) The problem is, there are a lot of sites and a lot of content, so you'll need more than just a few bits of information.

      It's the same with almost everything in IT -- it reveals the complexity of the world in new ways. In the past, this complexity was filtered down to us by newspapers, TV and radio, friends, family members and so on, but today we have direct access to a lot more information, so we need things like search engines. But the cat's out of the bag with original sources, so I hope we continue with some kinds of URL for them.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  16. Solution in search of a problem...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Is this really an issue? The biggest challenge I've seen is the various browser vendors doing everything they can to obfuscate the URL in the first place. Lets not even get started on the whole tiny URL thing. I make it a point never to click on one of those since you never know where you'll end up at.

    URL's, at least in the case of the World Wide Web (WWW), are very simple to read. You have your host (e.g. slashdot), domain (e.g. org), and resource path (e.g. story/18/09/04/1722244/google-wants-to-kill-the-url). How is that hard to read? Ok, some of it might not be very useful to the average person (e.g. 1722244), but its not hard to read, nor understand. Of course once you get past the host and domain the value of the resource path is entirely up to the whims of the site's logical design.

  17. Perfect for passing on fingerprints and outing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can see Google moving to something that can individualize users, so they can track who goes where. That's how they make their cash.

  18. How about dealing with the problem, not the cause by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    This problem, like all internet problems, is not new to the internet. It's not hard to put up a tent by the side of the road, put an apple-like logo onto it, and sell fake iphones.

    How do you know, when you walk into a bank, that it's a bank, and not just some guy with a storefront that looks like a bank? When was the last time that you authenticated your bank branch as actually being a bank?

    How about if my browser -- that has no problem parsing a URL -- simply asked me, the first time I wind up at a new domain, if I'm sure it is who I think it is? Maybe show me some of the basic information, a few lookups, consult a trusted white-list, and obviously spread that trust from certain sites to others -- maybe allow me to say that links from cnn.com can be trusted implicitly.

    Why does it need to be any more complicated than asking me to be sure?

    And, of course, I'll include my go-to advice: maybe we should start arresting criminals -- you know, like in every other part of life -- instead of trying to make consumers play their own game of cops and robbers every minute of every day.

  19. What's really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is that most people andor yourself think this is not the actual case.

    We know Google are publicly owned and therefore directed by the biggest shareholders and "regulatory oversight".

    We know they have been caught censoring people and organizations that go against their agenda. Most recently they censored pro life in Ireland during an abortion referendum there.

    There are claims that they generally censor anything right of center or even anything right of the mainstream left in many cases. Btw the mainstream left is really the ultra far right. That's all a ruse.

    Why would you think they aren't trying to turn the internet into a dumbed down digital TV platform.

    1. Re:What's really sad by xetovss · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not only does Google want more stuff to go through them they are complicit if not one of the prime agitators of this phenomenon.

      For example to get directions to go from the White House to the US Capitol you get this URL (used the quotes so can see the whole URL w/o having to scroll over): "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+White+House,+1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/US+Congress+-+Sergeant+at+Arms,+1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515/@38.8950631,-77.0311265,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b7bcdecbb1df:0x715969d86d0b76bf!2m2!1d-77.0365298!2d38.8976763!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b7b057914a6b:0x617d58ed260bc5e2!2m2!1d-77.0090646!2d38.8899056"

      All of the characters after the +20515 is completely unneeded for the above link to work. "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+White+House,+1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/US+Congress+-+Sergeant+at+Arms,+1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515" is all that is needed for the link to work, and can even whittle that down more by another 49 characters to "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+NW,+Washington,+DC+20500/1+S+Capitol+St+SW,+Washington,+DC+20515" and it would still work. Perhaps they should start leading by example and fix what they helped create instead of worrying about what to replace it with.

    2. Re:What's really sad by dwpro · · Score: 2

      to be fair, they also offer this from their website: https://goo.gl/maps/FbEetWBSGz...

      --
      Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
    3. Re:What's really sad by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      And how does hiding the URL make this any better or worse.
      Heck every call in Chrome could go to Google to log the activity, and heck cache the page info and display it back. What they show in the URL bar is what they want you to see.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:What's really sad by Junta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's too long, but then there's also indecipherable.

      URL shortening services are actually another problem for phishing, since it obfuscates the link by design.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    5. Re:What's really sad by salawieliczka · · Score: 1

      I agree, every additional man-in-the-middle makes the process more prone to complications. And this does not even need to be a process in the first place. It'll be fun for SEO people too!

      --
      Wesela, chrzciny, konferencje, szkolenia, hotel wieliczka, hotel w Wieliczce. To wlasnie my, w kilku slowach kt
    6. Re:What's really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The main point is that Google is run by the gay mafia. That's why every idea they come up with is gay.

    7. Re:What's really sad by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      "Perhaps they should start leading by example and fix what they helped create"

      No argument that Google is one of the principle culprits in reducing the URL to a humongous quasi-random string of characters. But are you sure you want them to try to "fix" that. Other than a very good search engine and an excellent map data base, very little of the their product is very impressive. My guess is they will create something even worse and internet users will have yet another unnecessary problem to deal with.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    8. Re:What's really sad by MoralCharacter · · Score: 1

      Uh, what? They provide a shortened URL you can use to share whatever it you want to on the map. They stuck it in the hamburger menu under 'Share of Embed this map". In your case, that url would be:
      https://goo.gl/maps/3ryVLtDo21L2
      It seems to me you're just copying and pasting whats in the address bar - the super long URL is because they packed a bunch of state information into the routing. But that isn't really the issue here. You don't need ANY of that to get to the web app.
      From TFA, the cited issue they want to solve are more to do with phishing and spoofing, presumably using seemingly legit look-a-like addresses as it's the most common tactic for doing these things.
      So the issue they're trying to solve isn't super long URLs caused by things like routing- you're not supposed to remember those - use copy/paste or bookmark them.
      It's more the to do with hard to remember URls or URLs that are designed to be hard to distinguish from the genuine URLs -this concerns only the part between the // and /. If you get anything after that wrong - the worst that might happen is a 404, as everything after the first single / is server side routing - not DNS routing.
      So was it popularwebsite.com? Or popular-website.com? popular.website.com maybe? Or was it popular.website.net. What if you accidently make a typo and you enter pupularwebsite.com or pipularwebsite.com but don't notice - some bad actor could get that domain, expecting people to make that typo though. The O, I and U are quite close on the keyboard after all - it'd be a safe bet since not everyone is a perfect typist.

      The only way the genuine website owner could protect their users from this is to buy up every possible permutation of their address. That might be doable - it might not be, either from the cost, or because someone already had that domain. Maybe pupularwebsite.com is already taken by some puppy blogging service. Maybe their websites domain is so long it would take a LOT of money to get every possible type or mispelling of their domain. At some point it's not practical.

    9. Re:What's really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    10. Re: What's really sad by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      How about we stop fucking registering lookalike bullshit domain names? We don't need a massive global domain name registration infrastructure anymore. It is actually more difficult for users to find a reasonably priced registration reseller so the theory of competition has crumbled since most people are likely to get duped and pay too much. Besides, we have the ability to recognize spoofs with spell checking and machine learning. My suggestion would be to aggregate the registration back to the registrars and apply the above mentioned technology to stopping hucksters from registering domain names. Oh...and provide free high level certificates to non-commercial sites so everyone can reason about what fucking site they are on.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    11. Re:What's really sad by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      That's just a redirect to the same address.

      And redirects you didn't ask for are not cool.

      Not only that, but as someone else mentioned here, it's indecipherable.

      For all you know (before clicking), that could go to some kiddie porn site.

    12. Re:What's really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that most people andor yourself think this is not the actual case.

      We know Google are publicly owned and therefore directed by the biggest shareholders and "regulatory oversight".

      We know they have been caught censoring people and organizations that go against their agenda. Most recently they censored pro life in Ireland during an abortion referendum there.

      There are claims that they generally censor anything right of center or even anything right of the mainstream left in many cases. Btw the mainstream left is really the ultra far right. That's all a ruse.

      Why would you think they aren't trying to turn the internet into a dumbed down digital TV platform.

      the internet is filling up with crap anyway, so I will not miss it when it turns in to a dumbed down digital TV platform....

