[476] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: SSL Browser Vulnerability Discovered
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Adam Shostack)
Wed Apr 2 19:26:07 1997
From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
In-Reply-To: <199704021624.IAA00908@crypt.hfinney.com> from Hal Finney at "Apr 2, 97 08:24:36 am"
To: hal@rain.org (Hal Finney)
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 18:56:45 -0500 (EST)
Cc: risks@CSL.sri.com, stewarts@ix.netcom.com, cryptography@c2.net,
tomw@netscape.com
Hal Finney wrote:
| Frankly I think this damned REFERRER field is one of the biggest privacy
| leaks on the net. Yes, I know it has uses, just like cookies, but 90%
| of the time it's not useful and just leaks information about where I've
| been. I want to be able to turn it off!
The real use of referer: is twofold. One, its a real cheap
advertising payment system. Track referers, give them money from time
to time. This is much cleaner than tracking 'impressions.'
The other is it makes 'backlinking' possible without
Altavista. "What pages link to this page" is an interesting question
that referer can offer answers to.
This does not mean that you shouldn't be able to turn it off.
Adam
--
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
-Hume
