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Re: IETF web site behind CloudFlare

2014-09-16 11:15:31
On Sep 16, 2014, at 8:34 AM, Fred Baker (fred) <fred(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> 
wrote:
On Sep 16, 2014, at 4:52 AM, Linus Nordberg <linus+ietf(_at_)nordu(_dot_)net> 
wrote:
It seems like www.ietf.org is behind CloudFlare:
...
This is sad because it's now not possible to visit the site without
accepting JavaScript. At least if you get selected for solving a
CAPTCHA. Tor users is one group of users who are selected.

I believe a client gets thrown to a CAPTCHA when the source IP address is 
identified with a threat/attack of some sort in order to ensure there is a 
human behind the client. In as much as sites behind Tor are used to originate 
attacks, it isn’t too surprising that they get redirected to a CAPTCHA.

As for it being sad, I see it as a reasonable tradeoff in today’s Internet.

Is this permanent?

Few things in life are. I imagine if another company were to provide a better 
deal/meet the IETF requirements for CDN services, the IETF would probably 
switch.

Will it hit more domains than www?
Where can I read about the decision to hide www behind CloudFlare?

Thanks,
Linus

“hide”?

I think I might start by asking the IAD or the IAOC. I wasn’t involved, but 
the use of a CDN is usually a business decision, and they are the folks who 
make business decisions for the IETF. AMS has historically provided 
redundancy for www.ietf.org by hosting it at two sites, one of which was a 
secondary for the other. Just a guess, but it’s mine, Cloudflare probably 
offered the IETF a deal in which the IETF got redundant dual stack service 
and a good rate.

There is also 
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-cloudflare-free-https-20140808-story.html

Regards,
-drc
(full disclosure: I used to work for Cloudflare a few years ago)

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