      No great loss, given the current state of the internet... back in the day, the internet was something special.. today it is just a way for goverments and companies to spy on regular people..

    13. Re: What's really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 Troll

  20. Where have we heard this before? by hyades1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So just like always, some powerful agent seeking to invade the privacy of individuals more comprehensively uses "security" as an excuse. Meanwhile, methods that could make the existing system far more secure (while preserving anonymity for those who need it) are ignored.

    If I remember correctly, Google just got caught investigating ways to help China's Big Brother regime weaponize its search engine by turning it into a government-friendly propaganda tool. Google needs to be told in no uncertain terms to shove this so far up its corporate arse the whole board gets a sore throat.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  21. 666 is the mark of google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fire up google and do a quick search: "666 google logo"

  22. No, it's not by rickb928 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Uniform Resource Locators are the familiar web addresses you use everyday."

    So far, so good.

    "They are listed in the web's DNS address book"

    Uh, NO. That's DNS, and that works with the part before slashes etc, right up to and including the TLD (.com, .edu, .info for example).

    "and direct browsers to the right Internet Protocol addresses that identify and differentiate web servers"

    Um, partly, that's DNS. Then the URL includes the info that web server needs to find and deliver whatever you were looking for.

    Who writes this crap anyways? Can't we get this right now and then?

    Other than that, I think the idea is not merely dangerous, it's unnecessary. Websites could solve this with simpler URLs, like their own individual versions of .bit/ly-type shortening. Let's encourage them and the software they depend on to make their visions publishable, instead of fixing what isn't broken, merely inconvenient...

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    1. Re:No, it's not by mi · · Score: 1

      "They are listed in the web's DNS address book"

      Yes. Whoever put this sentence together does not know first thing about DNS. He should not be writing for "Wired".

      Whoever copy-pasted this junk into a Slashdot submission should be banned from ever submitting again, and the editor who let the submission through ought to be suspended without pay. From a metal hook. By the rib...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    2. Re:No, it's not by swilver · · Score: 1

      Current website design trend though is to put all necessary information in the URL to recover the current state of the page you were viewing. For example, a flight reservation system would encode the flight you were looking at, how many tickets you wanted and any special options that you selected -- basically, any interaction you did with the website up to that point is recorded in the URL, so it's exact state might be restored when you continue browsing an hour later or when your request goes to a different server.

      Sometimes URL's are too short for the amount of information that needs to be encoded in them. For example, a website that offers translation of a piece of text would need to store the text in the URL in order for it to be stateless, however that may not be possible if the text is too long.

      The Google map URL I saw earlier, doesn't only encode what part of the map you were looking for (like the address), but, in order to give you the same results even if the request went to a different server, also probably encodes the map scroll position and zoom size that you are using so it can be restored exactly.

      If this information cannot be put in URL, then it's back to sessions (using a cookie or unreadable id) and timeouts when sessions expire -- plus a centralized infrastructure for such sessions (which isn't needed for stateless url's).

  23. you mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google wants to hide the url. Good luck on changing http rfc in the future

  24. Re:People have a really hard time understanding UR by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Some people have a really hard time understanding URLs

    FTFY.

    Computer savvy people have been using the Internet just fine since the '90s thank-you-very-much. Just because X% of the population doesn't understand that an URL is like a phone number doesn't mean we need to replace it with a broken design.

  25. Trusted? by Mr307 · · Score: 1

    I forget when it started but for some time now when a company like Google, Facebook or Twitter (and a few others i'm sure) and the word 'trusted' is used at the same time, I just assume they are up to something and its probably not good for free speech, individualism or personal responsibility.

    Seems like yet another thin edge of the wedge towards us all 'needing to be protected' from ourselves.

  26. aol, msn, now google? by kiviQr · · Score: 1

    Are they trying to get obsolete by creating a default home page from where you can access information they control? good luck, who is next?

  27. Pay for Keywords to the paywalled Internet? Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pay for Keywords to the paywalled Internet? Great!

  28. how about ssl? by kiviQr · · Score: 1

    SSL/certificates solves website legitimacy issue.

    1. Re:how about ssl? by houghi · · Score: 1

      No, it does not. Any idea how easy it is to get SSL? And for free at that.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  29. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Easy solution: arrest everybody, and release only those who can prove they are guilt-free. This would even be easy: require a government issued ID be used for *every* aspect of life, and then only give those IDs to the right people (the president gets one automatically). Everyone else has highly limited rights, just as if they are in prison.

  30. Let's use AOL Keywords by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, wait...

  31. Too many TLDs by Comboman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The recent expansion of Top Level Domains make it even more difficult. google.corn (that's GOOGLE.CORN in lower case) looks a lot like google.com in certain fonts.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:Too many TLDs by Solandri · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't that be easier solved by just making default browser setting to prohibit all .CORN domains? And if the user types one in directly (or more likely copy-pasts) it throws up an "Are you sure?" dialog box which explains that the domain name ends in CORN not COM. The first time the user starts a browser, it should ask which top level domains to allow, with .com, .net, .org, and the user's country code being the only ones enabled by default. ICANN has proven it's unwilling to pass up making a quick buck, but there's no reason for the browser to make their cash grab easy.

      Same for all the foreign language characters which are now allowed. Just make the browser default to the ASCII character set for domain names. If a user needs foreign language characters in a domain name, they can enable those on a language-by-language basis. None of this crazy "allow everything by default" that seems to be the norm.

    2. Re:Too many TLDs by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Looking at it right now in Firefox on Win10 at default zoom, it looks like there's only 1 or 2 pixels' difference. I took a screenshot to zoom it up to confirm, and indeed due to subpixel rendering, there is only a slight difference in the color of 2 pixels between the two:

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  32. Knowing programmers by plopez · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They'll probably want a 16 hexadecimal string with a dotted 48 bit octal sub identifier. Because it's obvious.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    1. Re:Knowing programmers by oldgraybeard · · Score: 0

      wish I had mod points I would mark you up. Since I know the IP addresses of my and most of my clients servers I can relate. But ipv6 addresses are a bit long to easily recall.

      At least for an old guy like me ;) lol

      Just my 2 cents ;)

    2. Re:Knowing programmers by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      They'll probably want a 16 hexadecimal string with a dotted 48 bit octal sub identifier. Because it's obvious.

      Google wants that because it drives more traffic to their search engine.

  33. Solid State Logic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I understand the audio mixing desk market is not what it was, but I don't think that's is a field that company would be successful in.

  34. Google now controls W3C? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last I heard, the W3C owns the rights to the standards on the worldwide web.

    Unless Google gets their blessing through the standards process, whatever Google cooks up is not web browsing.

    https://www.w3.org/

    1. Re:Google now controls W3C? by BlackOverflow · · Score: 0

      They could make a drop-in-the-bucket donation of 10 billion to the W3C to get whatever they want.

    2. Re:Google now controls W3C? by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Google doesn't need W3C's blessing, they can just throw their weight around. They can just implement it in Chrome, and tell websites to either use it or get ranked lower in Google search. The other browsers will either have to implement it or lose more marketshare when significant portions of the web no longer work with them.

      Don't believe me? Look at AMP. That's not a W3C standard either.

  35. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, but do you think it difficult to penalize criminals? Someone registers a domain name, and pays for it with a credit card. So if someone registers appple.com, and sells fake iphones, would it be difficult to cancel their credit card? Or to bill their credit card for punitive damages? The same credit card with their home address on it?

    We already have a registry, at the domain level. Isn't that already enough?

    Or are you saying that it's difficult to figure out that appple.com is doing something illegal? As usual, we don't need to catch everybody. Let's start with the 90% of the low-hanging-fruit criminals.

  36. No, Bad Google, Down Boy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After dealing with the way you 'rethought' about Angular for the last few years, I have to decline any input you may have here.

    1. Re:No, Bad Google, Down Boy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's a little clue: Angular is great. Yes the 2.x release was traumatic and upset people and that could have been avoided. But they've recovered and contemporary Angular is awesome; way better than 1.x or anything React based. Just so you know.

  37. URL replacement by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 1

    For me, the replacements are search results and bookmarks in the browser, with URLs being strictly a machine-usable form used inside software. Whose site I can reach through a given bookmark (or what content is at that page) and whether it's owned by who I think it is (via SSL certificate match usually, although DANE would be better) is everything most users want, the rest should be the equivalent of an IP address.

