dstiles - 10:52 pm on Apr 17, 2009 (gmt 0)

A proxy is not necessarily a client; public stealth proxies are servers and DO alter headers.

A redirect can be as simple as (eg) google taking you to their server, modifying the headers and then redirecting (with the new headers) to the target site. There would be no point in going to the target site first.

I'm not saying google does that, only that it's possible IF they redirect through their servers to the target (how does PPC register clicks? I assume this way). It's exactly what a proxy does, to one degree or another.

The results I'm seeing listed on google here are in the "old" format, not redirected, so I can't comment on what google actually does do with a redirect. I'm just saying that if they DO redirect via one of their servers then changing the referer etc is possible.

... Just read your last posting. That is not a redirect as I assumed for this discussion. I was assuming that by redirect you meant through an intermediate server.

I have to say that wouldn't work for all browsers. Increasingly people are turning off javascript because of dangerous exploits. The only reason I allow it on google is for auto-numbering of results (which is currently broken so...) and most other sites I only turn it on if I want a specific function and I REALLY trust the site.

The meta refresh WOULD work IF something like NoScript was not blocking redirects.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where your code sample is located. I assume it has to be on an intermediate page between the results page (where you click) and the target site? So what does the actual google result link look like?

I suppose google will roll out this in my neck of the woods at some point. :)