cawoodfield

One potential explanation depending on your kernel version - traditional SYN cookies cannot encode TCP extensions, including window scaling, which will (nearly) always result in slower transfers. Newer kernels (The Googles aren't giving me a kernel version, unfortunately) use the TCP timestamp option in addition to the sequence to encode a limited number of TCP options, including WS.

More info: http://www.inesc-id.pt/pt/indicadores/Ficheiros/165.pdf

Not just other applications - MacOS's own Keychain application requires the user to re-enter their login password in order to see passwords that were saved in their user keychain. This is to ensure that while you might be able to make use of those passwords if you have physical access, you won't be able to easily copy them off somewhere else.

Please Justin, explain the real reason that Chrome does this, or admit that it's a bug and get it fixed. The reasons you mention are just stupid.