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List:       firewalls-gc
Subject:    Re: Hosting ActiveX applets
From:       Adam Shostack <adam () homeport ! org>
Date:       1997-06-08 9:25:52
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Kevin McPeake wrote:

| I've seen all the arguements for why ActiveX should not be allowed into 
| our corperate network via the Internet.
| 
| Can someone tell me if there's any good reasons why we should not allow
| ActiveX on our Web server to be served to visiting web browsing clients?
| If the ActiveX component that we serve to clients, considered a security 
| risk for our internel network / web server?

	Well, no one seems to remember, but the *really cool* thing
about the web was that anyone could view documents, on any platform.
We had independance from proprietary standards.  We had documents
being created in a modifyable language (unlike, say, postscript).
This was the first time in a while that we had that sort of vendor
freedom.

	The real reason to not use ActiveX is because you probably
don't need to, and you're segmenting out your marketplace to pay
homage to a vendor.  Also, there are all sorts of security problems
with Microsoft's implementations.  Many firewalls filter ActiveX, just
like you do(?).  So why are you creating web pages that your own company
wouldn't allow in?

Adam

-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume

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