  38. Google, stop. by skaralic · · Score: 1

    No. Just no.

  39. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by PraiseBob · · Score: 2

    maybe we should start arresting criminals -- you know, like in every other part of life -- instead of trying to make consumers play their own game of cops and robbers every minute of every day.

    I live in the inner city of a high crime city. Anytime I walk outside, I have to pay attention, since there are dangers lurking nearby. I don't expect the police to make everything totally safe, nor would I want to live in the kind of absolute police state environment that it would require. Similarly, I don't want a "totally safe" internet, where all content is curated and carefully vetted.

  40. Can these fu***** please stop killing the web? by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously. Don't fix things that are not broken.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:Can these fu***** please stop killing the web? by nwaack · · Score: 1

      It's not "fixed" until Google can monetize it.

    2. Re:Can these fu***** please stop killing the web? by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Obviously.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  41. confusing story by trb · · Score: 1

    I agree that there are problems with URLs the way they have been used. I think google is addressing a real problem. But I think the article is confusing and mixes and confuses several problems

    - domain name handling in general "They (URLs?) are listed in the web's DNS address book..."
    - domain name spoofing (i.e. goog1e instead of google)
    - url-rewriting, shortening, and redirection
    - encoding cryptic data in URLs
    - tracking links
    - etc.

    At one point in time, the "path" component (after the first single slash) was intended to have human-readable content, maybe reflecting a tree-structured file system, or something else a person could understand. These days you get an alphanumeric secret data blob as often as not.

    For people who think the current URL/linking system is sufficiently safe, they haven't watched my elderly mom (whom I remind frequently about the perils of the web) while she reads facebook and clicks on quizzes and kitten videos.

  42. Trusted Directory of the Web by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, they're saying there should be a trusted directory of all the things on the web. All of the things that anyone would want to visit all organized in one place. Like Yahoo!? No, that clearly wasn't secure. More like Compuserve. It's been long enough that that will seem like a new idea, right?

  43. Dear Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are not the Internet. You didn't invent the Internet, and you don't own the Internet. Nobody asked you to solve URLs. So fuck off.

  44. Re:People have a really hard time understanding UR by sjames · · Score: 2

    People have a hard time understanding street addresses. Lets just assign every address a single 12 digit number and pay a private corporation a zillion dollars to provide a lookup service.

  45. Rightsize it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Chrome teams needs to be rightsized. The sooner, the better.

  46. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by holophrastic · · Score: 2

    I'm not suggesting either one.

    I'm suggesting that after a crime has been committed, reported, and identified, that police then arrest those responsible.

    It's not about making crime difficult, and it's not even about deterring future criminals. It's simply about making the price of crime much much higher than it is today.

  47. Stop Joogle ADS infecting/tracking/slowing you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Via APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux & BSD h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p

    Yields more security/speed/reliability/anonymity vs. any 1 solution (99% of threats use hostnames vs. IP address most firewalls use) more efficiently/FASTER + NATIVELY 4 less!

    Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing you hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploitation!

    * ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 Linux/BSD

    (Better vs. Windows model in speed/efficiency/merge)

    APK

    P.S.=> Protects vs. script trackers/ads/DNS request tracking + redirect poisoned or downed DNS/botnets/malware downloads/malcript/email malicious payloads... apk

  48. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by sjames · · Score: 1

    No need for that, just go after the obvious frauds. We can find them by actually doing something about it when people tell police "This site is a fraud".

  49. Oh noes, using the innerwebs is hard! by ichthus · · Score: 1

    In short, you navigate to WIRED.com to read WIRED...

    Yeah, damn! I see what you mean. So unnecessarily difficult.

    --
    sig: sauer
  50. Registered /.ers review of the Win64 model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017

    Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015

    I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015

    that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015

    I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017

    * Linux model = faster/more efficient...

    APK

    P.S.=> APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-1 32/64-bit for Windows https://www.google.comsearch?s...

  51. People could read the TV Guide just fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They were able to navigate to the correct place in the newspaper, flip to the right day, scroll to the right time and plant themselves in front of the TV at that time. Lotta moving parts in that action.

    The root cause of the URL issue is that people do not have an accurate mental model of a "website" and "URL". Remedying that should be pretty simple, but it will take some effort.

    What would be really nice would be on Google's main page, a link to a "Beginner's Guide to Using Computers and the Internet". It would be of tremendous help to the average person. It could be THE introductory text on using computers and the Internet.

  52. I want to shit directly in every Google Employee's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I want to shit directly in every Google Employee's mouth. I want them to eat my stinky smelly Chile ridden shit.

  53. Blockchain Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's obviously a blockchain of Internet yellow pages containing only legitimate and signed domains.

  54. Please no by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

    This will just turn out like so many other "improvements" - so many modern UI's try to get around user incompetence by trying to get things into people's faces so blatantly that there's often little rhyme or reason to how things work.

    All this has an actual negative impact on people who know how to use computers well though. It used to be that if you understood the general paradigm of UI design for a given platform you could pickup just about any program and figure it out within a short period of time. All that has been sacrificed for a bunch of cobbled together nonsense in the name of making it "easy".

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  55. dear google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    please kill yourself first; otherwise you'll have to pry our URLs from our cold, dead hands

  56. We stopped teaching it. by eepok · · Score: 1

    "People have a really hard time understanding URLs"

    Well, no, not really- not in the infinitive sense. URLs can be ugly and thus hard to decipher unless you have a little bit of education or experience on the matter.

    It's hard as in "People have a really hard time doing long division" (until they're taught it) and not ""People have a really hard time understanding hypercubes" (because thinking beyond 3-dimensional space is foreign to the human experience).

    If we simply teach people the standards ins and outs of file paths (C:\ ... ; very easy to understand) and tell them that they're directly correlated in pattern to URLs, then the job is done. Engineering around ignorance does nothing to help people.

  57. Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    URLs are such a central part of the web, not sure if they understand what they're asking for. While it may be hard to grasp for newbies, the value to advanced newbies and up is immense. It's very empowering to learn that one can refer to a specific page or resource (supposing it's well designed) by only its URL. And the subsequent frustration with trying to find back to stuff on social networks, which lack URLs.

    That is.. Do you want a web that's Facebook? 'Cause this is how you make the web like Facebook.

  58. Stop the lying antisemite APK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop the lying antisemite Alexander Peter Kowalski
    Like how he claims the Chinese copied him but can't produce any evidence.
    How about when he states that hosts does port filtering but again can't backup his statement which was shown to be false.
    There is also his list of "experts" who support him but it turns out they don't say what he is claiming.
    This also ignores his out of context quotes he uses to lie by omission.
    The problem with APK is that his entire reputation is built upon the lie he told years ago that hosts is an effective security solution. It has been exposed numerous times as being a lie and when exposed APK fails to argue logically and instead will try to deflect criticism, change the subject, move the goal posts, return to a previously disproven statement, demand you prove you did better than his file concatenator, or just call people names. Expect that he will used these tactics to try to deflect from these criticisms because he is a total failure. He will continue to lie by stating that he won or "dusted" you while failing to refute anything you said, will never provide real evidence, and generally try to dodge the issue.

    Face it APK is one of the most detested individuals here for good reason. When ever his poor behavior, awful logic, over statements, and horrendous writing are called out he has a fit and has done so for years across the internet. He is a spammer, and is an abusive insecure little man who is washed up and never amounted to anything. Until he produces actual verifiable facts supporting his case nothing he says should be taken seriously.

  59. Re: I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just described Googleâ(TM)s MO. If they want to change something, theyâ(TM)ll say âoehey wouldnâ(TM)t this be cool? We should do this!â And then they wait for people to complain and then say âoelol whatever, weâ(TM)re going to do this, fuck standards, good practice, and several peopleâ(TM)s work, have fun with this new shit you have to deal with!â

  60. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #1/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & 2 questions you won't answer: 1.) Do hosts stop threats served by hostname (the way threats are done most) by blocking them? Yes. 2.) Do hosts speed you up 2 ways in adblocking (preventing more infection/tracking/slowdown) & via hardcoded favorite sites resolving faster + protecting vs. dns down or redirect poisoned? Yes.

    My hosts program's the only 1 that does the latter @ TOP of hosts cached in RAM (for best performance) & only 1 of its kind on Linux/BSD in easy to use flexible configuration GUI form.

