Lesson plan
HTTP referer
In HTTP, " " (originally a misspelling of "Referrer" which has become a common spelling) is an optional HTTP header field that identifies the address of the web page (i.e., the URI or IRI) from which the resource has been requested. By checking the referrer, the server providing the new web page can see where the request originated. In the most common situation, this means that when a user clicks a hyperlink in a web browser, causing the browser to send a request to the server holding the destination web page, the request may include the field, which indicates the last page the user was on (the one where they clicked the link). Web sites and web servers log the content of the received field to identify the web page from which the user followed a link, for promotional or statistical purposes. This entails a loss of privacy for the user and may introduce a security risk. To mitigate security risks, browsers have been steadily reducing the amount of information sent in Referer. As of March 2021, by default Chrome, Chromium-based Edge, Firefox, Safari default to sending only the origin in cross-origin requests, stripping out everything but the domain name.
Article summary
In HTTP, " " (originally a misspelling of "Referrer" which has become a common spelling) is an optional HTTP header field that identifies the address of the web page (i.e., the URI or IRI) from which the resource has been requested. By checking the referrer, the server providing the new web page can see where the request originated. In the most common situation, this means that when a user clicks a hyperlink in a web browser, causing the browser to send a request to the server holding the destination web page, the request may include the field, which indicates the last page the user was on (the one where they clicked the link). Web sites and web servers log the content of the received field to identify the web page from which the user followed a link, for promotional or statistical purposes. This entails a loss of privacy for the user and may introduce a security risk. To mitigate security risks, browsers have been steadily reducing the amount of information sent in Referer. As of March 2021, by default Chrome, Chromium-based Edge, Firefox, Safari default to sending only the origin in cross-origin requests, stripping out everything but the domain name.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.