From: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@netscape.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 15:12:29 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: (none) [httpd finding your identity]
In-Reply-To: <199601150454.VAA00449@wero.cs.byu.edu>
Message-ID: <30FB18FC.5CD9BFF6@netscape.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Jeff Weinstein wrote:
> 
> > can do about the reverse-ip, but what about http referral field? Will
> > there be a way to turn off (blank, actually) this field?
> 
>   I would like to add a way to turn it off, but it won't happen in 2.0.

Something that a lot of people don't realize is that the HTTP referrer
field is only sent when you've actually clicked on a link -- it does
not just give away the last page you happened to be looking at, it only
gives away pages that actually refer to the one you're going to.  So if
you're concerned about leaving a trail to a particular page, you can go
there by pasting the URL into the Location field, or via a bookmark
(menu item, not page), etc.

Very, very early betas of Netscape (around 0.6 or so, I think) did give
away whatever the previous page was, and I think old versions of Mosaic
did so as well.

-- 
Jamie Zawinski    jwz@netscape.com   http://www.netscape.com/people/jwz/
``A signature isn't a return address, it is the ASCII equivalent of a
  black velvet clown painting; it's a rectangle of carets surrounding
  a quote from a literary giant of weeniedom like Heinlein or Dr. Who.''
                                                         -- Chris Maeda