frox - 6:50 pm on Apr 8, 2005 (gmt 0)

Other notes pertainingto my example:

1) You will have to make anther page to call the first page, otherwise the refeerrer will be empty:

a.html has a link to b.html

b.html calls refer.js

2) I know there is quite e difference between the referrer the javascript sees and the referrer in the HTTP request for the javascript.

The fact is, the Adsense javascript
( [pagead2.g...] o o g l e s y n d i c a t i o n.com/pagead/show_ads.js )
contains operations that make me think of a javascript that reads document.referrer, operates on it and then calls another Javascript passing the old referrer

Line 278: Get the current referrer
google_referrer_url = document.referrer;

Line 181: append the referrer to the second javascript's URL
google_append_url_esc('ref', w.google_referrer_url);

line 190: Call the second Javascript
document.write('<scr' + 'ipt language="JavaScript1.1"' +
' src=' + quoted(google_ad_url) +
'></scr' + 'ipt>');

Alternatively (Line 197) loads an iframe with the same URL containing your referrer
document.write('<ifr' + 'ame' +
' name="google_ads_frame"' +
' width=' + quoted(w.google_ad_width) +
' height=' + quoted(w.google_ad_height) +
' frameborder=' + quoted(w.google_ad_frameborder) +
' src=' + quoted(w.google_ad_url) +

So, I DO think Google knows your referrers!

[edited by: frox at 7:06 pm (utc) on April 8, 2005]