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Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#121

Post by taneq »

jdavis703 wrote: post #116
volgo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's great from a marketer's point of view. From a consumer's point of view, I don't want you to know where I came from. I don't really care if it's useful to you. It's the difference between pleasing marketers vs pleasing users. Firefox chose wisely

Good marketing does please users by delivering them products tailored to them that they may have never knew even existed.

If I can go through your underpants drawer then I'll know the right kind of underpants to try and sell you. That means it's OK, right?

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#122

Post by DCoder »

sk5t wrote: post #61
progval wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might break websites that provide features based on the referrer (eg. a central authentication that redirects back to the original page)

I can't recall ever encountering a referer-based authorization scheme that included the path or querystring in its logic--although it seems likely some goofus has implemented it, somewhere.

I have seen sites where the "Download this foobar" link only works when the referrer is the "Details of this foobar" page, where the download link is placed. If you sent a referrer of some other page on the site, e.g. the "list of all foobars" page, downloads would fail.

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#123

Post by yorwba »

orthecreedence wrote: post #79
marcell wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a giant traffic spike, it's nice to know where it came from. Eg. if you get linked on Hacker News, you can go to the thread and engage with potential customers.

Weird, every time I get HN traffic the referrer is the HN homepage, never individual posts. Is it just me?

I guess that's because people click on the link while it's on the frontpage, not from the post's comments section.

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#124

Post by yorwba »

staunch wrote: post #92
boomboomsubban wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Firefox disabled ads by default, a large number of sites would likely block Firefox or set up angry messages telling the user to switch browsers. Yes, you could bypass that, but most people wouldn't bother. Add in the logistical issues, and the fact that some of the things blocked are beneficial, then I see no reason to expect the conspiracy you suspect.

If a major service blocks Firefox users it could lead to a massive boycott. Users could rally around Mozilla if it stopped selling out their interests. More people use ad-blockers than Firefox has users. The best way to attract more users is to make the best possible browser. That means incorporating ad-blocking as users have loudly demanded for a decade.

> If a major service blocks Firefox users it could lead to a massive boycott.

... of Firefox.

Most people don't care as much about their browser choice as about the ability to access those major services. I would continue using Firefox, but only because I don't care about most of the popular sites. The majority would switch browsers in a heartbeat.

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#125

Post by nyolfen »

lovelearning wrote: post #99
_8j50 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a user I don't want you to know that information. I wish there was a way to click on links with the referer field removed entirely from the request(maybe via context menu)

If you're using Firefox, open 'about:config' and set 'network.http.sendRefererHeader' to 0. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.sendRefererHeader

this seems like it turns it off for everyone, not just third parties

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#126

Post by brianpan »

eli wrote: post #96
volgo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's great from a marketer's point of view. From a consumer's point of view, I don't want you to know where I came from. I don't really care if it's useful to you. It's the difference between pleasing marketers vs pleasing users. Firefox chose wisely

Honestly, I don't think path information is all that useful for marketers.

When my traffic spikes to 5 hits in a day, it's nice to know where all those people are coming from besides just medium.com. What page exactly?

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#128

Post by lovelearning »

nyolfen wrote: post #125
lovelearning wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're using Firefox, open 'about:config' and set 'network.http.sendRefererHeader' to 0. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.sendRefererHeader

this seems like it turns it off for everyone, not just third parties

Yes, it strips off for any URL. For only third parties, I believe 'network.http.referer.XOriginPolicy' is the relevant flag (haven't tried it out myself).

"Can one disable the HTTP referrer for only when one is going to a third-party domain?" https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1130505

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#129

Post by kstrauser »

jacquesm wrote: post #95

This one of the reasons I tend to flip completely whenever I see healthcare providers and their suppliers run google analytics tags inside their logged in areas (yes, this really happens). Besides the questionable value of having such tracking inside the logged in areas (it's healthcare, they are not going to worry about their conversion rates) such information should simply never leave the premises. Better still if…

First, you're totally right and I completely agree. That said, check if those sites also set CSP headers (see https://content-security-policy.com). All modern browsers support them, and it lets you set granular policies like "send full referers to my own server, but only over HTTPS", "HTTP connections (which I shouldn't be seeing anyway, but to be thorough) to myself only get the host and path, not the query string", and "connections to any other domain should include only my hostname in the referer". It's quite nice actually.

Re: Firefox 59 to strip path information from referrer values for 3rd parties

#130

Post by Justsignedup »

I mean we already have firefox plugins to permanently block the referrer. Which is great. But I applaud Mozilla for going privacy-first in a consumer package. I hope that eventually Mozilla will focus entirely on privacy and make good anti-tracking, anti-ads, anti-referrer, anti-cryptomining all default packages.
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