Browser.send pings
Background
The Web Applications 1.0 specification (also known as HTML5) defines a new attribute for <a> elements: ping. This attribute contains one or more URIs to “ping” (send a POST request to) when the user clicks the link. The attribute would be useful for letting websites track visitors’ clicks.
Since the feature has possible privacy implications—not unlike the Referer header—it can be turned off.
Possible values and their effects
True
Send a POST request to URI(s) listed in the ping attribute of <a> HTML elements. (Default in Firefox until 2008-02-01 nightlies)
False
Ignore the ping attribute. (Default elsewhere & Firefox nightlies since 2008-02-01)
Recommended settings
If you are concerned about privacy and have already turned off referrer sending and JavaScript, you may want to set this preference to false. You may also want to turn this off if you have a high-latency network connection and want to avoid unnecessary HTTP traffic.
First checked in
Has an effect in
- Mozilla Firefox (all trunk builds since 2006-01-10)
- SeaMonkey (all trunk builds since 2006-01-10)
Related bugs
- Bug 319368 - Implement <a ping>
- Bug 324645 - <a ping> support should be opt-in, not opt-out, for Gecko-based apps
- Bug 415168 - Disable <a ping> for Firefox 3
Related preferences
- browser.send_pings.max_per_link
- browser.send_pings.require_same_host
- network.http.sendRefererHeader
- network.http.sendSecureXSiteReferrer
