That's precisely the point that riles our tinfoil-hated friends: Heartbeat should be a simple matter of hi-ho's ad infinitum (ie: no or constant-space parameter

That's precisely the point that riles our tinfoil-hated friends: Heartbeat should be a simple matter of hi-ho's ad infinitum (ie: no or constant-space parameters). This is, of course, glossing over the fact that TLS over a TCP link doesn't actually need a heartbeat. TLS/UDP does, granted. Ever heard of DTLS?