Req: Auto Hide Referrer for links outside proboards

[joolz]

Tim Camara gave me helpful links (http://support.proboards.com/post/5401922) to plug-ins that hide the referrer in some browsers (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/referer-control/hnkcfpcejkafcihlgbojoidoihckciin?hl=en and addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/no-referer/) but, as I can't be sure that forum members will install and use these (and some members use other browsers), I hope someone can create an add-on to do this automatically.

I think this would be of use to many forums. Forum owners who don't know about this can read about it here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referer.

Thank you.

[Tim Camara]

Well, the HTML5 spec does include rel="noreferrer", but I don't think anything other than Webkit browsers currently support it. There are a few ideas on this page: stackoverflow.com/questions/6817595/remove-http-referer, but I don't think you're going to find a 'silver bullet' solution for all browsers that doesn't involve a link anonymizer service.

[joolz]

Jul 17, 2013 8:22:05 GMT -8 Tim Camara said:

Well, the HTML5 spec does include rel="noreferrer", but I don't think anything other than Webkit browsers currently support it. There are a few ideas on this page: stackoverflow.com/questions/6817595/remove-http-referer, but I don't think you're going to find a 'silver bullet' solution for all browsers that doesn't involve a link anonymizer service.

Thanks Tim, I'm a mainframe gal and not a techie on these newfangled PC things to I'll pass this to the techies on our forum.

I hoped the referrer could be cleared or faked from within the forum, but as it seems it can't I think we may just have to change the name our forum to something innocuous like 'donuts' :-)

[Peter]

An idea for whoever looks at doing this.

Use rel=nofollow for Webkit browsers, and maybe a Data URI for Firefox and IE (maybe).

In the Data URI, set it to text/html, and set a Meta Refresh, then rewrite the href to go to the original URL. From what I have read, Meta Refresh doesn't send the referrer, as it's a new request.

Am sure I read something about spoofing the referrer a while back using the methods above, but I can't find anything in my searches.

[Peter]

Here is some code...

$(function(){
(function(){
var external_links = $("a[href^='//'], a[href^='http']").not("[href*='" + location.hostname + "']");

if($.browser.webkit){
external_links.attr("rel", "nofollow");
} else {
external_links.click(function(){
var link = $(this);
var old = link.attr("href");
var url = "";

url += "data:text/html,<title>Redirect</title>";
url += "<a href=\"" + old + "\">" + old + "</a>";
url += "<meta http-equiv=refresh content=\"0;url=" + old + "\">";

link.attr("href", url);

setTimeout(function(){
link.attr("href", old);
}, 4);
});
}
})();
});

[joolz]

Jul 19, 2013 11:22:42 GMT -8 Peter said:

Here is some code...

I'm a mainframe gal and not sure about this type of code but I'll read up on it, thanks.

I'm in transit at an airport at the moment so can't check it out right now, but will have a proper look when I get home.

Thank you for your time and trouble on this.

[Peter]

I've thrown it into a plugin so that you can install it.  I can't guarantee it will work 100% in all browsers though, it's more of a test then anything.

Hide Referrer.pbp (553 B)

[joolz]

Jul 20, 2013 1:50:59 GMT -8 Peter said:

I've thrown it into a plugin so that you can install it.  I can't guarantee it will work 100% in all browsers though, it's more of a test then anything.

Thank you. what great news after a 9.5 hour flight

I can ask ppl with various browsers to test it be accessing a blog we have.  Will let you know how it goes!!

Much appreciated!

[joolz]

Jul 20, 2013 1:50:59 GMT -8 Peter said:

I've thrown it into a plugin so that you can install it.  I can't guarantee it will work 100% in all browsers though, it's more of a test then anything.

Firefox 22 and Chrome work great, thank you. IE has a glitch, I'll post what the tester said and hope it makes sense to you :-)

Okay, the IE is a no-go, as it actually tries to send "data:text/html,<title>Redirect</title><a href="http://guerrillaskepticismonwikipedia.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-halloween-bell-witch-page.html
">http://guerrillaskepticismonwikipedia.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-halloween-bell-witch-page.html
</a><meta http-equiv=refresh content="0;url=http://guerrillaskepticismonwikipedia.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-halloween-bell-witch-page.html
">" as the URL.

Any ideas?  Thanks.

[Peter]

Yeah, seems IE (8+) doesn't allow the data protocol to be on link elements due to phishing.

"For security reasons, data URIs are restricted to downloaded resources. Data URIs cannot be used for navigation, for scripting, or to populate frame or iframe elements."

You could force the links to open in a new window / tab by using window.open, as I would assume it would behave as a new request, so there shouldn't be a referrer set.

[joolz]

Jul 20, 2013 15:05:19 GMT -8 Peter said:

Yeah, seems IE (8+) doesn't allow the data protocol to be on link elements due to phishing.

"For security reasons, data URIs are restricted to downloaded resources. Data URIs cannot be used for navigation, for scripting, or to populate frame or iframe elements."

You could force the links to open in a new window / tab by using window.open, as I would assume it would behave as a new request, so there shouldn't be a referrer set.

Thanks, will ask the techie about that.

When Safari failed on a mobile he also said that 'I'm guessing this means Safari (or at least its mobile equivalent) is not honoring the Javascript plugin that joolz installed'.

[joolz]

Jul 20, 2013 1:50:59 GMT -8 Peter said:

I've thrown it into a plugin so that you can install it.  I can't guarantee it will work 100% in all browsers though, it's more of a test then anything.

We'd like to add a few exceptions to the plug-in, so people using IE can still access certain domains/sites we use regularly where we don't need to hide the referrer.  I looked at the pbp with notepad but it isn't editable, is there a simple tool I can use to make a pbp from code to save bothering someone here?  Thanks for any advice.

[joolz]

Peter

We got around this problem with a plugin by one of our members who let us link via the Donotlink website.

Sharing it in thanks for your attempts to help us.

Donotlink.pbp (451 B)

[Wormopolis]

have them submit it to the library

[joolz]

Sept 17, 2013 22:54:15 GMT -8 Wormopolis said:

have them submit it to the library

I'm happy for you to add it.  I have one of your plugins so you can have this one :-)