Firefox 's Ping Attribute: Useful or Spyware?

An anonymous reader writes "The Mozilla Team has quietly enabled a new feature in Firefox that parses 'ping' attributes to anchor tags in HTML. Now links can have a 'ping' attribute that contains a list of servers to notify when you click on a link. Although link tracking has been done using redirects and Javascript, this new "feature" allows notification of an unlimited and uncontrollable number of servers for every click, and it is not noticeable without examining the source code for a link before clicking it."

Comments

I bet this is a product of cooperation

[cwtrex]

Remember when it was first announced that Google and the Mozilla Foundation would be working together? I bet this "feature" has come from that joint work effort. What a great way to increase advertising data!

Re:Firefox's Ping Attribute: Useful AND Spyware

[XO]

Wow, aren't you just paranoid?

  You need to lay off the tinfoil.

  Fark re-writes the status bar so YOU can tell where the hell the link GOES, not so that they can HIDE that they count your clicks. Of COURSE they count your clicks, that's right out in front.

  Chill out, dude.