Re: [referrer] HTTPS->HTTP

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 10:29 PM, Mark Nottingham <mnot@mnot.net> wrote:

> The bigger issue, however, is whether this is a good idea at all. In
> particular, "unsafe-url" removes this prohibition completely, for an
> *entire* page.
>
> This is likely to create a situation where those providing third-party
> functionality want/require referers, so they tell HTTPS sites to set
> "unsafe-url" or face a functional (or financial) penalty; now not only the
> intended content but all other fetches from the page will send a referer.
>
> I understand that there's a delicate balance here; if referers aren't sent
> at all, sites may be reluctant to move to HTTPS (although one might just
> say that the sites they're linking to should move to HTTPS!). The question
> is whether there's a net improvement to Web security.
>
> Arguably, origin-only and origin-when-cross-origin might get that balance
> right; I question whether unsafe-url and always (which isn't
> well-documented, btw) do.
>
> Has this been discussed yet?
>

Mark, if I understand you correctly, then I very much agree with you. See
these messages, and others in that thread:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webappsec/2014Jun/0174.html
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webappsec/2014Jun/0162.html

See also:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/mozilla.dev.privacy/wmPzPCdzIU8/Vrugn8XquL4J

Cheers,
Brian