    (I also did that latter part LONG before the Chinese & 1st http://theregister.co.uk/2017/... )

    APK

    P.S.-> Have you done work that's that effective doing more for less faster in kernelmode speed (cpu priority) w/ less complexity for exploit + excess overheads vs. solutions KNOWN to be security-issue riddled (like addons (souled-out to NOT work by default OR easily detected & blocked that are BYPASSABLE & EXPLOITABLE), DNS & Antivirus)? No... apk

  61. Making it less visible, too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wrote another post but missed the most important: Sure, it will only be a couple of clicks away. But making it less prominent in the UI means fewer will learn to wield the power of the URL.That's pretty sad

  62. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How do you know, when you walk into a bank, that it's a bank, and not just some guy with a storefront that looks like a bank? When was the last time that you authenticated your bank branch as actually being a bank?

    Recently saw an investigative journalist on TV (maybe it was Dateline) that they responded to Nigerian scammers and setup a face to face meeting to handover the payment. As part of the ruse, they took the scammer to their bank, but really they took him to a rented office on the second floor of a building that had a bank on the first floor and pretended that they were in the bank.

  63. I'm going to fucking kill the URL by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Funny

    *throws chair*

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    1. Re:I'm going to fucking kill the URL by sinij · · Score: 2

      I never expected to have to say this, but MS under Ballmer was a lot less evil than what exists today. Ballmer never attempted to have Windows spy on consumers for profit.

  64. Google and their employees are beyond egotistical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So what's new? Where's the headline?

  65. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #2/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "classic Windows hosts trick to block the Coinhive or Crypto-Loot domains" - https://www.bleepingcomputer.comnews/security/a-new-player-joins-coinhive-on-the-browser-cryptojacking-scene/ - BLEEPING COMPUTER

    SANS ("A related approach to the DNS issue is to create a hosts file on each system that sends requests for spyware to some place else. Both Ramu and an anonymous reader have suggested this" hosts by myself & RAMU right @ START of "malware explosion" mid 2005 on) https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di...

    Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&cid=49747129/

    ZD NET http://www.zdnet.comarticle/how-to-use-a-hosts-file-to-improve-your-internet-experience/ "Hosts files really shine by letting you block ads, spyware sites, malware sites, & tracking sites"

    Steve Gibson on hosts https://www.grc.comsn/sn-045.htm/

    Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.comcolumnists/491/

    APK

  66. some new newly grads taking a spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this will pass. Lets get the popcorn out.

  67. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #3/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "It's working: Neville... it's working!" See subject & results from THIS month alone https://it.slashdot.org/commen... & https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... + https://it.slashdot.org/commen... that's only recently while I've been on Linux (few months now only) & 100's of times vs. MANY other botnets/malwares etc. in the past circa 2006-early 2018 while I was on Windows: There's BULLSHIT & doing nothing pessimsm & then? There's CONCRETE VISIBLE UNDENIABLE REALITY (see those links as proof).

    P.S.=> 3 things show I do it right:

    1st = User praise my hosts engine https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

    2nd "ATTACKS" I GET (from UNIDENTIFIABLE ac as Elon Musk got https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... )

    3rd BEING IMITATED = "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" https://linux.slashdot.org/com... JUST LIKE CHINA DID ME TOO... apk

  68. Ban the GET Method Instead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about simply ban usage of GET method (sending/receiving parameters as part of a URL), across the whole internet, instead of attempting to find a replacement for URL idea, to make URLs readable (back again!)?

  69. As to YOUR lies? LOL: #4/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arstechnica = losers who stalked me (as you do now anonymously unidentifiably) to NTCompatible.com & Windows IT Pro magazine forums to their public dismay in Jeremy Reimer & Jay Little + Jarrett DeAngelis (who posts here on /. until I drove his ass off too) when their websites were REMOVED by their hosting providers in Shaw Canada & CrystalTech (for both email harassing me caught on a tracking ticket + stalking me & posting lies about me on them AFTER I destroyed them both PUBLICLY @ Windows IT Pro on Exchange Servers memory being freed UNHALTING them (which tells you Exchange is HEAVILY POINTER ORIENTED linked list driven, which leads to memory fragmentation that CAN halt a serverware)).

    Jay Little the "self-proclaimed 'EXCHANGE EXPERT'" HAD TO CONCEDE IT from MICROSOFT'S OWN DOCUMENTATION proving it FOR me there (where they as usual stalked me AS YOU ARE NOW)

    Thor SCHMUCK?

    Ask him WHY his false accusation of an old ware of mine was 1st taken down to NO threat & CA sold off the SHITTY antivir he sold (as a paid pawn of theirs) & they are GONE, done. dead... lol!

    Lookup "CA Accounting Scandal" on Google - scumbags & THEIR BIRDS OF A FEATHER just go down vs. me everytime!

    APK

    P.S.=> TONS of Security experts KNOW blacklists work (no questions asked) & 3 things show I do it right:

    1st = User praise my hosts engine https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... (so much for ME being "detested" but I'm not here to win a popularity contest - just here to WIN so everyone does).

    2nd "ATTACKS" I GET (from UNIDENTIFIABLE ac as Elon Musk got https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... )

    3rd BEING IMITATED = "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" https://linux.slashdot.org/com... JUST LIKE CHINA DID ME TOO... apk

    1. Re: As to YOUR lies? LOL: #4/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China did nothing. They dont use HOSTs. Wanna know how I know?

      I'm here in Guangdong right now. HOSTs gets LAUGHED AT by the Chinese, as it is bypassed by almost every piece of software they have installed. Try again when you actually work in China you broke fuck from Syracuse.

    2. Re:As to YOUR lies? LOL: #4/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you considered that you are getting trolled because you always respond to getting trolled?

    3. Re:As to YOUR lies? LOL: #4/4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, his logic circuits are so fried from staring at a CRT for so long that consideration of any sorts excepting for selfishness does not exist.

  70. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. by devslash0 · · Score: 1

    I knew my utm* -stripping extension would piss them off one day haha. On a serious note, it's not going to work. They don't own the Internet even though they think they do.

  71. Re: People have a really hard time understanding U by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Done.

    https://maps.googleblog.com/2015/08/plus-codes-new-way-to-help-pinpoint.html?m=1

  72. Who died and left Google's Chrome team... by rnturn · · Score: 1

    ... in charge of the Internet?

    Has anyone at Google bothered to propose an RFC so that this can be discussed? Or are they just going to make these pronouncements and push this into practice through their size?

    --
    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
    1. Re:Who died and left Google's Chrome team... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has anyone at Google bothered to propose an RFC so that this can be discussed? Or are they just going to make these pronouncements and push this into practice through their size?

      There are 2 to 3 dubious choices made unilaterally each year (integrated url & search bar, rounded tabs, hiding "http/https", hiding status bar, deprecating extension systems, ignoring javascript typed directly into address bar or even despite the conscious choice of launching the console for "security reasons", treatment of iframe mixed content, "powerful" contexts), usually without RFC, or W3C consensus. The worst part is that we-the-people have no say --when users stopped paying for their browsers, they stopped having a say in their investment into features. Within 12 months all browsers are cloning the dumbing down of features and removing "unpopular" ones because Agile is the enemy of stable code.

      Back in the days when a browser version took two to five years to increase, you were confident that features would not radically change in that timespan and prepared accordingly. These days, expecting a perfectly reasonable page from a site or library to still work 5 years down the road is laughed at. It's very sad, considering how code samples from the book or CD that you were forced to use a few years earlier still be able to run in your "modern" browser... it will just break in 100 subtle ways when you do give it a try.

  73. Attempts to fix this. by jd · · Score: 2

    1. Ted Neilson's Xanadu. Never got off the ground.

    2. IPv6. The original spec required all Internet traffic to be over IPSec, with server networks using digital certificates to prove their identity.

    3. Class 3 SSL certificates. These were certificates released if the person could prove their identity and could prove they had the right to the certificate. Nothing more for user certificates, proof of ownership of domain name and business for server certificates.

    4. Smart web pages. If you're using AJAX and servlets, everything can be done in data, you don't need to mess with the URL.

    The result? A few of these are utilized, but most webmasters either don't understand the technology, won't use it or have been ordered not to by their boss.

