Re: confidentiality and the referer field

On Thu, 26 Jun 1997, Hallam-Baker wrote:

> A while back I suggested (and mispelt) the referer field. While nobody
> seems to be using it for its intended purpose of making links bidirectional
> there is a concern over it inadvertently causing information leakage.

I think it is being used in some cases to help track broken links.

> Specifically I I have a confidential document P that links to Q I may want
> to instruct browsers not to pass on the referer field. It seems to me that
> this would be an easy enhancement to add to the spec but what the best
> way of transporting this information is I'm not sure.

Well it would fit fairly nicely in the set of browser behaviors controlled
by the UA-Hint header proposed by my draft on that subject.

Dave Morris

Received on Thursday, 26 June 1997 12:41:26 UTC