Hi Mike,

Initially, the trial will end with M125, but we are likely to extend the
trial once we get there. By then, we should have a better understanding of
the timeline for ending the trial period.

Sincerely,
[image: Google Logo]
Peter Birk Pakkenberg
Software Engineer
[email protected]
+447469379358


On Tue, 3 Jan 2023 at 20:13, Mike Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 12/21/22 12:27 PM, Peter Birk Pakkenberg wrote:
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> We plan to open the deprecation trial for sign-up in January.
>
> We’re planning to roll out the change in behaviour in M110
> Canary/Dev/Beta, and hopefully a small percentage of Stable in M111. The
> exact ramp-up schedule after that will depend on feedback, and is something
> we’re still figuring out together with other stakeholders, but we plan to
> take a careful approach.
>
> Assuming the blog post goes out soon, that gives ~2 months for developers
> to notice and implement any necessary changes. It feels a little bit on the
> short side. But I'm glad to hear you're working out the ramp-up details
> with caution in mind.
>
> If the Deprecation Trial is valid beginning with M110, when does it end? I
> don't know that we've shipped "never expires" origin trials before (to my
> knowledge they require an expiration date encoded in the token?).
>
> Deprecation Reports is a great idea. I am not sure if these are supported
> by WebView, but I will look into that next year.
>
> Sincerely,
> [image: Google Logo]
> Peter Birk Pakkenberg
> Software Engineer
> [email protected]
> +447469379358 <+44%207469%20379358>
>
>
> On Wed, 21 Dec 2022 at 16:08, Mike Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Peter!
>>
>> Can you say more about timelines? For example, which milestone you would
>> launch the deprecation trial, and how long will sites have to enroll before
>> the behavior changes (i.e., what's the milestone for turning XRW off)?
>>
>> A blog post in January sounds great - are there any other useful outreach
>> tools that are useful to the WebView ecosystem? (I have no idea if
>> Deprecation Reports for a few milestones would be useful...).
>>
>> On 12/21/22 5:52 AM, Peter Birk Pakkenberg wrote:
>>
>> Hi Rick, Mike, and blink-dev@
>>
>> To clarify my last statement, here is our proposed plan:
>>
>> We intend to start a deprecation trial, which will retain the current
>> behaviour of sending the X-Requested-With header from WebView clients,
>> however, as an opt-in rather than default behaviour. This trial is planned
>> to run for at least one year, but we’d only like it to end once we have a
>> replacement solution.
>> Simultaneously, we’re working on gathering requirements and designing
>> replacement APIs for the key use cases, in a secure and privacy-conscious
>> manner.
>>
>> Right now we are looking for approval to start the deprecation trial and
>> change the header to become opt-in for non-trial-participants, with the
>> understanding that this will be an ongoing trial with no set end-date.
>>
>> We will also publish a blog post in January to further lay out the
>> reasons behind this change, and the timeline for the deprecation.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> [image: Google Logo]
>> Peter Birk Pakkenberg
>> Software Engineer
>> [email protected]
>> +447469379358 <+44%207469%20379358>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 19 Dec 2022 at 18:22, Mike Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> I'm a big fan of removing passive fingerprinting signals, so thanks for
>>> driving this work. Just a few questions:
>>>
>>> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=960720#c2 stated
>>> that "changing the default behaviour would be a significant compatibility
>>> risk" - I assume your team is going to publish some migration guidance for
>>> developers to reduce the risk. Can you confirm?
>>>
>>> Also, this intent mentions a deprecation trial - does that already
>>> exist? Could you give more details on the plans there? (I don't recall
>>> seeing a "Request for Deprecation Trial" for that, but I'm bad at email...)
>>>
>>> Can you also clarify your proposed timelines (for the deprecation trial,
>>> and removal)?
>>>
>>> thanks,
>>> Mike
>>>
>>> On 12/19/22 12:13 PM, 'Peter Birk Pakkenberg' via blink-dev wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Rick,
>>>
>>> Yes - removal is part of the goal here.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> [image: Google Logo]
>>> Peter Birk Pakkenberg
>>> Software Engineer
>>> [email protected]
>>> +447469379358 <+44%207469%20379358>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, 19 Dec 2022 at 17:08, Rick Byers <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks for working to remove this non-standard WebView-only behavior, I
>>>> agree it's a privacy issue. I assume this is an "Intent to Deprecate
>>>> and Remove