    Hacking the URI bar won't change that.

    If Google wanted a better system, they'd start by looking at TUBA, one of the IPng/IP6 candidates. If you can uniquely express a resource with an address, you can give it a name. TUBA has infinitely variable length addresses, so it's easy to code a directory path into the physical address. It's an address so it can be given a unique name.

    Your webserver is now a virtual network rather than a filesystem.

    That doesn't sound like what they're doing.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:Attempts to fix this. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      I'd add hash-based links, like magnet and IPFS. They've found a niche, but are too cumbersome for general use. Perhaps the full backing of Google could make IPFS mainstream, but even then it'd only work for static content.

  74. Who would've thought? by llamalad · · Score: 1

    From "do no evil" to adopting MicroSoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish strategy.

    They proved it works with their handling of RSS and now they're moving on to "extending" the web where people can either comply with Google insinuating itself as the main (or sole) arbiter of identity or else get de-ranked in search results.

    It's the end of the web as we know it.

  75. What Google Wants... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google wants you to SEARCH for your URLs, because you're too stupid to use bookmarks, which happen to be right in front of your face.

  76. Re:People have a really hard time understanding UR by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

    You have heard of yellow pages, right?

  77. Re:People have a really hard time understanding UR by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    You joke but...

    https://what3words.com/

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  78. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've just described how the police work, and have worked, for hundreds of years.

  79. Whatever happened to running out of IP4 addresses? by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 1

    On a similar note, I recall a lot of hubbub a few years ago about us being about to run out of IP4 addresses... Have we all switched over to IP6 quietly..? Or is there still a disaster about to befall us? Inquiring minds want to know (but are too lazy to search for it..haw haw..let's be social and converse instead!)

  80. needs to be an open process by ooloorie · · Score: 1

    That reach and influence can be divisive, though, and as Chrome looks ahead to its next 10 years, the team is mulling its most controversial initiative yet: fundamentally rethinking URLs across the web.

    Any changes to the URL system should be arrived at in an open, participatory, voluntary manner, not by a 800 pound gorilla with massive commercial self-interest and a history of censorship throwing around its weight. That is, if there is one team I don't want to design this, it's a Google team.

    Furthermore, it's not like users or providers don't have plenty of options to choose from already to simplify URLs.

  81. Bank of ARNERICA by tepples · · Score: 2

    TLD protection won't help you when a scammer buys "BankOfARNERICA.COM", or when a lot of legitimate businesses outside Colombia are setting up their online presence with a Colombian (.CO) domain anyway. Or would you prefer to contribute to Internet balkanization by blocking Irish sites like MODERN.IE (web dev resource by Microsoft) and British Indian Ocean Territory sites like GITHUB.IO by default if the device happened to geolocate to a different country at first browser launch? In particular, British Indian Ocean Territory is uninhabited.

    1. Re:Bank of ARNERICA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TIL: I do not inhabit Diego Garcia.

  82. Hiding right-to-left in a left-to-right world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    your average human would see that as a bank of america site, with some refrence to actually criminals

    Yep, they do. But ask yourself, why ?

    Easy: most people are conditioned to consider something at the right as of less importance as something on the left. Just think of numbers. Or objects and methods (and methods and ...) in programming languages. Heck, even the part following the domain name itself works that way.

    Though long ago someone somewhere thought it would be a good idea to reverse this for domain names: there the lesser important stuff is on the left, and the more important stuff on the right. ... which than gets followed by the already mentioned path which has uses the opposite method.

    Yep, you got it: two different methods in a single item/line, the URL. And you wonder why non-computer-savvy people fall for that trick like you posted ? I sure don't.

    1. Re:Hiding right-to-left in a left-to-right world by IcyWolfy · · Score: 1

      That logic tends to fail for RTL languages where Right side is more important.
      And ambiguous (Vertical), for which I do not know of any research about which direction gets meaning priority. As writing is vertical RTL; but horizontal LTR Chinese/Japanese.

    2. Re:Hiding right-to-left in a left-to-right world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That logic tends to fail for RTL languages where Right side is more important

      Hmmm... What didn't you understand from my "most people are conditioned" ?

      All you are doing is being pedantic (toward someone who has already indicated he's aware of other possibilities), while not responding to the problem itself. Any reason why ?

    3. Re:Hiding right-to-left in a left-to-right world by IcyWolfy · · Score: 1

      By the "Most" portion, I underestimated the world population, and incorrectly assumed that the 2billion+ speakers of non LTR languages were not the minority.

      What exactly is the problem with the URL?
      URLs are functional.
      URLs serve a purpose.
      URLs are transparent as to the information being sent.

      I would say that the query and hash portion are being over-worked, but to hide those would simply create a new vector of attacks by shoving everything into that portion and completely bypassing subdomains and paths.

      Weight of the importance centrally, rather than left is not confusing. It is a valid tactic that has it's uses.
            e d c b a | 1 2 3 4 5 (where 1 and a are most important)

      You look at the "/" and see immediately the country, the domain, and the root of the path.
      It's easily accessible.

  83. how about homoglyphs? by tepples · · Score: 1

    I don't see how TLS PKI solves the problem of someone registering "WE11SFARGO.COM", obtaining a domain-validated certificate for "WE11SFARGO.COM", and using that domain name and certificate to impersonate Wells Fargo Bank.

  84. Block or Mark a warning to all confusing URLs by FeelGood314 · · Score: 1

    Step 1: If the URL is from one of the new domains just block it. They are all shit. If the URL is in PUNY code (non-ASCII display) and it isn't mostly characters that are not significantly different from the Roman letters block it, otherwise display the name of the language set and mark it with a warning. Sorry rest of the world but having a few thousand character sets that often overlap is a security nightmare.

    Step 2: If the URL has multiple sub domains in it, list the top domain first. Make an exception for the UK and .co.uk.

    Step 3: Hard part, make companies clean up their confusing query strings. I want to clearly see a ticket number, userId or a short id of what I'm looking at. When doing a search I want to see the query parameters so I can hand manipulate them or save the search. If the user can't edit it then it's not a query string its some websites stupid data passing mechanism and it should trigger a warning.

    Step 4: Start banning more CAs for issuing certs to confusing URLs. Most CAs are crap. Do some PEN testing or even social engineering and see how many will issue you a cert for something they shouldn't. (hint - most)

  85. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by tepples · · Score: 1

    In practice, police tend to look the other way on the grounds of being overstretched in an era of property tax caps.

  86. Eat your words Mr Chan... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This says different & it was done by the Chinese after I did hosts in that capacity (only hosts program that does IS me) http://theregister.co.uk/2017/...

    * :)

    APK

    P.S.=> Now, go back to "click clack ding dong" land, Mr. Chan & STEAL MORE from us in the USA (everyone KNOWS you do)... apk

    1. Re:Eat your words Mr Chan... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice that you call a WHITE AMERICAN Mr. Chan you racist fuckwit.

      Keep showing the world what a bigot and fucktard you truly are.

    2. Re:Eat your words Mr Chan... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everybody was KUNG-FU FIGHTING (hahahahahaha)

  87. I've Been Advocating Reputational Identities by Slicker · · Score: 1

    I have experimented with the idea of Reputational Identities for sought and offered things over a mesh network (calling it, BigMesh). I think it works really well. The gist of it is:

    Every entity has an ID through which it/they can post things offered and/or things sought to the mesh. These may be blog articles, tutorials, products, services, or whatever. Each are descripted by a tree of details, such as: Sought: article( topic:"robots" or "artificial intelligence"; price: $0 ); quality > 15

    The mesh will return the matches or number of matches and you may either narrow down your criteria or opt to transact (such as, getting the article or buying something or selling something or whatever it is). After the transaction has completed and from that time onward, each party to it may complement each other.

    A complement is made by assigning a percentage of one's General Reputation (GR) to a Specific Reputation (SR) of the other. One's GR is the sum of acquired SRs. So, your complements to others are worth more based on the complements you've received from others. It's that simple, really. So you may, for example, reduce the number of matching articles you want to find by increasing the required quality reputation of its offerer.. Or find more unique ideas by requiring a higher reputation for uniqueness. An SR (Specific Reputation) may be any single word.

