> Ideally it should just say... "hey I'm curl, let me in"

What? Ideally it should just say "GET /path/to/page".

Sending a user agent is a bad idea. That shouldn't be happening at all, from any source.

Since the first browser appeared I've always meant that sending a user agent id was a really bad idea. It breaks with the fundamental idea of the web protocol, that it's the server's responsibility to provide data and it's the client's responsibility to present it to the user. The server does not need to know anything about the client. Including user agent in this whole thing was a huge mistake as it allowed web site designers to code for specific quirks in browsers. I can to some extent accept a capability list from the client, but I'm not so sure even that is necessary.

Absolutely, yes! A protocol should not be tied to client details. Where did "User Agent" strings even come from?