graeme_p - 1:13 pm on Oct 10, 2010 (gmt 0)

Mr. Soghoian’s complaint centers on the way the Internet handles links that users click on to surf. When a link is clicked, the address where the user came from is transmitted to the linked site via something called a “referrer header.” In the case of search queries, this address includes the entire text of the search, which may contain users’ personal information if, say, they search for their own name

That is a downright argument. All the site linked to knows is that someone searched for a name, not that someone searched for their own name.

Also, if search engines should block, it follows that all websites should.

@wheel, there has never been any real demand for referrer blocking even among the people who know about it. The most popular Firefox referrer blocker extension gets 4,000 downloads a week, whereas no-script (also a somewhat geeky blocker) gets 263,000.