Why does Google append while(1); in front of their JSON responses?
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by Andrew Koester
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Published on 2010-04-19T18:00:09Z
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2010/04/19
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This is something I've always been curious about, is exactly why Google appends while(1);
in front of their (private) JSON responses.
For example, here's a response while turning a calendar on and off in Google Calendar:
while(1);[['u',[['smsSentFlag','false'],['hideInvitations','false'],['remindOnRespondedEventsOnly','true'],['hideInvitations_remindOnRespondedEventsOnly','false_true'],['Calendar ID stripped for privacy','false'],['smsVerifiedFlag','true']]]]
I would assume this is to prevent people from doing an eval()
on it, but all you'd really have to do is replace the while and then you'd be set. I would assume eval prevention is to make sure people write safe JSON parsing code.
I've seen this used in a couple other places, too, but a lot more so with Google (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc.) Strangely enough, Google Docs starts with &&&START&&&
instead, and Google Contacts seems to start with while(1); &&&START&&&
.
Does anyone know what's going on here?
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