HTTP Status Code for Legally-restricted Resources

Re:HTTP Status Code for Legally-restricted Resources by SoftwareMaven on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @12:55PM (#4101397)

300s are about telling the client where to really find the content.

400 is about an error the client may be able to do something about (eg log in, move to a new country).

500 is about something going wrong on the server that you have no control over at all.

This belongs in th 400 range and, as such, using the symbolic 451 is not only OK, it is a great idea.

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Re:HTTP Status Code for Legally-restricted Resources by moe on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @09:04PM (#4103782)

Following your description I'd put it in the 500 range.

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Re:HTTP Status Code for Legally-restricted Resources by SoftwareMaven on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @09:42PM (#4103908)

But it's conceivable it could be related to you. "I'm sorry, this content is not viewable by non-<insert group of choice>" or "You are on the Anonymous watch list". That makes it a client error.

In the end, many times the response codes are murky. I'm very comfortable with it being a 4xx; you'd put it somewhere else. The working group will hash it out and we'll use what they say. shrug

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Re:HTTP Status Code for Legally-restricted Resources by recursive on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @09:41PM (#4103900)

Would you also put 403 in the 500 range?

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