[whatwg] no referer attrribute for <a>, same reason as ping

[Tyler Close]

Hi all,

I was just reading about the "ping" attribute for the <a> element
proposed by the "Web Applications 1.0" draft. I think it's a
well-motivated idea and would like to propose an additional attribute
with the same goal.

Just as many sites use redirects, instead of direct external links,
for click tracking, many sites also use redirects to control the HTTP
referer header. For example, if you click on a hyperlink in GMail, it
will use a redirect that prevents sending of the HTTP referer header.
It's often a good idea to do this when the link source is a private
resource, such as an email.

It would be nice to be able to directly specify the referer behaviour
on the <a> element, instead of resorting to the same trickery
currently used for click tracking.

Tyler

--
The web-calculus is the union of REST and capability-based security:
http://www.waterken.com/dev/Web/

Name your trusted sites to distinguish them from phishing sites.
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=957