I get the right page and what I see in the URL bar is identical to the request.
As you warned, the URL bar will show a string that contains “?public_key=” but I think that it is reasonably clear that the public key is the string that comes after “?public_key=”.
It is an unfortunate coincidence that when the underlying byte string for the public key is 32 bytes long, this type of Base64 representation always ends with the character “=” because of padding. The “=” character at the end of the key is part of the key. The “=” at the beginning is not.
But anyone who is concerned or puzzled can look at the content on the page to confirm that the string version of the key starts with “F”, not with “=”; and does end with “=”.
If we are to improve on shocking status quo of learned helplessness about the potential for establishing the authenticity of the digital artifacts we consume, many more people will need to learn what a public key is; including many people who do not know what a query string is.
Nathan, if all it took to address the social problems caused by digital communication was condescension from the tech community, wouldn’t all those problems already be solved?
@promer I seem to have ruffled your feathers but I’m not sure how
I’m just saying that it seems to be an “ok” solution, obviously not perfect, but decent enough, and that while the leading equal isn’t ideal it is at least a well established long term standard that even non-technical people have some familiarity with.
Outside of trying to “school me” I have no idea what you’re actually trying to say.
My only basis for my wild guess is my wife and other family members, they’re all non-technical but familiar enough with URL’s after 25+ years of regular exposure, but all would have no idea what a Public Key is, so the existence of ?public_key= in the URL would confuse them far less than the page contents.
