[TriLUG] (forw) Re: [svlug] 'IE only' getting in the way of FEMA/Katrina assistance

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 14:24:24 -0700
To: svlug at lists.svlug.org
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
Subject: Re: [svlug] 'IE only' getting in the way of FEMA/Katrina assistance

Quoting Marc M (linuxr at gmail.com):

> Once again Billy Boy's business interests are getting in the way of the 
> American people. Spread this around to everyone you know. 
> 
> 
> http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/recovery/story/0,10801,104440,00.html?source=NLT_PM&nid=104440

[URL is another me-too story, this one from IDG, about FEMA's
survivor-application site supposedly being MSIE6-only.]

FEMA page claims:  "In order to use this site, you must have JavaScript
Enabled and  Internet Explorer version 6. Download it from Microsoft or

Article claim:

> That means people using Macintosh or Linux computers are unable to
> file a claim online [...]


That turns out to be a blatant untruth:  https://www.disasteraid.fema.gov/ 
merely employs a Javascript call to check your user agent string, and
lock you out if you don't return a browser on the (single-item)
preapproved-browsers list.  If you use a browser in which you can _set_
user agent -- e.g., Mozilla Navigator / Firefox / Netscape Navigator
with User Agent Switcher, then you can circumvent that artificial obstacle.


For Apple Safari users on OS X:

Exit Safari. Open Terminal.  Type
"defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu -boolean true"
Restart Safari.

Safari's menu bar will now include Debug, which has an option to set
user agent.

Of course, this begs the question of why a taxpayer-funded site should
attempt to lock out functional Web browsers in the first place.

The Opera Web browser has this functionality enabled by default.


Ars Technica's article quotes a FEMA rep:

   Mike Quealy, a FEMA spokesperson, explained to me that they are aware
   of the issue, and are currently working on a application that supports
   all of the most popular browsers. Quealy said that the application in
   question was originally an in-house tool, meant to be used by call
   center people. Internet Explorer was the official in-house browser, so
   the application was coded with IE in mind.

They don't need to "work on an application"; they need only disable the
user-agent check -- or make it pop up an advisory page saying "We
haven't checked this site out with your browser, so don't be too
surprised if some oddities happen."

For the next site, they should of course do the competent thing and
support W3C standards, not write for specific browser quirks.


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