Re: RFC: Implementing a core anti-XSS escaping class

On 18/09/12 18:55, Stas Malyshev wrote:

Again, you are taking very narrow definition of filterting, which is not justified by anything but your very narrow use case, and try to present it as if this is the only meaning filtering has (despite numerous examples of using of filters in more generic sense) and that because of this we need to duplicate APIs we already have, just because you can use them in different context. To me, it makes no sense - you can apply data filtering anywhere. If for your specific purpose of explaining how to make better security architecture you choose to define "filtering" and "escaping" as narrow distinct concepts, this is fine. This does not mean that we can not use existing filter extension - with already implemented methods doing exactly what is needed to be done - because they are to be used in context which you call "escaping". No, Stas, you are not realising that "filter" has a different meaning depending which field it is used in. It has very different meanings in computer science and referring to the physical apparatus, compared to computer security.

Since stopping XSS is a computer security issue, we should discuss it as such. -- Andrew Faulds http://ajf.me/