Liam Gladdy You assume that no system will ever be misconfigured or have issues with the loopback, there very well could be. Another issue is if I have another program that listens on the loopback interface can I exploit that program and use it to sniff the loopback interface, I may not have full escalated privileges or maybe the program can only do a small function of things but maybe I can get it sniff the loopback. What is the firewall vendor on my laptop seeing and what is it sending back. There are a hundred whats if’s.

I’m not saying this is a massive security issue, I informed people they send clear text back via a loopback interface. If that bothers you then uninstall the extensions or pick a different product. If it doesn’t then go on your merry way.