The web as we know it was never securable. LLMs made it obvious. We made a wrong turn somewhere back around JavaScript. Eventually we'll get fed up with the quick fixes and design something better. I don't blame the LLMs for this. I blame whoever made that wrong turn back in the 90's (and us, for not turning around sooner).

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vanviegen 6 hours ago | parent [-]

You're blaming JavaScript? The language that succeeded at delivering fully sandboxed rich client-side applications better than any other tech? With the worst incidents generally being 'just' various forms of fingerprinting?

Or, if you're thinking server-side JavaScript: would the web have been more secure running PHP and Python?

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__MatrixMan__ 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The language that made it normal to blindly run code that you found lying around on some page? Elsewhere we'd call that a remote code execution exploit. JavaScript just calls it another day at the office.

And it's not fully sandboxed. It betrays its user all the time by abusing unrestricted access to the network, or activating browser functionality that most of us would disable if we could.

I'm not saying it's THE bad decision, but it is the product of a generation of thinkers who were not thinking about threats the way we do now. If we were to go back in time and have the opportunity to do it differently, I think we would take that opportunity.

But we don't actually need a time machine. We can just accept some sunk costs and move forward anyhow.

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saltcured 23 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

To be fair, Java applets and the Flash plugin socialized that before Javascript tried to walk us back from the edge just a bit.

And before that, whatever Microsoft "macro" or embedded code variant was popular that week in all those document formats...

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ifwinterco 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Blindly running client side code (within a very carefully designed sandbox) is necessary for the modern web to operate, and people like the modern web.

We aren't going back to a page refresh every time you want to update something any time soon

	▲	__MatrixMan__ 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Are you sure people like the modern web? It's increasingly used as a weapon against them. I don't know anybody under 20 who likes the modern web. As for the others, I think its more about nostalgia.

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JKCalhoun 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Perhaps the web was more secure when it wasn't running anything—just serving up static web pages?

	▲	vanviegen 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Sure. It was also a lot less functional.
	▲	4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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