[thelist] http_referer accuracy

[Peter-Paul Koch]

> > I know that I cannot rely of the cgi variable http_referer being sent by
> > every browser, but in those cases where it is sent, can I count
> > on it being
> > accurate?
>
>The referer header is generally reliable, but can easily be spoofed.  If 
>someone is following a link from an email, it can be blank, or even point 
>to a temp file on their hard drive.  Same with bookmarks.
>
>As far as browsers and referring links go, though, it is pretty 
>consistently available and accurrate.

I keep track of the referers to my site by sending document.referrer to a 
Perl program and sometimes I get referring pages on which my site isn't 
mentioned at all. So sometimes the browser simply sends the page it was on 
before going to your site, even if you use a bookmark or type a URL.

ppk

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