>>>> <https://www.chromium.org/blink/launching-features/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIntent%20to%20Deprecate%20and%20Remove%E2%80%9D>"
>>>> looking for permission to remove this behavior (not just mark it
>>>> 'deprecated'), is that right?
>>>>
>>>> If so, LGTM1.
>>>>
>>>> There may still be some compat and developer messaging risks, but the
>>>> WebView team (of which Peter is a member) are the right experts to navigate
>>>> those.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 5:18 AM 'Peter Birk Pakkenberg' via blink-dev <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Contact emails
>>>>>
>>>>> [email protected]
>>>>>
>>>>> Explainer
>>>>>
>>>>> None
>>>>>
>>>>> Specification
>>>>>
>>>>> Summary
>>>>>
>>>>> Removes the default X-Requested-With header from HTTP requests made by
>>>>> WebView.
>>>>>
>>>>> The X-Requested-With header is set by WebView, with the package name
>>>>> of the embedding apk as the value.
>>>>>
>>>>> This use of the header will be discontinued.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Blink component
>>>>>
>>>>> Mobile>WebView
>>>>> <https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list?q=component:Mobile%3EWebView>
>>>>>
>>>>> Motivation
>>>>>
>>>>> The header as implemented in WebView does not follow the principle of
>>>>> meaningful consent of all parties exchanging the information[1]. Developer
>>>>> can utilize unreliable and undocumented methods to opt-out.
>>>>>
>>>>> Users are not provided with an opt-out option. The content owner is
>>>>> the only party with full control over the information provided in the
>>>>> header.
>>>>>
>>>>> APK name is also an abundant source of passive fingerprinting
>>>>> information about the users. It contains specific information about the
>>>>> browsing context. When the application is not omnipresent (i.e. has a
>>>>> relatively small user base), together with other information (e.g. approx.
>>>>> geolocation based on an IP address), it can provide a fairly unique
>>>>> identifier of a user.
>>>>>
>>>>> On top of those privacy issues, the header is undocumented, used in
>>>>> non-WebView context for a completely different purpose, notoriously
>>>>> misunderstood, and causing security issues since its introduction.
>>>>>
>>>>> [1]: https://w3ctag.github.io/design-principles/#consent
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Initial public proposal
>>>>>
>>>>> Search tags
>>>>>
>>>>> Headers <https://chromestatus.com/features#tags:Headers>
>>>>>
>>>>> TAG review
>>>>>
>>>>> TAG review status
>>>>>
>>>>> Not applicable
>>>>>
>>>>> Risks
>>>>>
>>>>> Interoperability and Compatibility
>>>>>
>>>>> Gecko: N/A
>>>>>
>>>>> WebKit: N/A
>>>>>
>>>>> Web developers: No signals
>>>>>
>>>>> Other signals:
>>>>>
>>>>> WebView application risks
>>>>>
>>>>> Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such
>>>>> that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications?
>>>>>
>>>>> This feature removes a header sent by default by WebView. It should
>>>>> have no direct impact on applications using WebViews, but sites loaded in
>>>>> the WebView will no longer receive the X-Requested-With header unless the
>>>>> app explicitly allowlist the site[1] to receive the header or the site
>>>>> participates in the deprecation trial.
>>>>>
>>>>> [1]:
>>>>> https://developer.android.com/reference/androidx/webkit/WebSettingsCompat#setRequestedWithHeaderOriginAllowList(android.webkit.WebSettings,java.util.Set%3Cjava.lang.String%3E)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Debuggability
>>>>>
>>>>> Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests
>>>>> <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>
>>>>> ?
>>>>>
>>>>> No
>>>>>
>>>>> Flag name
>>>>>
>>>>> WebViewXRequestedWithHeaderControl
>>>>>
>>>>> Requires code in //chrome?
>>>>>
>>>>> False
>>>>>
>>>>> Tracking bug
>>>>>
>>>>> https://crbug.com/960720
>>>>>
>>>>> Launch bug
>>>>>
>>>>> https://launch.corp.google.com/launch/4136516
>>>>>
>>>>> Estimated milestones
>>>>>
>>>>> DevTrial on Android
>>>>>
>>>>> 109
>>>>>
>>>>> OriginTrial webView first
>>>>>
>>>>> 110
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status
>>>>>
>>>>> https://chromestatus.com/feature/5160086884843520
>>>>>
>>>>> This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status
>>>>> <https://chromestatus.com/>.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>> [image: Google Logo]
>>>>> Peter Birk Pakkenberg
>>>>> Software Engineer
>>>>> [email protected]
>>>>> +447469379358 <+44%207469%20379358>
>>>>> --
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>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/CACvTYjv0PC76S%3DZkg66V_KCPfrb3tAnryWGnA6TfQz-ay2yXKA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>>>> .
>>>>>
>>>> --
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>>> .
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

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