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Feature #1: "Input body filter support. It is quite handy to write Web Application Firewalls by using this mechanism." Correct me if I'm wrong, but "Web Applic

Feature #1: "Input body filter support. It is quite handy to write Web Application Firewalls by using this mechanism." Correct me if I'm wrong, but "Web Application Firewalls" sounds like an API for censoring content to me. As much as I loath the idea of internet censoring, I would love to get a peek inside the technical workings of the famed "Great Firewall of China".

est 15y ago
> sounds like an API for censoring content to me. Does all web frameork URL handlers or case statements sound like web censoring to you?
- kennywinker 15y ago
  Context-dependant, yes. I.e. when it comes after "Input body filter support" and comes from a country where "firewall" is used to describe massive scale automated internet censorship. If you know that's not the case, cite something.
  - haidong 15y ago
    kennywinker, every single technology can be used for "good" and "bad" purposes. Taobao's Tengine is a fork of Nginx, a great one at that, I might add. It has nothing to do with the Great Firewall. It's open source and the code is available for everybody to see. The innuendo, knee-jerk, hypocritical, "guilty by association with big/bad Chinese gov" reaction toward a solid open source web server, shared for all to play with and use, is quite disgusting, frankly.
elliotanderson 15y ago
Applying the same logic, firewalls used to protect computers and servers are only there to censor content. From the description, it sounds like it has nothing to do with content filtering and everything to do with app security. Web apps in particular have very different attack vectors (think XSS, SQL Injection etc) that your standard install of iptables/shorewall is going to protect against
- kennywinker 15y ago
  I only raise the issue because I happen to know that China is involved in large-scale automated internet filtering and that in order to operate, companies are required to implement those filters. And the fact of the matter is, many many firewalls ARE used for content filtering. For example, many workplaces block common time-waster sites. Home wifi routers can be easily configured to filter adult content. Universities block file-sharing. ISPs do bandwidth shaping. etc. etc.

est 15y ago

> sounds like an API for censoring content to me. Does all web frameork URL handlers or case statements sound like web censoring to you?

kennywinker 15y ago
Context-dependant, yes. I.e. when it comes after "Input body filter support" and comes from a country where "firewall" is used to describe massive scale automated internet censorship. If you know that's not the case, cite something.
- haidong 15y ago
  kennywinker, every single technology can be used for "good" and "bad" purposes. Taobao's Tengine is a fork of Nginx, a great one at that, I might add. It has nothing to do with the Great Firewall. It's open source and the code is available for everybody to see. The innuendo, knee-jerk, hypocritical, "guilty by association with big/bad Chinese gov" reaction toward a solid open source web server, shared for all to play with and use, is quite disgusting, frankly.

elliotanderson 15y ago

Applying the same logic, firewalls used to protect computers and servers are only there to censor content. From the description, it sounds like it has nothing to do with content filtering and everything to do with app security. Web apps in particular have very different attack vectors (think XSS, SQL Injection etc) that your standard install of iptables/shorewall is going to protect against

kennywinker 15y ago
I only raise the issue because I happen to know that China is involved in large-scale automated internet filtering and that in order to operate, companies are required to implement those filters. And the fact of the matter is, many many firewalls ARE used for content filtering. For example, many workplaces block common time-waster sites. Home wifi routers can be easily configured to filter adult content. Universities block file-sharing. ISPs do bandwidth shaping. etc. etc.