url - How reliable is HTTP REFERER to use today?

Question

I found some answers from 2012 and early, however, I need to know what is the situation with HTTP REFERER today?

I have a website that has some digital products available to download. It's intended that the user will enter to my website page, read the information and THEN download the archive.

It is encouraged that other sites can link to my page without much pretense. It is very well. Some of them go further and leave a direct link to download the file, instead of a link to the page where important information is located (without which the file itself is useless). Some sites leave incorrect information in front of this link!

My solution is that I check the HTTP REFERER before starting the file for downloading. If the HTTP REFERER domain does not match my domain, then instead of downloading, I redirect to the page itself.

This works well in all basic browsers (as I tested), but I also know that in some cases the HTTP REFERER is empty, even if the jump was from some website page.

Are you aware of situations where the browser intentionally or accidentally leaves HTTP REFERER blank, even when clicking on links within the same site?

Thanks a ton!

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65863465/how-reliable-is-http-referer-to-use-today

Answer 1

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