09-16-2023 02:35 AM
Why does Google prepend while(1); to 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 the eval prevention is to make sure people write safe JSON parsing code.
I've seen this used in a couple of 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&&&.
What's going on here?