This is another news that I missed while I was busy elsewhere. Developers have added a ping attribute to link elements in the latest builds of Firefox.

Ping attribute allows website producers to specify URLs that will get pinged when user clicks on a link with this attribute. Meaning, it makes user tracking easier.

Argument being that tracking was already going on using redirects and that this feature will allow users to control this and makes browsing faster (by avoiding redirects).

I can see the logic, but I’m not sure I agree with developer’s conclusion. Redirects were at least visible to a user and he had a choice of continuing to use such web site or going elsewhere. Pings can be turned off by those, who know this option exists, but tracking will certainly be less transparent to everybody else.

I’m still on the fence about this one. How about you?