    A few notes:

    1. Making a large number of IDs and having them transact with each other to artificially inflate their reputations will not work, as until each received reputation from another that actually has some, it can only complement a percentage of zero GR.
    2. As one performs increasingly more transactions and one's GR grows, the number of others one has complemented also grows, thereby dividing up the large GR such that a single complement isn't going to offer too much, unless it really is believed to be deserved by the complementer. If one has earned it, it is proper that one may also give it. If everything thinks great of Joey and Joey thinks great of Sally then Sally is likely to be a great person.
    3. If one's later assessment of a transaction changes, he/she may revised the complement. This is important because sometimes things appear to be more or less than you realize they are, later in time. Being able to revise one's past complements incentivised being true to each other.

    I have a whole technical design for this BigMesh network and some crude code. It uses UDP sockets and most is managed by "Agencies" that float between Hosting Nodes (Node.js VMs), establishing encryption passwords between every two, individually. A Hosting Node is actually a class of Agency that provides outside resources, including network, memory, and processing time -- at a minimum. Agents are specifically coded services that are employed within Agencies or may be called remotely. So it acts like a microservices framework except that the microservices (Agents) may move closer to where needed for reasons, such as better performance. Every Agency and Agent will have its own reputational ID, to protect from bad actors. A Host Node is repayed for providing its resources to the mesh in exchange for "promises" of resources from the mesh, later. These promises are also kept with a ledger assigned to each identity and act like a kind of currency..... but with real useful value.
       

  88. Fake by Tailhook · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google does not want to "kill" URLs.

    The Wired story quotes plans to attempt changing how URLs are displayed:

    But this will mean big changes in how and when Chrome displays URLs. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as we’re figuring out the right way to convey identity.

    They cite previous experience when they attempted an "origin chip," later removed. Again, this was only an attempt to render things in a simpler manner. At no point in the story does any Google representative propose replacing URLs; all that language comes from the Wired writer. Maybe one could illegitimately surmise that some constraint on URLs might be implied in all this but there is no conceivable way to reach "KILL!" That's just fake.

    This is Wired clickbait parroted by Slashdot.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    1. Re:Fake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has been several years since I read a Wired article.

      Around the time they started complaining about my ad blocking.

  89. LOL! You don't "get it"... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL! You don't "get it" - I truly ENJOY letting the UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous morons screw up so I look good vs. their lies/bs (everytime).

    * They want to make ME look GOOD? Hey, no problem...

    APK

    P.S.=> Now, I would THANK them but they're pieces of shit who have to "HIDE" from me & expend their USELESS "downmodpoints" they farm via MULTIPLE sockpuppet accounts here & for what? For me to RUN THEM DRY of those by reposting my posts until they do?? Too easy, lol (just too easy)... apk

    1. Re:LOL! You don't "get it"... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By making him look good APK actually means making him looking like a total fucking retard. This is an improvement over his natural state so technically it actually is making him look good.

  90. Life imitates art by Shooter6947 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Didn't Dilbert suggest this back in 1998.

  91. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    You find me a police force that lets me report a fake web-site, and have them go arrest someone in a realistic time-frame, and you can be right.

    Until then, that's just how police ought to work. In reality, there is way more crime than any policing force can investigate.

    The annoying thing this time is that police can investigate a web-site faster than they can investigate a building. So one would think that a new police department would need very little relative funding in order to start investigating and blocking criminal activity on-line.

  92. Interpretive layer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keep the URL, just add a display/interpretive layer over top of it that is easier for the end user to read

  93. EV SSL Security by ironicsky · · Score: 1

    Their argument is user security. For the nominal cost and slight headache of setting up an EV certificate, businesses could just do that instead, and Google search, chrome and other browsers could highlight websites as ID Verified. Since EV certificates require a URL to be cross checked against a physical business with government registration, its less likely someone will register a website pretending to be "Facebook" or "Mastercard" if browsers enforced EV for high profile targets.

  94. Re:People have a really hard time understanding UR by sjames · · Score: 1

    You know how U.S. mail works, right?

  95. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You think that someone registering apple.corn would use their own (as opposed to, say, a stolen) credit card and put their personal information in?

  96. This has been solved already.. GOPHER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29

  97. Phishing sites by tsa · · Score: 1

    The URL is often the only way to recognize phishing sites. If the URL disappears, how do we then recognize them?

    --

    -- Cheers!

  98. Return of the Bangpath! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's time has come.

  99. So Google wants to replace the web? by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    A proposition that is a tad awkward, since they've already basically taken over the web. ... Whatever.

    If you want to replace URLs, your basically replacing the web. If you want to do that, good luck. It better be a really good replacement, with open standards and premium reference implementations and some really awesome stuff like meshing, state and offline built right in. Plus some amazing programming language to build and run things on it.

    In short: Good luck with that.

    Google could do it, but I doubt even they can muster the discipline it takes to undergo such a massive project without having others jumping ship to stay on the old web.

    My 2 cents.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:So Google wants to replace the web? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      sure let's let a U.S. corporation trying to build a marketing database on everyone for their advertising clients dictate the planet's web standards

  100. Google evil makes MS look like an angel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although a little more effort needed I've started making more search queries to Bing and using Yandex services.

  101. You could certainly make URLs invisible to users. by hey! · · Score: 1

    But you'd still have URLs under the covers. Or you'd end up re-inventing them.

    Some years ago I spent time pondering all the possible ways things could be identified in a system. I came up with three broad, non-mutually exclusive strategies:

    (1) Analytically: identify a thing by a set of properties which are unique to it (e.g. relational primary keys);
    (2) Algorithmically: use an algorithm that is guaranteed to issue identifiers that are unique in the required scope (e.g. UUIDs for global scope, or within restricted, local contexts simple serial numbers);
    and,
    (3) By authority: put somebody in charge of naming things; they can use any method they like (e.g. scientific journal editors control species taxonomies).

    All of these approaches have drawbacks. For example relational primary keys are not robust when data is shared across applications, because different applications obey different rules. Algorithmically assigned identifiers are either not globally unique (serial numbers) or are long and arbitrary therefore hard to key in accurately (UUIDs).

    URLs are identifiers by authority. Somebody says that "https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/09/04/1722244/google-wants-to-kill-the-url" identifies this discussion, and so it does. But you can see two very useful features of URLs in operation here. First, they allow whoever runs the tech.slashdot.org to delegate authority for stories to whomever is in charge of the "../stories" URLs. Second, it allows whomever is in charge of stories to transform his local unique identifier ("18/09/04/1722244/google-wants-to-kill-the-url") into a globally unique address.

    If you include these two features, delegation of authority and transformation of locally unique IDs to globally unique locators, you pretty much end creating something like a URL. Since the idea of mixing protocols like http and ftp isn't really a big thing anymore, you could ditch the protocol identifier and make it a URI, e.g. ("web:tech.slashdot.org/story/18/09/04/1722244/google-wants-to-kill-the-url") and the browser would automatically request the resource using https, which is what everyone should be using now.

    Another possibility is to use universal resource names (e.g., "urn:isbn:978-0471117094") with some kind of global directory. But that directory would have to return to the browser something that is an awful lot like a URL, even though the user doesn't see it.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  102. Your Weak Half-Measures Are Doomed To Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better solution

    1) IPv6 only
    2) Do away with DNS
    3) Do away with IPV6 shorthand.

  103. They have begun implementing this already. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, late on the game. They already HAVE done this.

    Just type "google.com" and enter a name. No URL needed.

    They own you and your children already. Slaves

  104. Worm can opening alert! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    British Indian Ocean Territory is uninhabited

    Whoah there! Leaving aside the thousands of military personnel, there's thousands of Chagossians who continue their fight over the legality of their expulsion in the 60s.

    1. Re:Worm can opening alert! by tepples · · Score: 1

      Leaving aside the thousands of military personnel

      I was confused as to whether deployment to the Diego Garcia military base counts as legal residence.

      thousands of Chagossians who continue their fight over the legality of their expulsion

      Yet they remain expelled until they win said fight.

  105. Back to the future by bickerdyke · · Score: 1

    I, for one, welcome our new AOL keywords.

    --
    bickerdyke
  106. Here is what I think happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The writer for Wired published two stories on the same day. One is "Google Wants to Kill the URL" and the other is "How Google Chrome Spent a Decade Making the Web More Secure". Both stories quote the same three people.

