This is the typical nice-to-have feature. It takes time to implement, adds server-side overhead, adds complexity but adds very little value. OP is arguing that it costs him resources to traverse the entire JSON. There are way more clients then servers, thus increasing server-load to make it cheaper for the clients sounds weird to me.
> There are way more clients then servers, thus increasing server-load to make it cheaper for the clients sounds weird to me.
It matters if your client is a 1ghz phone with a poor cellular connection. The user can do the filtering on their end, but you're paying for that offloading in terms of a worse experience for the user because of the larger download.
