[HN Gopher] Techniques for Limiting Manipulation of URLs (PDF, P...
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       Techniques for Limiting Manipulation of URLs (PDF, Patent)
        
       Author : absurdistan
       Score  : 4 points
       Date   : 2025-07-16 18:57 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (image-ppubs.uspto.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (image-ppubs.uspto.gov)
        
       | mring33621 wrote:
       | i couldn't get thru the wall of boring PDF text, but is this a
       | scheme to checksum an url, then send the code with the request,
       | so the webserver can 404 if the user altered the url?
        
         | absurdistan wrote:
         | Yes, along with incorporating into the checksum any other
         | session data the server desires. Basically, DRM for links.
        
         | 12_throw_away wrote:
         | so ... a bearer token for a specific URL
        
       | JLemay wrote:
       | God the way this was formatted is painful for the eyes, but TLDR
       | the paper gives a pretty detailed overview of a method for
       | mitigating the manipulation of URLs to artificially influence
       | search rankings, which plagues many online service providers,
       | especially in the retail and e-commerce sectors. Basically
       | there's a problem with editable URLs being exploited by automated
       | systems or "click farms" to inflate the prominence of certain
       | search results, which ultimately skews the integrity of web
       | interactions and analytics. The paper does provide a solution to
       | preserve the authenticity of user interactions and ensure that
       | request data is verifiable, so if that's your thing good luck
       | trying to read this
        
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       (page generated 2025-07-16 23:02 UTC)