    I think what happened was that the writer got an interview with three Google Chrome employees for her "How Google Chrome Spent a Decade Making the Web More Secure" article. During the interviews they mentioned they had ideas for making changes to URLs, which clearly seems like it could be a good thing for security, e.g. to prevent phishing attacks.

    The employees refused to share any of their ideas for changing URLs, because they knew they'd be criticized. But the writer went ahead and wrote the "Google Wants to Kill the URL" story anyways.

  107. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by nasch · · Score: 1

    How about if my browser -- that has no problem parsing a URL -- simply asked me, the first time I wind up at a new domain, if I'm sure it is who I think it is?

    That might be fine for you, but most people would see something with an OK button preventing them from doing what they want to do, and click OK without reading it.

  108. Re: I didn't see a Request For Comments anywhere.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The number 1 thing that I would like is to display the date of registration of the domain prominently alongside the URL. So many scams use domains registered only in the past few months. Obviously thatâ(TM)s not a perfect solution as criminals can register domains earlier and sit on them, but it is something simple that could make a difference.

  109. Amazing reply. Much arguments. Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You really showed him.

  110. Oh, the problem has an answer, it's just not easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once upon a time Microsoft decided that people didn't need to know how to use computers in order to"use" computers. Apple was onboard, of course, then came Google. We've built this gaping monstrosity based on the premise that even idiots can use it, and so they do.... -- Build a freakin' "dailer app" that's connected to search results (and for the love of God, not *just* Google's search results) and an Internet Domain Open Name System that can query legacy DNS well, cross-reference search results, and opens a way forward where we don't have to buy and register domain names and search rankings for what could be an almost infinite "open" name space. The Domain Industrial Complex will kill it with malice and huge freakin' frag cannons unless someone like Google does it. The "stupid people, rednecks, billy-bubbas, under-educated, uneducated" problem will remain but technology can't fix that ...yet.

  111. That coming from... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the guys who happily craft URLs like this for their own workplace:

    www.google.com/maps/place/Googleplex/@37.4219999,-122.0862462,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fba02425dad8f:0x6c296c66619367e0!8m2!3d37.4219999!4d-122.0840575

    Yeah, they must have bought the Internet.

  112. In fact it is the *cause*. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Humans are efficient, or even lazy. They will not sustain a power-hungry brain unless they absolutely have to.

    1. Re:In fact it is the *cause*. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      No, I'm pretty sure that's just you.

  113. No, you occupied. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is the default state of the Murican murder drone.

  114. Advancements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I cannot think of one great advancement google has done to better anything on the web.

    Fuck right off, fucktard. Google has done plenty to alter and improve the internet as a whole and you use their stuff all the time.

    Google Search
    Google Translate
    Android
    Google Maps
    Google Earth
    GMail/GSuite

    Created an advertising platform that made it possible for the web to expand considerably and keep the content "free".
    Virtually force the pervasive use of TLS/HTTPS.
    Forced the increased size of mailboxes and attachments.(I also hate them for this.) ...

    1. Re:Advancements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I cannot think of one great advancement google has done to better anything on the web.

      Fuck right off, fucktard. Google has done plenty to alter and improve the internet as a whole and you use their stuff all the time.

      Google Search
      Google Translate
      Android
      Google Maps
      Google Earth
      GMail/GSuite

      Created an advertising platform that made it possible for the web to expand considerably and keep the content "free".
      Virtually force the pervasive use of TLS/HTTPS.
      Forced the increased size of mailboxes and attachments.(I also hate them for this.) ...

      WOW, a bunch of useless crap and some ads.
      Great job losers.

    2. Re:Advancements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hadn't realised google was the first with those things! Oh wait, they weren't...they just did what everyone hated M$ for: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

    3. Re:Advancements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Google Translate

      How many years has that been around and it's still only just barely functional?

      >Android

      The primary selling point of Android (besides the price) has always been "It's not Apple", but these days I'm much more interested in something that's "not Google".

      >Google Maps

      Shit like that was around years before google maps. My mom would plan trips with directions from Yahoo in the 90s.

      >Google Earth

      Granted, Google Earth is one of the neatest things I've ever seen, once you get past the sheer amount of surveillance and data hoarding necessary to make it possible. I personally can't wait for the day when Streetview becomes realtime. Whatever you think about Big Brother, he makes cool toys sometimes.

      That said, they did reduce its coolness by about 20% when they decided last year to unilaterally nuke 99% of the embedded user photos for no apparent reason.

      >GMail/GSuite

      I had a hotmail account 20 years ago that wasn't fundamentally different than my current gmail account.

    4. Re: Advancements by damang111 · · Score: 1

      I probably use Google traffic and translate daily. Who else offers this? Google traffic itself was something NO ONE thought of (same with street view ) and these were game changers.

    5. Re: Advancements by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Google traffic itself was something NO ONE thought of

      You must be joking. Dozens of GPS manufacturers (software and hardware) were providing traffic reporting services before google got in the game. Google just has an advantage because they can harvest location data from every phone on the road.

  115. it would be much simpler if by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would be much simpler if every website was assigned a set of 8 simple 16 bit numbers. More established sites could be assigned a set of 4 simple 8 bit numbers. Everyone would know exactly who they were connecting to in this scenario, and it's pretty easy to remember 8 numbers. It's two less than a US phone number!

  116. Re:Hypocrites gonna hype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go play your twitch games on your smartphone, addict, and be sure to check Facebook 200 times a day.

  117. 666 is the mark of JEWgle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Khazar Talmudic Jews believe this of all they call goyim/gentiles (any non-jew): Jews = biggest racists of all (for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Peron, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Driven into DESERTS ages ago! Don't wonder why after all those exilings above.

    Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4zMVZ8HnFI/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud.

    This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple & they killed him for it. Jeremiah did the same to them also + the Essenes could not stand them either breaking away from the pharisee corruption):

    Mark Zuckerberg stole the Winklevoss twins' code for Fakebook (figures as he is a thieving low jew too).

    Maria Abramovic satanist spirit cooker pal of Hillary Clinton the Voodoo queen is a jew https://www.google.com/search?...

    Like Hillary Clinton's mentor Saul Alinsky author of rules for radicals book dedicated to Lucifer

    "Most Jews do not like to admit it, but our god is Lucifer Â- so I wasnÂ't lying Â- and we are his chosen people. Lucifer is very much aliveÂ" Harold Rosenthal http://www.thetruthseeker.co.u...

    Jewish rabbi openly admits to satan worship use white children's blood they kill for passover bread, infiltrating and subverting the catholic church, creating the Jesuit order https://www.youtube.com/watch?... and https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Barbara Spectre, a jew, tells everyone it's jews orchestrating the muslim migrant problem in Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFE0qAiofMQ/ . No migrant raping of women in Poland. Tons in Sweden. Do the math. Use common-sense. This is to get muslims and other goyim/gentiles to wipe one another out as incompatible cultures that will clash and always have.

    Rabbi A. Finkelstein ADMITS their greatest enemies are ARABS and WHITES (blacks too) whom they wish to kill one another in a 'theater of war' which they find AMUSING https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Finkelstein also admits JEWS DID 9/11 (perpetrated by the Mossad & Bebe Netanyahu of ISRAEL) https://www.youtube.com/watch?... profiting by it (and that 3,000 jews employed there did not show up for work that day knowing about it beforehand).

    Finkelstein also admits JEWS are going to destroy the U.S. Dollar and dumping it for other world currencies and gold to destroy the United States.

    George Soros who funds groups to create division in the USA?? A jew. One who sold his own jew people into death for the nazis.

    Zucker now FIRED @ CNN is another frying publicly for lying about "russians" and John Bonifield a producer @ CNN said it is bs. Van Jones did also.

    Bernie Madoff (who made off with everyone's money, especially construction union pensions) shows the thieving nature of the JUDEN!

    Eric Schmidt had to step down @ JEWgle (a jew).

    Adam Schiff (gosh s

  118. ahh that's explains why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I opened gmail the other day, and I heard it say "You've got mail!"

  119. Re: Leading by example by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google demands everyone use "responsive design" for their websites "or else get reamed on mobile". However, Google Search itself is NOT responsive! They have mobile versions of their search engine but the desktop version is clearly not even close to responsive.

