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Using the XMLHttpRequest Object and AJAX to Spy On You
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08/09/2005, By Earle Castledine
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Every nerd loves the XMLHttpRequest. It supplies the functionality of which Web programmers' dreams are made. Web applications start behaving like desktop applications. Things work as they're "supposed to," freeing the Mum-and-Dad end users from needing to know anything about servers, clients, post-backs and submit buttons—"Submit? Submit to what!"
Like so many technologies-gone-bad before it, this technology was created for the purpose of good. And until now, the XMLHttpRequest has been so good it could almost be considered saintly, providing users and developers alike with such conveniences as input validation without post-back, text area spell checkers, and Gmail. Interfaces built with AJAX are fun to use and even more fun to program. It's almost hard to imagine that such a miraculous object could ever do wrong.
But even without the discovery of a giant security hole, the XMLHttpRequest will likely fall from grace. Its fall will be in the form of "user over-profiling" for want of a better description. Currently, user profiling helps Web site owners detect trends, track page viewing habits and iron out usability problems. Until now though, developers could only analyze posted data—data that users decided they wanted the server to get, and were happy to send off for processing.
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