[OSM-talk] Flash cookies

[Kai Krueger]

Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> 
> OSM per se doesn't store anything in Flash cookies.
> 
OSM doesn't store anything in Flash cookies, but I suspect the law doesn't
say anything about flash specific cookies, but cookies in general ( I
haven't looked at the law though yet, or even read a synopsis of it ). OSM
does use cookies to store session data and the position of where the map was
last positioned.


Richard Fairhurst wrote:
>  
>  Potlatch does. That's because, oddly enough, it's a Flash app and wants
> to remember your preferences (selected background and stylesheet, TIGER
> highlighting, function key settings) from one session to the next. 
> 

Should it become necessary, it would probably be "fairly easy" to change
Potlatch to not need cookies. (But I am not a Potlatch programmer, so I
might be totally wrong)

The API already has a way to store arbitrary user preferences on the server
( http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/API_v0.6#Preferences ) which the
editors like Potlatch could use to store any of these preferences (in case
they aren't already doing this ). So once you are logged in, you no longer
need cookies.

This leaves the information to log in. Potlatch 2 on osm.org doesn't need to
store any info for authentication, as it can get the necessary data from the
server (if I understand it correctly). This is a little more tricky with
third party potlatch 2 versions that don't use accounts on the third pary
site. The Problem there is, if I understand it correctly, mainly the need to
store the OAuth token.

However, if the osm server was patched to return the same OAuth token
(without needing to ask the user again for permission) rather than recreate
a new token everytime, if the same client/user combination has asked for a
token before, then it would probably not be necessary to store any login
info on the client side, which would hopefully mean no need for cookies.

Kai

--
View this message in context: http://gis.638310.n2.nabble.com/Flash-cookies-tp6502897p6504548.html
Sent from the General Discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com.