Don't follow that link...

[Twist_U_Up]

I just spotted this at Kos hope it helps

Don't follow that link...

...instead, cut and paste it. If you "click" a link, the site that you are sent to knows where you came from (via the HTTP "Referer" header); but if you cut and paste it there is no Referer information.

Online polls could easily discount votes referred by sites that are expected to have a heavy bias. Without the referer, they have a tougher time doing this.

[Goldom]

1. Is it really the clicking that does it?

I was under the impression that sites can tell what the last site you came from was, regardless of how you get there - and so to copy and paste the address into a brand new browser window.

[marcus_b]

6. Yes.

For the referer, the clicking is essential. If you enter the URL into the URL window directly, no referer information is sent (see my other post in this thread).

However, this is not the only way to transmit information. There are all sorts of dirty tricks web servers can play to get at your browsing behavior. For example, if both sites use the same advertisement company (and thus link to banners etc on the ad company host), the advertisement company will see your browsing behavior using the referers sent when the banner ads are requested.

Such "advertisement companies" collect and evaluate this information. So they serve a twofold purpose: Spam you with advertisement, and spy out your browsing behavior.

Another way to do the same thing is with cookies.

If you are concerned about privacy, don't use the net ;) Second best thing is to use a good browser, like FireFox, and take some time in configuring it: Switch of all cookies by default, and only allow cookies from certain trusted sites. Disable sending the referer header. And block banner ads.

[AnnInLa]

2. thanks for the tip

can a geek help us out with explanation?

[WestHoustonDem]

3. Geek here to help

Web site owners view statistics about sites that refer visitors to our sites and what pages they send visitors to. There are many other stats we track like how long visitors spend on the site, how many pages they view, exit and entry pages, etc.

It helps us know who is sending us traffic and how effective different marketing efforts are. Sometimes that same information tells if any freepers are watching us. The reverse is true. Other sites can determine if an unusual number of links are coming from DU, and therefore discount the value of a poll.

HTH

[AnnInLa]

8. Thanks! So, what the original poster said is true?

If we are going to vote in a poll or view a site where they may discount our visit due to being CLICKED ON from DU, do we copy & paste or type the addy into our browser rather than click on the link? Or, do we cut/paste or type addy into NEW browser window? In either case, can't they tell that the last site visited was DU (or whatever)?

What's the best way to hide the fact that you have come from DU (or other lefty site) whether you clicked on a link, or typed in the addy?

Thanks for info!

[marcus_b]

10. Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter if you copy and paste it or type it manually, and it doesn't matter if you put it into the same URL window or a new browser window. As long as you don't click on the link, you are fine :)

They can not tell the sites that you visited previously. Well, at least not using the referer information. There are some other things that they theoretically could do, but which they wouldn't bother to do for a poll (way too complex and too much work, doesn't give them any money, so it doesn't happen. It does happen for advertisment and browser behavior studies, though, so you may still want to protect your privacy).

Check out my other post in this thread, where I give a lengthy explanation.

[AnnInLa]

11. Thank you, Major Geek

[marcus_b]

5. Web Server Statistics

I posted an explanation and some tricks here:

Referer explanation

To give you an example, here is a typical web server log entry:

127.0.0.1 - - <16/Aug/2005:04:53:00 +0200> "GET /barry2.jpg HTTP/1.1" 200 87353 "http://localhost/barry.html" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050324 Galeon/1.3.20 (Debian package 1.3.20-1)" "-"

As you can see, it consists of multiple fields, separated by spaces (some of the fields contain spaces and thus are quoted or bracketed).

The first field is the IP address of the request. The above request is local, but if you access a remote web server, this will identify your computer in the world wide web (either statically, or, if your IP address is assigned dynamically by your ISP, your ISPs log files are needed in addition to the IP address to identify you).

The second and third field can contain user names and are only interesting for authentication.

The fourth field is the time. The fifth field is the actual request string. In this example, the file barry2.jpg was requested. The sixth field is the status code (200 means OK. Another common status code is 404, file not found). The seventh field is the document size.

The eighth field is the referer. In this case, the file barry2.jpg was linked from the local file barry.html.

The ninth file is the user agent string and identifies your browser (if your system is honest :) ).

Some of these fields are provided by the client, some by the server. The IP address, the request string, the referer and the user agent string (plus the authentication information) are provided by the client. The other fields are provided by the server and give further diagnostics.

[marcus_b]

4. Explanation and more instructions

I'm a geek. The poster is exactly right.

If you click on a link (and you didn't modify your browsers configuration), the browser will not only request the new page, but it will also tell the web server on which URL the link was clicked.

So, whenever you browse by clicking on links, you are leaving a trail where the destination you go to always receives the information from which source you got there (the "referer").

An analogy: You go to Joe, and ask for some information, "What is the phone number of Sue?". Joe refers you to Bill (a link). You go to Bill (clicking on the link), and approach him, "Hi Bill, Joe sent me. What is the phone number of Sue?" In this example, Joe is the referer.

This happens always, transparently, but it can be switched off or worked around.

The work around is to not click on the link, but to copy the link location and paste it into the URL window. If you enter the URL directly this way, the chain is broken, and no referer information is sent. This works in all browsers.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer (shame on you!), there is no way to switch it off in the browser, but there are tools which allow you to disable the referer logging, for example Norton (Symantec) Internet Security. I don't know Windows very well, so you are on your own here. Better use the work around.

For FireFox and any other browser based on Mozilla, you can enter "about:config" as the URL and thus enter some "hidden" configuration options. Enter "referer" in the filter widget, and then double-click on network.http.sendRefererHeader, and enter the value 0 instead of 1. 0 here means false (do not send the referer), 1 means true.

I have disabled the referer this way for months now, and it works very well. Only very few web sites check the referer header to avoid deep-linking (a site linking directly to some file on another site). In this case, you would get an obscure error message. But for most web sites (practically all I am using), it works just fine, and it protects your privacy.

BTW: The web server gets not only the referer URL, but also your IP address, the time of access, the browser you are using ("user agent string") and a bunch of other information.

The referer is the easiest way to remove biased votes in a poll. A more complex approach could be analyzing the timing of votes for the same option. If there is a peak of similar votes (for example shortly after the announcement was made here in the forum), the server could filter out most of those votes alltogether. But that is substantially more work, and it is unlikely that they would bother. They would rather just pull the whole poll and don't publish the result.

edit: typo

[wli]

7. nice, referer gone here

[marcus_b]

9. Good.

Just remember, whenever you get weird problems, like spurious "permission denied", remember that you disabled the referer field :)

And for more security, disable cookies by default (enable them for trusted servers individually when the browser pops it up), and consider blocking banner advertisements.

If you then also disable javascript and java normally, only enabling it when you need it, then you should be rather fine.

[Twist_U_Up]

12. kick for exposure n/t