Controlling access to internet resources for certain user agents based on one or more conditions being satisfied

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums that, if executed by one or more processing systems, will cause the one or more processing systems to perform operations, comprising:

• receiving a first request for an internet resource hosted at an origin server, the first request received from a user agent;
• determining that the first request does not include a signature header that can be used to verify an identity of the user agent of the first request;
• determining a predicted identity of the user agent of the first request;
• determining that a gated resource policy is applicable to the internet resource and the predicted identity of the user agent, wherein the gated resource policy is used for controlling access to the internet resource for certain user agents, including the predicted identity of the user agent of the first request, based on one or more conditions being satisfied;
• transmitting a first response to the user agent that indicates access to the internet resource is contingent upon the one or more conditions being satisfied;
• receiving a second request for the internet resource hosted at the origin server, wherein the second request includes the signature header that includes a digital signature;
• validating the digital signature included in the second request to verify the identity of the user agent of the second request;
• enforcing the gated resource policy including determining that the one or more conditions have been satisfied;
• transmitting a third request for the internet resource to the origin server;
• receiving a second response that includes the internet resource from the origin server;
• and
• transmitting a third response that includes the internet resource to the user agent.

A server system, comprising:

• one or more processing systems;
• and
• one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums that stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing systems, causes the server system to perform operations including:
• receiving a first request for an internet resource hosted at an origin server, the first request received from a user agent;
• determining that the first request does not include a signature header that can be used to verify an identity of the user agent of the first request;
• determining a predicted identity of the user agent of the first request;
• determining that a gated resource policy is applicable to the internet resource and the predicted identity of the user agent, wherein the gated resource policy is used for controlling access to the internet resource for certain user agents, including the predicted identity of the user agent of the first request, based on one or more conditions being satisfied;
• transmitting a first response to the user agent that indicates access to the internet resource is contingent upon the one or more conditions being satisfied;
• receiving a second request for the internet resource hosted at the origin server, wherein the second request includes the signature header that includes a digital signature;
• validating the digital signature included in the second request to verify the identity of the user agent of the second request;
• enforcing the gated resource policy including determining that the one or more conditions have been satisfied;
• transmitting a third request for the internet resource to the origin server;
• receiving a second response that includes the internet resource from the origin server;
• and
• transmitting a third response that includes the internet resource to the user agent.