> > a directory that couldn't be linked by an outside website. Mod_rewrite is > > extensively used on big sites because of all the leeches out there that > > would love to steal your bandwidth. I'm thinking a command inside a Control > > statement that says something like "RefererRestriction On". > > not too god an idea, micro$oft. referrer can easily be forged, and you'd > make your site inaccessible for people who do so out of privacy reasons. > like i do, when i'm not forced by those few sites i need to reconfigure > this header. elinks lets me do this, and many people use the feature.
If you know how to do it right, the points you bring up are a non-issue, as I've done it for years without a single problem. You still allow for referrers that are empty (which is what happens when paranoid people turn off referrers or a proxy server blocks them). Also, you miss the entire point of doing it. Faking referrers is easy, but not for a site that links directly to your images so they don't have to use their own bandwidth. If you break it for 90% of their visitors, they will remove the leeched image because it's broken for most people. It's a kid-sister protection, but VERY effective for what it's designed to do. If you had large sites, you would know how effective this is. Tim
