Yandex conducts an experiment on encrypting the request text in the Referer header
Today we are launching an experiment in which 2% of users who click on links from search results have the Referer header not containing the text of the search query (more precisely, it will be, but in encrypted form). In the future, this practice will spread to all users of Yandex.
In this post we want to tell why you made this decision, and discuss with you what tools can come to replace open data on search queries.
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Once upon a time, it never occurred to anyone to hide the data on which page the transition was made from, and on what query the search results were generated from which a particular user came to your site. But the world is changing. Every day, users are becoming less and less impersonal for site owners, who can optionally track their actions in their territory, save, process and use this data.
On request to Yandex, of course, it is impossible to draw any conclusions about a person, to affirm certain facts about him, but a large list of requests allows us to make a number of assumptions about his personality and interests: what routes does he regularly use, what products and in which stores? looking for when and where he can go on vacation. Historically, all this can be seen by the owner of any site to which you navigate from the search results. Even more - not only the site owner sees them, but also the owners of installed advertising systems, counters, social widgets, etc. As a result, third parties can accumulate and use at their discretion information that the user has entrusted processing to the search engine.
We cannot know for sure whether such actions will harm our users, and this causes our concern. That's why we decided to conduct an experiment - for a part of the audience, remove the text of the search query from the referrer.
It is important to note that our goal is to protect Yandex users, and not to prevent site owners from receiving useful, impersonal statistics. Statistics on requests will be, as before, learn through Yandex.Metrica and Yandex.Webmaster. That is why the request text is not deleted from the referrer at all, but is transmitted in encrypted form.
The duration of the experiment has not yet been precisely determined - it will end when we collect enough reviews. And you can help us with this: tell us in what form and why you need search phrases in the referrers, how you use this data, and what could break in you if it does not become.
We firmly believe that the text of the search query should not be transmitted to anyone else, but we are ready for dialogue and the search for a compromise. For example, the referrer may not contain the exact text of the request, but its subject matter, allowing you to find out the purpose for which the user came to your site.
We will be glad to hear any questions, comments and suggestions.
In this post we want to tell why you made this decision, and discuss with you what tools can come to replace open data on search queries.
')
Once upon a time, it never occurred to anyone to hide the data on which page the transition was made from, and on what query the search results were generated from which a particular user came to your site. But the world is changing. Every day, users are becoming less and less impersonal for site owners, who can optionally track their actions in their territory, save, process and use this data.
On request to Yandex, of course, it is impossible to draw any conclusions about a person, to affirm certain facts about him, but a large list of requests allows us to make a number of assumptions about his personality and interests: what routes does he regularly use, what products and in which stores? looking for when and where he can go on vacation. Historically, all this can be seen by the owner of any site to which you navigate from the search results. Even more - not only the site owner sees them, but also the owners of installed advertising systems, counters, social widgets, etc. As a result, third parties can accumulate and use at their discretion information that the user has entrusted processing to the search engine.
We cannot know for sure whether such actions will harm our users, and this causes our concern. That's why we decided to conduct an experiment - for a part of the audience, remove the text of the search query from the referrer.
It is important to note that our goal is to protect Yandex users, and not to prevent site owners from receiving useful, impersonal statistics. Statistics on requests will be, as before, learn through Yandex.Metrica and Yandex.Webmaster. That is why the request text is not deleted from the referrer at all, but is transmitted in encrypted form.
The duration of the experiment has not yet been precisely determined - it will end when we collect enough reviews. And you can help us with this: tell us in what form and why you need search phrases in the referrers, how you use this data, and what could break in you if it does not become.
We firmly believe that the text of the search query should not be transmitted to anyone else, but we are ready for dialogue and the search for a compromise. For example, the referrer may not contain the exact text of the request, but its subject matter, allowing you to find out the purpose for which the user came to your site.
We will be glad to hear any questions, comments and suggestions.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/204886/
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