[NTLUG:Discuss] Faking another Browser.

[Steve Baker]

Richard Geoffrion wrote:
> Steve Baker <sjbaker1 at airmail.net> wrote:
> 
>>My wife has been trying to access a web site that seems to be testing
>>to see which browser we are using - and it complains if you are using
>>anything *other* then Internet Explorer.  <grrrrr>
>
> I'm dying of curiosity to know WHICH site it is.  Can you share?

Go to:

     http://www.worldfinancialgroup.com

...then try to create a password using Mozilla or Netscape (Opera seems
to come configured to pretend to be IE 5.0 - so it works OK - but if you
tell it not to lie - then the website complains).

But it's *far* from being the only site like that.  If you do a 'Google' search
for the exact phrase "requires internet explorer", you get 20,000 hits, if you
search for "requires IE", you get another 20,000.  Searching for "Requires
Netscape" produces another 27,000 hits.  "Requires Mozilla" produced only 500
hits.

That's a bit unscientific because some of those say:

   "Requires Netscape or Internet Explorer"

...and there are significant numbers of sites that say "Only works with..." or
"Needs..." but you get the idea.

IMHO, it was a really bad idea to require the browser to say *anything* to the
http server beyond the name of the file being requested...but it's too late
for *that*.

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