  120. A solution that doesn't require starting over by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Agreed-upon convention alone can reduce the vast majority of problems without throwing away the baby with the bathwater. Public URL's should be in a form similar to: "theCompany.com/12345"

    The number after the slash is a page ID (real or virtual). Maybe permit optional slugs such as: "theCompany.com/12345/slug-title-goes-here". But the slug is not required: to outsiders it's like a code comment. Misspelling the slug, if given, will not stop your results (although could provide suggestions if the numbered page is not found).

    And, no sub-domains. (Back-end org URL translation can remap to physical servers.)

    The convention would allow someone to go to "theCompany.com" and type "12345" in the site's search box to go directly to the target page. That way, you can type the company's name into the address bar to make sure you are not being tricked (such as with "s1ashdot.org"), and then enter or paste the page number at the site itself.

  121. Twitter Check Mark, but for the entire web by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

    So basically Google wants to steal Twitter's blue checkmark idea, and use it for the entire web.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  122. Re: How about dealing with the problem, not the ca by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    First, it doesn't matter. We've already taken down appple.com for its criminal acts.
    Second, it doesn't matter. We've already disabled the stolen credit card.
    Third, it's not difficult to argue/prove that it wasn't me, someone stole my card.

    Fourth, and this is important, when it comes to arresting people, we're never talking about the first time, and we're never talking about the maybe-by-accident time. We're talking about the repeated, intentional, and malicious times.

    Fifth, I'll say it again, your made-up intelligent criminal (who's now committed three crimes, by the way, instead of just one, and the two new ones are actually high crimes, whereas the original one was actually a low crime) can be a part of the 10% that we don't catch. Let's catch the stupid criminals. There are plenty of them.

  123. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    Yeah "OK" buttons have been stupid since the start. How many times have I clicked an OK button on a dialog button that popped up less than 100ms ago. I tried to click on something, but the dialog box popped up in my way somewhere after I saw what I wanted, and before my mouse button clicked.

    Dialog boxes should always have stalled long enough to ensure that human reaction times could have possibly seen them.

    Back to the conversation at-hand, I don't suggest an OK button. That's like asking if the chicken is white meat at a chinese restaurant. The answer is always "yes". You don't ask yes/no questions when language barriers are an issue. You ask "what kind of meat is it". That way, when the answer is "yes", you understand what happened.

    Instead of an OK button, how about: "which site do you want to visit? the one registered in 1990 by jeff bezos in seattle, or the one registered by halib mohammed in 2018 from nigeria?"

    Tell me how many consumer would get that wrong today? And, by all means, make them select each of the three (date, registrant, city) independently, and if they aren't a matching tuple, make them try again.

  124. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by nasch · · Score: 1

    That would probably work, but it would be such a pain that, again, I'd guess most people would avoid it. Either by turning the feature off, or looking for a browser that doesn't do it. I might even turn off such a feature.

    Of course, I don't have a better suggestion.

  125. Re:How about dealing with the problem, not the cau by holophrastic · · Score: 1

    Oh, absolutely and without a doubt, I'd turn it off myself. But really, I don't have the problem being described.

    You know what, I take that back. I wouldn't turn it off. If it only came up once for a given domain as-typed, I'd feel incredibly stupid turning it off. I'd consider it a safety-feature, like a seatbelt -- very annoying to use, a little bit uncomfortable, rarely if ever necessary, and absolutely vital if needed.

  126. Google wants the computer to turn back into a TV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Letting users know where the content is coming from is dangerous, because they might go somewhere else instead. Someplace with less ads.

  127. Google Smoogle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So now the graphical non copyble smear you have poured over the text in Gmail should extend to the browser url as well... No thanks

  128. Dead anyway by aberglas · · Score: 1

    Would you go to WIRED,com or WlRED.com? Look carefully, they are not the same. And not even unicode.

  129. googIe.com looks exactly like google.com by aberglas · · Score: 1

    But aint. And not even Unicode. The idiocy of our font designers.

  130. Not a propaganda tool by aberglas · · Score: 1

    A monitoring tool. If you know what people search for you know a lot about them.

    1. Re:Not a propaganda tool by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      If your search fails to disclose whole areas of your country's history, it's also a propaganda tool. Both are correct.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  131. The best argument for URL's, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    ... is the ability to sanitize them easily. I don't think ANY less transparent, less-editable substitute will allow getting rid of, say, my Amazon search history from the URL I'm looking at before passing it on to a friend. We don't need 'better URL's', we need better education about the current URL structure and uses.

    I parse URL's, probably on a daily basis, as a security / privacy measure. I'm sure I'm in the minority even here on Slashdot - but I damned well shouldn't be.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  132. Re:You could certainly make URLs invisible to user by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    Another possibility is to use universal resource names (e.g., "urn:isbn:978-0471117094") with some kind of global directory. But that directory would have to return to the browser something that is an awful lot like a URL, even though the user doesn't see it.

    For me, that part that I've bolded is the entire problem with URL alternatives. I don't WANT the damned thing hidden from my sight, and I want it to be MORE explicit and transparent than it is, not less. I want to be able to view and edit it, so I can see and eliminate the bits that encode my recent history on that particular site, and so I can do things like alter a YouTube URL for an age-restricted video, to a URL that allows me to view that content without logging in to Google.

    Killing or hiding the URL, is like substituting a promotional tourist placemat map for a cartographer's map, then making the latter totally unavailable. It puts power and information out of the reach of ALL Internet users, at a time when what we need is exactly the opposite.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  133. Anti-climax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Google Wants To Kill the URL"

    Ooooh, I'm all excited. What could they possibly replace it with?

    "And the group won't offer any examples at this point of the types of schemes they are considering"

    And not excited.

    Really, is there any point posting this type of article when it just raises annoying questions with no answers?

  134. better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why not kill ...


    U tot U `CIR . LEPTA on LEPTA . WHEREBY `ACETIC on LEPTA .
    KN on U . U . U tot U `U tot U `U us are U tot U `U tot U `
    U U . U . U . U us are U us are U us are U tot U `U us are
    U `U `U . U . U `GEOG `U `GEOG `LEPTA on ACETIC on LEPTA .
    U . U U . U . U tot U `U tot U `U us are U . U us are . U `
    U on KN . U . U tot U `U tot U `U us are U on U . U tot U `
    U tot U `CIR . LEPTA on LEPTA . WHEREBY `U tot U . LEPTA .

  135. Ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    If you're having a tough time thinking of what could possibly be used in place of URLs, you're not alone.

    The answer must be blockchains, emojis, or both.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  136. Know what I hear when you talk? LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: "Cluck, cluck, cluck" lmao - keep HIDING from me you disgusting little UNIDENTIFIABLE ball-less WORM, lol...

    APK

    P.S.=> How can a WORM like YOU look yourself in the mirror? apk

  137. Awwww! Poor MILKSOP is crying, lol... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Awwww! Poor MILKSOP is crying, lol... stfu you UNIDENTIFIABLE no balls little WORM! Nobody wants to hear your bitch like cries.

    APK

    P.S.=> Hahahaha... apk

  138. Cashgrab by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google wants more money by selling their own Google fake urls

  139. Too Much Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google would love this to happen. That makes search 100% necessary to find new things and would truly prop-up their not-so-free-speech activity. No thanks.

  140. Dumb down or educate? Which to choose? by fygment · · Score: 1

    Too hard to educate people on how to understand URL's. Instead let's dumb down the URL's and let's set the standard so we can have control and competitive advantage. Profit!

    Who needs smarter people? Education just makes them harder to track and fool.

    --
    "Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
  141. Do people not even read the submissions, already? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
    Contrary to what the headline says, TFS is actually informative :

    But this will mean big changes in how and when Chrome displays URLs. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as we're figuring out the right way to convey identity.

    (My emphasis).

    "how and when Chrome displays URLs." Well there are probably browsers that do that already. Certainly my phone's version of Firefox only displays a URL some of the time. Already. That's just going to get more complex.

    "as we're figuring out the right way to convey identity [of the website being accessed]." That is certainly one of the useful things for displaying the URL to an end user. Different people, with different knowledge bases, will have different requirements down this aspect of customisation. But all the display options in the world isn't going to stop Uncle Alf from giving away the family silver to Very.Bad.Bank.COM if he thinks it's a good thing to do.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  142. Seriously by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you can't understand a URL, I recommend discontinuing your use of the internet.