"Save As" not sending out refer!?

[affter333]

Hi, I'm using IE5.0

I noticed that when downloading files using
"right click" -> "save as",
there is no refer sent out by IE5,

Can anybody confirm that with IE5.5 & IE6.0?

thanks!

[tedster]

I believe that "Save As" saves a permanent file directly from file that is already in the client's cache. So there is no referer, because there is no server hit on the "Save As command" -- the only referer information would come from the initial page load.

[affter333]

What I meant is right click and save a file like
ZIP or RAR, my IE5.0 doesn't send out any referer.

I wonder if IE5.5 or IE6.0 behave the same.

[tedster]

Ah - I see. I just tested with IE6 and got no referer.

[affter333]

This is what I am afriad of,
No refers sent out by "right click & save as"

Why? because it causes a problem for detecting
hotlinking, Imagine other sites hotlinking your
site's ZIP/AVI, simplely by "Save As" action.

Since there's no refers so you don't know if it's
really users from your site.

the solution is to bann "blank referer", but
that will also cause a problem, people who use
firewall with "no referer allowed" or people who
simply need to download files using "Save As"
will also get rejected.